How To Use A French Press? [7 Steps]

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French Press coffee is one of my favorite forms of making coffee. It is over all pretty simple, doesn’t take a ton of time, and makes some great full-bodied cup of coffee.

However if you don’t make the coffee the right way, you might make some bitter, and oversaturated coffee. Make sure to follow the right steps to make the coffee right.

Step 1

Preheat water to boiling point, then let it sit for a couple minutes to drop down to around 200 degrees. Or the easier way would be to use something like a Stagg EKG Electric Kettle that can get you to the exact temperature you want.

Step 2

Figure out exactly how much coffee you need for your coffee.

Pro Tip: I have seen recommendations of making a ratio of 1:10 all the way up to 1:16, depending how how bold, or light you would like your coffee.

Step 3

Preheat your french press container by pouring some hot water into it, this makes it so your coffee doesn’t get cold too quickly, or get bitter.

Step 4

Remove the hot water from step 3, then add your coffee grounds to the bottom. Then slowly pour your heated water to the grounds, and put the lid on top, don’t push down on the plunger.

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Step 5

After 4 minutes of letting this sit, pull the lid and plunger off and stir the grounds around. By now coffee has risen to the top and created a crust. Put lid and plunger back on and let sit another 2 minutes.

Step 6

After the 2 minutes are up, slowly plunge the plunger down to the bottom. Don’t do it too quickly and disturb the grounds too much.

Step 7

Pour your cup of coffee! Then put the rest of the coffee into another heat retaining container.

Pro Tip: If you don’t remove all of the coffee, it will over-extract and not taste right by becoming bitter.

Conclusion

If you haven’t made french press coffee, you definitely should give it a try. It is great for those Saturday mornings where you have a little bit of time to make your coffee and enjoy it.

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French Presses can also be relatively inexpensive, and may save you some money over a good coffee maker. They also can be used for cold brew.

I learned how to make this french press style from the book Brew Better Coffee at Home, and you can buy it here at Walmart.

Don’t have a coffee maker? You can make coffee similar to a French Press without a coffee maker, learn how here.

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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