how to make french press coffee

July 14th, 2010 @ 10:00 am | domestic, food | Post a Comment

Today’s post was written for Slice of Pink as part of Pink University, and is cross-posted here. Go get your learnin’ on over there though now.

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Hello, lovelies! It’s Janet here from Love is Blonde. Thank you to my fellow Janet for having me here at Pink University today, where I will show you how to make delicious coffee in a french press pot.

Some of you probably already have coffeemakers, or perhaps you just get your daily caffeine fix from your local barista. But if you can learn the simple few steps below, I promise you will wow yourself and your houseguests with really smooth coffee, without spending a lot of money, and you can get rid of that ugly, hulking plastic appliance taking up precious countertop space!

Step 1: Buy yourself a french press. Mine is from IKEA (cheap!), and there’s really no need to spend more than $20 or $25. Here’s a 32 oz. one and here’s a small, pink 12 oz. one.

Step 2: Head on over to your local coffee shop to buy a pound of coffee beans, and ask them to grind your beans for a french press setting. This should be included in the price. Bonus — at my local Peregrine Espresso, a pound of beans comes with a free cup of coffee, maybe yours will too!

You don’t really need to know the difference between a french press grind and a regular grind, except to know french press is coarser than regular. Let the experts do the dirty work, just get yourself some coarse ground coffee. I like to pick a roast that has the word chocolate in the description, like this one below: “…flavors of caramel, chocolate, black cherry, and wine.”

Step 3: Boil as many cups of water as you’d like coffee. Except don’t let the water get too boiled. Ideally, you want the water to be just below boiling point when you pour it into the french press.

Step 4: While your water is heating up, measure out two tablespoons of ground coffee per cup of water, and put it in the french press.

Step 5: Take your just-shy-of-boiling water, and pour it into the french press pot, slowly to get all the grinds soaked. Give it a small stir if you’d like. (You can either measure your water before or after it’s boiling. I generally measure mine after, so the water goes from the stove, to the measuring cup, to the french press. But you could measure first, then boil, then pour. The key here is mixing 1 cup of near-boiling water per 2 tablespoons of coffee grinds.)

Step 6. Put the lid on, but keep the plunger up, and set the timer for 4 minutes. Now go do the dishes so you can enjoy your coffee in a clean kitchen.

Step 7: Once 4 minutes are up, slowly press the plunger down, which pushes the grinds down, and separates the grinds from the coffee. You’re done!

Step 8: Pour your coffee into a mug and add cream, milk, or sugar to your liking. If you’re used to highly-acidic, almost-burned coffeepot coffee, you might be surprised at how smooth and sweet french press coffee tastes, and how much less sugar you need. Which means it’s totally fine to have an extra cup.

If you like your coffee stronger, you can either increase the coffee to water ratio, or increase the brewing time. Or vice versa if you like your coffee mild. The measurements and times above are standard and will give you a good starting point. If you don’t finish all the coffee on one sitting, you can put the french press in the fridge and enjoy iced coffee later.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your lesson today, please report back if you have success (or any questions).

Signed,
Prof. Blonde

comments

  1. I don’t like coffee, but I looooove the thought of coffee. I’m particularly intrigued by the fancy ones, and enjoy smelling them. I’d really like to smell the coffee pictured above actually…

    Anyway, all this to say, maybe I will try french press coffee some time. What I don’t like about coffee is how bitter it is, so maybe I’d like it?

    written by Angela Noelle

    July 14th, 2010 @ 10:58 am

  2. I just love the smell of fresh brewed coffee, even though I don’t drink it much. Jase swears by it, though.

    written by Aly

    July 14th, 2010 @ 12:33 pm

  3. I just finished two cups of coffee (from the coffeepot) and now I want to run out and buy a french press and a fresh bag of coffee and drink two more cups.

    written by freckleonthenose

    July 15th, 2010 @ 6:41 am

  4. I love my french press! I use Snickerdoodle coffee. Yum.

    written by Lauren

    July 16th, 2010 @ 11:25 am