What kind of coffee can be brewed with a French press?
The French press is a full immersion brewing vessel with a metal strainer attached. This gives the brewed coffee a characteristic. Since the water and coffee powder are soaked directly, the final coffee oil will be richer and therefore have a thicker and fuller taste. For those who don’t like the taste of coffee grounds or fine powder, a French press may not be for you.
A brewing press allows you to control several variables (such as water temperature, grind size, and brewing time) to tailor your brew to your personal preference. Best of all, if you brew correctly, you can expect to enjoy the aroma and flavor of every coffee you brew.
How to brew coffee using a French press?
Before brewing coffee, there are some important variables to consider
1. Grinding thickness
No matter what grind size you use to grind your coffee, use a high-quality flat or tapered grinder rather than a blade grinder, which is more likely to result in over-extraction. So what is the correct thickness?
It is recommended to use a coarser grinding scale here, which is a bit like small gravel rather than fine sand. If the grind is too fine, the water will extract the coffee grounds too quickly. This may not be a problem for other immersion brewing equipment, but if you use a French press and grind it too finely, fine coffee powder may penetrate the metal filter, causing a large amount of ground residue to settle in the brewed coffee.
Usually when we look at the instructions for using the French press, it is generally recommended to use coarse grinding. Front Street recommends choosing a Chinese No. 20 standard sieve with a 70% sieving rate, which is the size of coarse sugar. Coarse grinding not only improves the error tolerance of the extraction process, but also reduces the extremely fine powder caused by grinding. The metal filter of the French press is generally between 80-300 microns, and the filter holes are large enough to be visible to the naked eye, so fine powder can easily pass through and enter the coffee liquid and become turbid. Of course, if you want to pursue more layers of flavor, you can also use fine grinding. Remember to reduce the soaking time accordingly to avoid over-extraction.
2. Amount of coffee powder and powder-to-water ratio
The powder-to-water ratio is a simple formula, which is how much water is mixed with how much coffee powder. A common ratio is 1:15 (for example, 15 grams of coffee powder to 225 grams of water). You can start with this ratio, and then increase or decrease the amount of coffee or water from the next brew according to your preference until you find the ratio you like best. The concentration of coffee extracted with it will be in the range of 1.1~1.2%. If you have friends like Front Street who prefer strong coffee, you might as well try the powder to water ratio of 1:15. The extracted coffee will have a richer and fuller taste.
3. Water temperature
Water temperature is another variable that you can experiment with the taste of coffee. If you don't have a thermometer, you can let the hot water boil for 45 seconds (adjusted according to the temperature) and brew at a temperature of about 90 degrees. If you want to control the flavor of your brewed coffee, it is recommended to buy a hand brewing kettle that can control the temperature, or equipped with a thermometer.
Because the water in the French press is injected once, there will be no stirring action to increase the extraction rate during the soaking process, so we sometimes need to increase the water temperature a little to make up for the extraction rate, which is just 1~2°C higher than the conventional hand brewing temperature. The recommended water temperature for medium-light roasted coffee beans is 92~94°C; while the recommended water temperature for medium-dark roasted coffee beans is 89~90°C.
4. Brewing time
Due to the lack of artificial stirring, to extract the substances in the coffee, it is necessary to increase the extraction rate elsewhere, and the soaking time is another factor that needs to be improved! The brewing time is generally 3 to 5 minutes. If you are brewing darker roasted coffee, 5 minutes may be too long and it will easily become bitter and astringent. If it is lightly roasted, 3 minutes may be too short and it will be difficult to release the coffee flavor. Therefore, Front Street recommends that you start with a 4-minute steeping time when you first try.
5. Brewing process
Pour the ground coffee powder into the preheated French press, then slowly pour in hot water, making sure that all the coffee powder is soaked. First, pre-soak the steamed coffee powder with about twice the amount of water (for example, use 30 grams of water to steam 15 grams of coffee powder).
Stir gently for a few times at 30 seconds, pour the remaining hot water, and put the pressure cylinder on top. Do not press it down at this time. Wait for the coffee powder to soak for 4 minutes, then slowly press the pressure cylinder to the bottom, and pour out the coffee liquid carefully to avoid stirring the coffee grounds at the bottom of the pot.
- If the pressure cylinder is a little difficult to press down, it means that the coffee powder is ground too finely; if the coffee powder sinks and the downward pressure resistance is too small, it means that the coffee powder is ground too coarsely.
French Press Brewing Tips
- Pour out the coffee immediately after brewing. If you do not tell it immediately, the coffee powder will continue to contact the water, causing the bitter taste of the coffee to be released. If you do not want to drink it directly, it is recommended to pour it into another container.
- Make sure the French press is thoroughly cleaned. Even fresh coffee will be spoiled by coffee grounds that have not been cleaned on the filter. Most filters should be easy to clean.
- If the brewed coffee never satisfies your taste buds, it is recommended to try all the variations. Brewing coffee should be fun and experimental. Once you brew your favorite coffee, it will definitely give you even more motivation to delve into coffee brewing skills!
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
