The Brew Guide: How To Brew With French Press
The Brew Guide: Master The French Press
BY SHOETOWN COFFEE PUBLISHED SAT 18 JAN 25
Master the French Press with our easy-to-follow brew guide. The French Press, also known as a cafetière, is one of the most popular ways to brew great coffee, take a look in your cupboard you’ve probably already got one. This brewer requires little precision but produces a clean, balanced and full bodied, high quality filter. You can brew any style of coffee in this thing, perfect with any of our coffees. This method is one of the easiest to get to grips with and is great if you’re brewing for bigger groups. Our brew guides are a great starting point for more consistently great cups of coffee, but make sure you play around with the recipes until you hit the perfect cup for you.
French Press Recipe.
- 20g Coffee
- 300ml Water
- 4:30 Brew Time
Time to gear up. You'll need.
- French Press
- 20g Ground Coffee
- Kettle
- 300ml Water
- Spoon
- Scales
- Timer
- Mug
Dialling It In.
You’re looking for something around the medium-coarse mark here, somewhere around granulated sugar but don’t worry too much, if its not quite dialled in perfectly, you’ll still come out with something pretty decent. If you’re using a wilfa grinder aim for around the ‘O’ of the ‘Aeropress’ on the dial, this is a good starting point.
We always recommend using wholebean and grinding fresh. This way you’ll get the most out of your coffee, and you can play around with the grind size to suit you. It will also help keep your coffee fresher for longer.
Ok. Got What You Need? Let's Get Started.
- First step, we’re going to preheat the French Press with some boiling water, after about a minute chuck the water, pop it on the scales and zero them.
- Now throw in 20g of ground coffee into the french press and zero the scales again.
- Start the timer as you pour in 300ml of water, just off the boil. Once the waters in give it a quick stir making sure the grounds are completley wet and let it steep.
- Once you’re at 4 minutes on the timer its time to give it a stir, gently breaking the crust that will have formed on the surface. Using a spoon, you want to skim the crema off the surface, leaving you with a clean cup free of any unpleasant bitterness.
- At 4:30 on the timer it’s time to plunge. Take the plunger and slowly press down until you feel a bit of resistance, about an inch off the bottom. You’re done. Pour and enjoy.
Remember this is just a starting point, if your brew was slow and your coffee tastes bitter, coarsen up your grind. If your brew was fast and it tastes weak and sour, make your grind finer. If you’re looking for more body, up your coffee dose and change up your grind.
