French Coffee Press

Are you a coffee person? Have you always prepared your coffee by using a filtered coffee maker? What if I were to tell you that there is another way, a better way, to enjoy your coffee? I was once a person that had only tried coffee that was made with a filter coffee maker. Obviously some of the flavor must be lost if after brewing the coffee must pass through a filter first. I might have never known there was another way to brew coffee out there, and I would have been happy with my filtered coffee. But then, one day I discovered the french coffee press and the rest is history. Allow me to tell you just a little about this great invention and to tell you a little bit more about my story of how I fell in love with my french coffee press.

After reading and doing a little research, I purchased a simple 8 cup coffee press made by Bodum from a Tuesday Morning around the corner from where I work. I was excited to give the coffee press a try, but most places wanted between $40 and $50 to buy one, and I wasn't ready to commit that kind of cash unless I was certain that I would stick with this as my primary method of brewing my coffee. So I ended up getting my coffee press for about $14 and headed home to try it out.

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I got home and right out of the box there is not much to the french coffee press. There is a stainless steel press called a "plunger" that has a lid attached to it. There is also a glass beaker, and an insulated pouring container that the beaker fits into. This took me all of 6 seconds to put together, and for all you greenies out there, no electrical cord at all. The coffee press requires manpower. So I watched a few videos and found great informational resources at the Coffee Press Guide website and found out how to use this thing and decided to get things rolling. I also found a great article published at French Coffee Press that is really helpful.

So I got out my coffee grinder and according to what I had learned I decided on a very coarse grind. I filled up a small saucepan with water and turned on the fire to get it hot. From what I could find you want your water to be just on the brink of boiling, not quite all the way. The average scoop to water ratio I found most useful is 1 rounded scoop (tablespoon) per 2 cups of water. So for my eight cup coffee press I use about 4 scoops, 5 if I am really groggy and need an extra kick in the morning. I added my coffee to the press, then when the water was ready I added that also. You need to stir the coffee and water for at least 15 seconds to make sure all the grounds can circulate in the water. I use a plastic chopstick for this because it is like a giant coffee stirrer and it is easy to clean. You have to then put the lid/plunger on the top, but do not press it yet. The coffee and water have to sit for 4 minutes to let the coffee brew. After 4 minutes, slowly press the plunger down all the way to the bottom and Voila!!!! French Pressed Coffee! Truly the most flavorful and smoothest coffee I have ever tasted.

There is no real "best" place to buy a coffee press. I found out a lot of information and was able to look at a bunch of different types of coffee presses at the Coffee Press Guide Website (Link Above). The Internet is a great place to find good prices. Like me, if you have a Tuesday Morning store in your area then you might want to check there because they have great prices. Just make sure wherever you look has a large selection so you don't have to settle for something you just don't want or won't use later. Most of these French presses are beautiful and are used by people on their dinner tables and when they entertain guests, so don't be afraid to go out and find one that really fits your personality.

You can learn exactly how to use a coffee press at Coffeepressguide.com, but here is a quick video on how to use the coffee press.