French Press vs Siphon vs Pour-Over: Differences and How to Use a French Press

The Art of Pour-Over Coffee

Pour-over coffee can be described as an art, a philosophy, a practice, and a journey of self-discovery. If you are serious and particular about coffee, you likely know this experience well: the coffee tastes different every day, so which step was different? That's why you record and study each variable, striving for a consistent taste and stable quality.

More casual drinkers can approach it with ease, enjoying the meditative feeling of brewing. Operating coffee equipment is a form of enjoyment and play. If you find it troublesome and stressful, then pour-over coffee might not be your "cup of coffee."

French Press

The French press is relatively easy to master. As long as the coffee beans are ground to a medium particle size, the water temperature is right, and you wait 2-3 minutes after adding water, a cup of coffee is complete. That's why most baristas recommend the French press as an entry point for offices or for friends new to pour-over coffee. Many years ago, I found the French press dull and not very stylish, so I gave away all of mine. Earlier this year, someone gifted me a Bodum Chambord, and after using it again I found it simple, convenient, easy to operate, and stable, and I fell a little in love with it again.

Pour Over

The pour-over kettle and conical filter cup are best paired as companions. They're not expensive, and you might inadvertently end up buying several. The long, narrow spout of the pour-over kettle is meant to improve control over speed and force when pouring, while the conical filter cup controls the hot-water extraction of the coffee; both are indispensable.

Among conical filter cups, products from Hario, Kalita, and Kono are very popular, and these brands have invested considerable effort in research and development. For pour-over kettles, products from Kalita, Gevalia, and Noda enamel are most widely recognized. The first is made of copper, while the latter two are enamel (also known as porcelain). The feel in hand is respectively crisp and warm, both quite intriguing.

The pour-over kettle can be considered an extraction tool suitable for both beginners and experts. First, it has a relatively large margin for error, so even if your technique isn't polished you won't completely ruin a cup. At the same time, it can bring out many subtle aspects of the coffee, fully expressing the smoothness, aroma, and various flavors. The light-roast beans that have been popular in recent years are also very well suited to a pour-over setup.

Syphon

The siphon coffee maker originated in Germany, with a construction of upper and lower pots and a unique siphon style as the brewing tool. Hario is a popular brand in Hong Kong, widely adopted by both local coffee shops and enthusiasts at home. The siphon pot looks elegant and is particularly eye-catching during operation. Watching coffee move up and down between the two pots like magic, and having plenty of conversation topics, all add to its unique charm.

Perhaps for this reason, everyone has particularly high expectations for the siphon pot. For example, the gesture of adding water, the action of stirring the coffee grounds, and so on, have all sparked extensive discussion among enthusiasts. I love how the siphon pot can concretely and minutely present the true face of coffee, but I get discouraged by how hard it is to achieve stable results. Operating and cleaning the tools also takes quite a bit of time, so I can only take it out to play on weekends and holidays.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Brewing Parameters:

Pour-Over Parameters:

V60, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, water temperature 90°C, total time about two minutes

French Press Parameters:

15g of coffee, water temperature 88°C, medium-coarse grind, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15

Syphon Parameters:

20g of coffee, coffee-to-water ratio 1:12, using the post-addition method, remove from the heat source at 1 minute 30 seconds.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Since the French press is a full-immersion brewer, it works best with medium or dark roasts, which express sweetness and caramel notes better. For a low-acid cup with a full, rich body, FrontStreet's PWN Golden Mandheling is a great match: one of Asia's best-known specialty coffees, it goes through three rounds of hand sorting plus one machine sort, and after medium-dark roasting the beans are large and uniform with intense spice, caramel, cedar, and dark chocolate aromas.

If you prefer a brighter, more fragrant cup, try FrontStreet's Strawberry Candy, a Geisha blend built from a Costa Rican honey process coffee and a Panamanian washed Geisha. Brewed in a French press it gives rose, citrus, grape, and dried blueberry aromas, and with milk it turns into the scent of strawberry gummy candy. For the grind, aim for coarse sugar (about EK43s setting 10.5, or 26 on a hand grinder), roughly like small gravel rather than fine sand, and steep for about 4 minutes.