FRENCH PRESS

What is it?

A very easy method to make great coffee at home every morning is the French press, also known as the coffee plunger.

In fact, the press was invented and patented for the first time in 1852 by two French inventors, Mayer and Delforge, but was later on perfected by Italian designers.

Today it is made of a transparent glass or clear plastic cylinder, a lid and a plunger that fits tightly into it with a stainless steel or nylon mesh. The mesh will block all the coffee solids at the bottom of the container, so you can have a clear brewed coffee without the coffee grinds floating around.

How to prepare it?

In order for us to calculate the quantity of coffee you will use, you need to know how much water the press can hold.

If you don’t know that and you don’t have the original box it came in, we suggest you put it on a little scale and just measure the approximate amount of water you pour in up to the top.

Once you know the water capacity, you will know how much coffee you should use.

RECIPE

How much coffee?

You should count 6g of very coarsely ground coffee for each 100ml of water.

If you have the Timemore French press that you can find on our shop, you can use 18g of coarsely ground coffee and 300ml water.

What coffee grind?

The grind setting should be very coarse, because this will be a coffee infusion, so the water will stay in touch with the coffee for a long time. That is why this should be coarser than what you would choose for a filter coffee.

It is always best to grind the coffee fresh, as it will retain the best aromas, but you can order preground coffee for French press from our shop too. The aluminum cans will maintain your coffee extra fresh even in its ground form!

What water and temperature?

Remember to always use filtered or bottled water, because you need it to be completely odourless and not too hard. If you use a very hard water, your coffee will be bitter and not too palatable.

The best temperature to extract the desirable coffee flavours and aromas is in the range between 91 and 94 degrees Celsius.

BREWING

Put the ground coffee into the cylinder.

Pour the heated water on top and leave it to steep for 3-4 minutes.

When the time has passed, stir with a spoon and remove some of the foam on top.

Wait just 30 seconds for the rest of the ground particles to lower to the bottom.

Put on the plunger with the mesh and push it down and stop just a bit before the ground coffee. If you push it too close, the ground coffee bed will stir up again and create a less clear beverage.