Brewing coffee with a French press

One of the oldest and most popular ways of brewing coffee at home is with a French Press, for full immersion coffee brewing. The French Press is very accessible and doesn’t require much equipment or expertise to execute well. When completed properly, this brewing method can create a very flavor packed cup of coffee. Unfortunately, if done improperly, can also produce a heavy, oily, and thick cup. Let’s help you get the best result from your French Press.

You will need a few pieces of equipment to execute the perfect French Press, with our recommendations in parenthesis:

• full immersion brewer (Bodium 8 Cup French Press, glass or stainless steel)
• scale (Acaia Electric Scale)
• hot water kettle (Stagg Stovetop Kettle)
• coffee grinder (Baratza Encore Burr Grinder)
• Indie Coffee Roasters coffee

Full immersion brewing means that the coffee is in contact with the water for the entire brewing time. Therefore, it is important that the amount of coffee and the grind size is done with intention. If your coffee is too coarse, it can taste bland and flat. If the coffee is ground too fine, it can be very difficult to plunge and can come out thick and tough to drink.

Follow the below steps to brew an amazing cup of French Press coffee:

Step 1:
Measure out your beans (20 grams p/person).

Step 2:
Grind your beans at a very coarse setting (Setting 30 on the Baratza Encore).

Step 3:
PreHeat your brewer by filling it with hot tap water (Rinse the plunger as well).

Step 4:
Pour out your rinse water and pull the plunger out.

Step 5:
Place the brewer on the scale and pour the coffee in.

Step 6:
Fill your stovetop kettle with water and heat to 198 degrees.

Step 7:
Pour water over the coffee evenly (300 grams p/person).

Step 8:
Set a timer for 4 min and 30 seconds. Pour half of the water in the brewer.

Step 9:
Wait.

Step 10:
With 2 min and 30 secs left on the timer, stir your coffee.

Step 11:
Pour the remaining water over the coffee.

Step 12:
When the timer is finished press the plunger down halfway.

Step 13:
Pour out your first cup of coffee.

Step 14:
Press the rest of the way down until you are touching the grounds at the bottom.

Step 15:
Pour out the remaining coffee and enjoy!

By stirring the coffee, you are making sure the coffee is evenly extracted. By pressing down halfway instead of all the way, it helps to prevent too much sludge from accumulating at the bottom of your cup. The full immersion brewing method will always produce a small amount of sludge (or coffee residue) at the bottom of your cup because the filter is not as fine as a paper filter.

If you would like to learn more about coffee brewing methods and how to brew better coffee at home, keep an eye out for our Indie Coffee Roasters University classes centered around home brewing. We will be announcing more dates in 2019. Feel free to reach out to us with any additional questions at: hello@indiecoffeeroasters.com and we will share as much knowledge as we can!