Guidance for good French Press coffee

How to make great French Press coffee:
(Stolen from AllRecipes & some other YouTube sources)

  1. Grind beans as fresh as possible
  2. Coarse grind about like coarse salt – NOT PRE-GROUND
  3. Ratio: 60g to 1L of water/16g to 250ml (See below for table)
  4. Heat water to a boil then remove from heat to settle from 212F to 195F
  5. Pour some boiling water into decanter to pre heat for even brewing & consistency, swirl & dispose
  6. Pour coffee directly into press decanter & then pour water over covering all grounds – do not stir with a spoon or agitate beyond the pour
  7. Let sit for 4 minutes in open air: grounds will settle
  8. Remove top layer / crust with a spoon being careful not to stir coffee
  9. Cover press decanter but do not press down!  Instead for a smoother flavor, simply use top UNPRESSED as a filter and pour ALL coffee into cups or thermos. (Pressing will reagitate the coffee, produce residue in your cup & make it more bitter)
  10. Stir cups/thermos & serve

General rules for coffee/water ratio:

  • 1 cup water (8 fluid ounces) — 2 tablespoons coffee beans (14 grams)
  • 2 cups water (16 fluid ounces) — ¼ cup coffee beans (28 grams)
  • 4 cups of water (32 fluid ounces) — 1/2 cup coffee beans (56 grams)
  • 8 cups of water (64 fluid ounces) — 1 cup coffee beans (112 grams)

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 30th, 2022 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to Guidance for good French Press coffee

  1. Jenni's avatar Jenni says:
    July 14, 2023 at 5:15 pm

    Kurt,
    Thanks for sharing the shrimp soup recipe to completeness. I have been looking for this since I went to New Orleans & tasted Shrimp Creole soup, but could not track down recipe. This the nearest. Thank you.

    I’d like to repay the kindness of sharing this with the best way I found yo make coffee— Aeropress. It’s the best coffee hands down. I like low acidity & nearly any coffee I brew becomes this it seems. It gets five star review from everyone for a reason, it is far better than any French press. It’s 35.00 at Target. REI has the most products believe it or not to choose from. I have tried the stainless steel filter and in my view I would definitely stick to the small paper filters they sell there. The acidity came back when I tried the new filter. I’m not sure why. The only other thing I’d add is that directions say to use plunger, but online where there is a cult following, said to experiment and wait 90 seconds. I loved the first cup where I did not wait long and the ones when I waited. Experiment. I’d also consider getting the small one before the XL. I don’t know if the XL brews as well as I have not tried it. Try the small one and then compare. It is easy cleanup. After you plunger, you may want to flip and wait for it to cool off before washing. If so, just remember to pull plunger out before unscrewing the bottom, so that all the grounds easily fall out over trash bag.

    I can’t tell you how much this makes the best coffee. I hope you try it and have same experience I and others have. The smoothest coffee with very low acid it seems to me whatever brand. I had a bodkin before this and never went back. I still love Bunn, but not sure I will return to that unless making coffee for 8-12 ppl.

    Thanks Kurt for your random thoughts, and especially you recipes. I can’t tell you how long I tried to find that soup recipe. I made it for a Christmas party and those who like spice loved it. I take your recipes as gold. Many thanks.

    Reply

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