What Coffee Beans Are Suitable for French Press? How Long Should French Press Coffee Steep for the Best Taste?

Today, discerning coffee enthusiasts who want to enjoy a standard pour-over coffee need to prepare multiple tools at home: pour-over kettle, serving pot, filter cup, filter paper, thermometer... The setup is elaborate, yet these items take up space when not in use. Does this mean you can't enjoy a quality cup of coffee without a complete pour-over setup? If you pose this question to FrontStreet Coffee's baristas, they would immediately pull out their dust-covered French press.

The French Press: Simple and Convenient

The French press, also known as a press pot or French press pot, is one of the simplest and most convenient coffee brewing methods. Actually, this device appeared quite early - around the 1850s, when a craftsman and a merchant jointly obtained a patent for a "piston-filter coffee device": a metal can connected to a movable rod, with holes at the bottom of the rod, flanked by layers of flannel. By manually pressing the rod to the bottom, coffee grounds would be isolated at the bottom of the pot, resulting in a relatively clean cup of coffee.

After continuous technical improvements, it wasn't until the late 1920s that a company in Milan, Italy, registered a patent for a modified version of the French press. Since then, the French press as we know it today has become widely known around the world.

However, in earlier times, the primary use of the French press wasn't for making coffee, but rather for brewing tea. Typically, tea infusers have coarser filters, while coffee filters are finer. If you love coffee but lack time or don't have expensive coffee equipment at home, the French press is an excellent method.

FrontStreet Coffee's French Press Tutorial

Since French press coffee tends to have a richer mouthfeel and fuller flavor profile, FrontStreet Coffee will use Flower Champion coffee beans as an example to explain how to brew delicious coffee with a French press. As usual, FrontStreet Coffee will first introduce the background information about this coffee bean.

The Story of Flower Champion Coffee

Flower Champion coffee beans come from the Buku Abel processing station in the Hambela sub-region of Guji, Ethiopia, using natural processing methods. In 2017, DW company sent the natural coffee beans from Buku Abel processing station to participate in that year's TOH competition, where they won first place in the Ethiopian natural category with their rich strawberry cream flavor. A Beijing green bean merchant imported the same batch of championship coffee beans. Due to the outstanding strawberry cream flavor, they believed that with improvements in post-harvest processing, this coffee had the potential to become the next trending coffee bean. Thus, they named it "Flower Champion" with high hopes, symbolizing "the leader among flowers."

In the same year, at the World Coffee Brewers Championship China competition, while nearly all competitors used Geisha variety coffee beans, contestant Li Jianfei used the same batch of Flower Champion coffee beans and achieved second place. When people discovered these beans were from Ethiopia, Flower Champion coffee beans gained significant fame.

Flower Champion coffee beans are named in the format "Flower Champion X.0," with the number increasing each year: 2018's Flower Champion 2.0, 2019's Flower Champion 3.0, 2020's Flower Champion 4.0, and 2021's Flower Champion 5.0. With the arrival of 2022, Flower Champion 6.0 is also coming soon. FrontStreet Coffee immediately pre-ordered this batch, believing that in the near future, customers will find Flower Champion 6.0 on FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu.

Today, on FrontStreet Coffee's menu of nearly fifty different coffee beans, we offer Flower Champion 5.0 and Small Bean Flower Champion coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee discovered small-bean Flower Champion coffee beans in the 2018 and 2019 batches. Through comparison, FrontStreet Coffee found that these small-bean Flower Champion coffee beans were the main source of the characteristic Flower Champion coffee aroma. In 2020, DW company processed these small-bean Flower Champion coffee beans separately, creating the Small Bean Flower Champion brand.

FrontStreet Coffee conducted cupping comparisons between Flower Champion 5.0 and Small Bean Flower Champion coffee beans, finding that Small Bean Flower Champion's flavor is closer to the 2017 championship natural batch's strawberry cream flavor; while Flower Champion 5.0's flavor leans more towards Guji region's characteristic citrus, berry notes, and tea-like qualities.

French Press Brewing Method

Since your hands aren't a barista's hands, even if you enjoy delicious Flower Champion coffee at a café, you might struggle to replicate that flavor at home. Compared to complex pour-over techniques, many people turn their attention to the simplest brewing method: using a French press to brew Flower Champion coffee beans.

But the question arises: how can you brew Flower Champion coffee to avoid bitterness and astringency, and how can you achieve a delicious cup?

FrontStreet Coffee's French Press Brewing Tutorial

Brewing equipment: French press
Water temperature: 90°C
Coffee amount: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: 70% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve

First, pour an appropriate amount of hot water into the French press for thorough preheating, then pour out the water.

Add 15g of coffee grounds to the French press, then pour 225g of 90°C hot water.

Pull the plunger to the highest position and cover with the lid, let steep for 4 minutes.

After 4 minutes, gently and slowly press the plunger down to one-quarter of the French press's height, then pour out the coffee liquid to enjoy your cup of coffee.

Flower Champion coffee brewed using FrontStreet Coffee's parameters and steps above presents immediate mixed berry aroma upon first sip, with noticeable complex berry juice flavors and a creamy mouthfeel, overall full-bodied and rich.

Brewing Considerations

Flower Champion coffee beans are medium-light roasted, and their flavor compounds extract slowly when in contact with hot water, so FrontStreet Coffee recommends using higher water temperature to accelerate the extraction of flavor compounds.

When FrontStreet Coffee serves coffee, we typically use a three-stage pour-over extraction method. Since the injected hot water contacts coffee grounds for a relatively short time before dripping into the serving pot, FrontStreet Coffee typically uses a grind size with 80% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve when brewing Flower Champion coffee - slightly finer than what we use for French press.

However, French press brewing always involves extended steeping in high-temperature water. To avoid over-extraction and resulting bitterness and astringency, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using a coarser grind size - 70% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve. A coarser grind means larger coffee particles, which reduces the overall contact surface area with hot water. If the grind is too fine, it's prone to over-extraction; if the grind is too coarse, it can lead to under-extraction, resulting in a watery taste and excessive acidity.

For more coffee bean information, follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)
For professional coffee knowledge exchange, add WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473