What's the Right Grind Size for French Press Coffee? What Coffee Beans Work Best_ French Press Coffee Bean Recommendations

In today's world of material abundance, pursuing refinement is the ideal of everyone who takes life seriously. When visiting a coffee shop and wanting a cup of black coffee, it's actually quite simple—just stand at the counter and say "I'd like a XX coffee." Then comes the barista's performance: preparing coffee beans, filter cup, filter paper, sharing pot, and hot water. Through this entire process, exquisite coffee flavors are fully revealed as the barista demonstrates their masterful brewing techniques.

However, this series of tools requires considerable effort to use and takes up space when not in use. Isn't there a convenient tool that can assist coffee enthusiasts in enjoying a cup of refined coffee? When this challenge was presented to the baristas at FrontStreet Coffee, they immediately pulled out their long-dusted French press.

History of the French Press

The French press, also known as the French press pot, is a coffee brewing tool that has gained widespread popularity among office workers due to its simplicity and convenience. The earliest written records of the French press can be traced back to the 1850s, when two Frenchmen submitted a patent application for a French press-related device: a metal can connected to a movable rod, with a hole at the bottom of the rod, sandwiched between two layers of flannel. When the rod was pressed to the bottom of the metal can, coffee grounds would be isolated at the bottom of the container, resulting in a relatively clean cup of coffee.

Due to design flaws in the aforementioned French press—which couldn't create a sealed state in the container—this prompted other designers to make technical improvements, leading to the development of new design versions of the French press.

In 1929, after a company from Milan, Italy registered a modified version of the French press in the United States, the prototype of the modern French press emerged.

How the French Press Works

A French press consists of a glass carafe and a metal filter attached to a plunger. When brewing coffee with a French press, coffee grounds are poured into the carafe and hot water is added to fully immerse them. Then, the plunger with the metal filter is used to separate the coffee liquid from the coffee grounds.

FrontStreet Coffee's baristas observed through the French press's metal filter that the filter gaps are relatively large. Compared to filter paper, some fine coffee particles can easily pass through the metal filter. Moreover, since the liquid continues to steep the coffee grounds before being poured out, the resulting coffee has a richer mouthfeel and preserves more of the coffee's texture and oils.

French Press Usage Guidelines

When a barista makes coffee, it always tastes good. But when brewing at home, many people struggle to achieve that refined taste they experience in coffee shops. Compared to pour-over brewing, which requires significant skill and has a high difficulty level, many people turn their attention to the simplest coffee brewing method—using a French press.

Since you want a cup of coffee with refined flavor, even the French press, which is as user-friendly as a mother's care, has its specific requirements. There are still certain limitations regarding factors like grind size and water temperature.

Grind Size

FrontStreet Coffee's baristas often receive questions like: "What specific grind setting should I use?" FrontStreet Coffee uses an EK43s grinder, while some enthusiasts might use a Commandante C40 hand grinder. With different equipment, different burr types, and varying maintenance conditions, even with the same setting, the resulting coffee grind size will differ.

Therefore, when FrontStreet Coffee recommends grind size, they generally use the Chinese standard No. 20 sieve pass rate as the primary reference. FrontStreet Coffee recommends an 80% pass rate for medium-light roast coffee beans and a 75% pass rate for medium-dark roast coffee beans. Due to equipment differences, specific settings need to be determined through sieve testing and brewing trials to confirm flavor before making further adjustments.

Water Temperature

As temperature rises, the rate of material exchange becomes more significant. When FrontStreet Coffee brews different coffee beans, they adjust the water temperature according to different roast levels.

The lighter the coffee bean roast, the more compact the internal structure. When in contact with water, flavor compounds are released more slowly. To extract more delicate floral notes and quality fruit acidity from lighter roasted coffee beans, high-temperature water between 90°C to 92°C is generally used.

When coffee beans are roasted darker, the volume of the roasted beans expands more, and their internal structure becomes more porous. After being ground into particles, they absorb water more efficiently and dissolve flavor compounds faster. Increased water temperature accelerates the extraction of larger molecular weight flavor compounds, which can easily produce bitter and burnt flavors. Therefore, when FrontStreet Coffee brews medium to dark roast coffee beans, they generally use water between 86°C to 88°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's French Press Brewing Tutorial

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will use Guji coffee beans as an example to demonstrate French press brewing.

Brewing Equipment: French Press
Water Temperature: 90°C
Coffee Amount: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Chinese standard No. 20 sieve 70% pass rate

Pre-warm the French press carafe; add 15g of freshly ground Guji coffee powder to the French press and pour in 225g of 90°C hot water; pull the plunger to the highest position and cover with the lid, steep for 4 minutes; gently and slowly press down the plunger, then pour out the coffee.

The Guji coffee brewed by FrontStreet Coffee using the above parameters and steps has an entry similar to compound berry juice, with a rich and long-lasting cream aroma in the aftertaste, overall full-bodied and rich.

Guji coffee, produced in the Guji zone of Ethiopia's Sidamo region, won the championship in the natural processing category of the 2017 TOH Ethiopia competition. At that time, this Guji coffee was described as having intense strawberry and cream flavors. In the same year, Guji coffee was introduced to China and appeared in the World Coffee Brewers Championship China region. Since then, Guji coffee's fame has soared. Over the years, Guji coffee has become an annual must-have coffee bean for coffee connoisseurs.

On FrontStreet Coffee's bean shelf, there are nearly fifty different coffee beans. Guji coffee represents the wild flavors and superior quality of natural processed Sidamo region coffee beans among the many varieties.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473