French Press Coffee with us

How to Make French Press Coffee with Off Hours Coffee Project?

• The Ratio of Water and Coffee for French Press
• Step-by-Step Process
• Equipment You’ll Need
• Other Uses For Your French Press
• Troubleshooting French Press Coffee

Step-by-Step Process

For this recipe, we are using a Hario 600 ml French press, the most common size brewer. 

• Boil Water: For this recipe, we will use 600 ml of water. 
• Measure and Grind Your Beans: Your preferred ratio is up to you—for this recipe, we're going 1:15, so we'll grind 40 grams of coffee. 
• Bloom Your Beans: Pour all your water and let the coffee and water sit for about a minute. This is called blooming the coffee — allowing some of the CO2 in the beans to degas. CO2 can interfere with extraction, so you want to let some of the gasses in the beans escape. 
• Sit and Stir: As you bloom, the coffee will form a crust on top, so take a spoon or wooden stick and stir the slurry — this also helps to break up any dry clumps and ensure the grounds are saturated evenly. Put the plunger on top (but don't press) to keep the water hot, and let sit for three more minutes. 
• Press and Decant: Press the plunger to filter the brewed coffee from the grounds. If you can, decant the coffee into a separate container or immediately into mugs — the grounds at the bottom will continue to "brew" if the coffee is left in the French press. 

Equipment You’ll Need

A French Press

You can use any French press you can find, but we like the 600 ml Hario French Press as our top pick for its simplicity. 

A Burr Grinder

Grinding fresh grounds ensures you preserve all the aromas and flavors a bean offers. That's especially true for a French press, where some of the coffee's oils contribute positively to the mouthfeel but can muddle some flavors, so a precise burr grinder is essential versus a blade grinder where the particles can come out all different sizes.

A regular Kettle

One perk of a French press is that you don't need to be precise with how you pour. Many coffee recipes call for a gooseneck kettle to ensure precision, but you can use any hot water kettle for a French press.

Other Uses For Your French Press

If you zoom backward and look at the French press as a tool, it's a device that can filter things. Loose-leaf tea connoisseurs might be familiar with tea brewers that look very similar to French presses. Another clever way to use a French press is to froth milk. Pushing the plunger up and down introduces air into the milk, which creates the foam you're used to seeing on your favorite drinks like lattes and cappuccinos. It takes some muscle, but you'll see the milk expand and get bubbly after a bit.

Troubleshooting French Press Coffee

French press coffee is unique in that there's no paper filter — it's a full immersion method, and the plunger serves as the filter at the end of the brewing process. "No filter needed! All you need is hot water, a French press, and ground coffee. It also allows more room to control the end result because you can play around with different variables. i.e., grind settings and water temperature. 

But one of the hiccups when brewing French press coffee is that most people leave their coffee in the French press after plunging. Pour your finished coffee into a decanter or directly into mugs.

Another thing to consider is the coffee you'd like to brew. Like grind settings, this is a matter of choice and preference, but one way to think about brewing generally is to think about flavor clarity and body on two ends of a spectrum. Brewers with heavy-duty filters (think the three-layer filters on the Chemex) offer more flavor clarity, so floral, light-roasted coffees tend to shine. 

On the other hand, because of its metal filter, a French press allows oils and sediment to end up in your cup, making for a unique and pleasant body but might mask the flavor. 

Also — and we cannot emphasize this enough — clean your French press. If your coffee is ever tasting rancid or weird, it's likely because it hasn't been cleaned properly, and we'd estimate that most brewing problems with a French press are due to dirty filters and old oils.