FRENCH PRESS BREWING GUIDE
Why do people like brewing their coffee using the French Press method?
French Press is a full immersion brewing technique that enables us to draw out a fuller flavor and balanced cup of our freshly roasted coffee. The mesh filtration does not soak up coffee’s natural oils in the way that paper filters do, so our cup of coffee has a buttery finish and mouthfeel.
Suggested Brewing Steps
[1g of coffee : 15ml of water] - Yields (3) three 8-ounce cups of coffee - 25oz total
Gear Needed: French Press (8 cup), 750ml capacity Kettle, Timer, Kitchen Scale
Measure out and Grind 50g of freshly roasted coffee on a medium-coarse setting
Run your empty french press under hot water to warm up the vessel
Evenly disperse your coffee grounds along the bottom of your french press
Use a kettle (prefer an electric goose-neck kettle) to bring 750ml of water to a boil. When we start to pour the water in, we want the water to be within the range of 195-205 degrees farenheit - which is why a goose neck kettle is preferred, as it cools the water down from boiling point as you pour.
Place french press with the grounds inside on a kitchen scale and tare/zero
Set kitchen timer for 8 minutes
Pour in 750ml of hot water from kettle on top of your coffee grounds
Stir the grounds in the hot water after 30 seconds has elapsed on the timer, so that the grounds start to sink to the bottom. Cover your french press with the plunger, but do not depress.
After your timer sounds, gently and slowly press down on the plunger all the way down.
Serve and enjoy!
Tips to Alter Taste:
Depressing Plunger: If it is hard to press down your plunger through the water immersed coffee grounds, use a coarser grind size. If you can press down your plunger with no resistance, use a finer grind size.
Bitter and Thick Coffee: Use a coarser grind size for your coffee. Use a higher water to coffee ratio. Try 1:17 (1g of coffee : 17ml of water) instead of the 1:15 ratio suggested.
Weak and Thin Coffee: Use a finer grind size for your coffee. Use a lower water to coffee ratio. Try 1:13 (1g of coffee : 13ml of water) instead of the 1:15 ratio suggested.
Sour Coffee: Make sure your water is in the 195-200 degree range when pouring into the coffee grounds. Try a higher water to coffee ratio. Try using finer coffee grounds.
Source: “Craft Coffee A Manual”_Jessica Easto with Andreas Willhoff_2017