French Press Coffee Bean Brands & Recommendations_What Beans Work Best for French Press

Coffee Knowledge Exchange

FrontStreet Coffee shares coffee knowledge from around the world. The French press is one of the simplest ways to brew coffee, and today we walk through the method and the details that make it work.

What is a French Press?

The French press, also known as a press pot, is one of the simplest and most convenient coffee brewing methods. The device actually appeared quite early, though people once used it mainly for brewing tea. Tea infusers usually have coarser filters, while coffee presses have finer ones. If you love coffee but lack time, or do not have an expensive coffee machine at home, the French press is an excellent method that works with all coffee beans, making it a genuinely versatile tool.

Advantages of French Press Brewing

The French press is one of the most convenient home coffee makers and the method that best preserves the complete flavor of pressed coffee. It perfectly showcases the rich, mellow character unique to darker roasts. Despite its simple construction and unassuming look, it offers numerous advantages.

The French press is particularly suitable for those who prefer convenience. Its brewing principle is steeping: an immersion method in which water fully contacts the grounds to release the coffee's essence. The flavor comes out consistently balanced, and it works best with the coarsest grind size.

French Press Coffee Brewing Steps:

Step 1:

Remove the filter plunger from the French press.

Step 2:

Add 20 grams of freshly roasted coffee grounds.

Step 3:

Slowly pour hot water over the coffee grounds.

Step 4:

Do not fill the water too high, about half a centimeter below the handle, ensuring all the grounds are immersed in hot water.

Step 5:

Let it sit and start timing for about 40 seconds.

Step 6:

When the time is up, quickly stir once with a stirring spoon.

Step 7:

A fine brown foam will appear on the surface after stirring.

Step 8:

Gently place the lid on (do not press down the plunger) and continue to let it sit for another minute.

Step 3:

When the time is up, hold the lid with one hand while slowly and steadily pressing down the plunger with the other.

Step 10:

Immediately pour out the coffee, and a fragrant cup is easily prepared.

The Art of Perfect Coffee

Some friends might say that measuring coffee in grams or timing in minutes feels vague. In reality, making a truly good cup of coffee is not easy. It involves complex factors such as water quality, temperature, coffee variety, grind size, the brewer's technique, and even their mood at the moment, all of which take experience and practice to master.

So when we taste a good cup of coffee, we should be full of gratitude. From coffee cherries that take five years to mature, to the long journey to China, to the careful roasting by artisans, and then into our hands: patient grinding, mindful brewing, and finally a steaming, rich, mellow cup.

Recommended French Press Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted single-origin French press coffee beans offer excellent guarantees in both brand and quality and suit a range of brewing devices. More importantly, they provide exceptional value: a half-pound (227 grams) package costs only around 80-90 RMB. Calculated with 300ml per cup at a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, one package makes 11 cups, bringing each French press coffee to only 8-9 RMB. Compared with cafes that often charge dozens of RMB per cup, that is tremendous value.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Because the French press is an immersion brewer, the ground coffee stays in contact with hot water for a long time, so a medium or dark roast shows its sweetness and caramel character better than a light roast. FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling is a natural pick: it is machine-sorted once and hand-sorted three times so the beans come out uniform and translucent, and after a medium-dark roast it brings intense spice, caramel, cedar, and dark chocolate aromas, giving a rich, full-bodied pressed cup with a good layer of oils.

If you prefer something more floral and refreshing, FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy is a Geisha blend built from a Costa Rica honey-processed coffee and a washed Panama Geisha. Pressed, it releases rose, citrus, grape, and raisin aromas, and with milk it turns into a strawberry-marshmallow sweetness.

The grind is the key to press brewing. FrontStreet Coffee suggests a coarse grind the size of coarse granulated sugar, roughly setting 10.5 on an EK43s electric grinder or 26 on a hand grinder, with grains that look like small gravel rather than fine sand; too fine a grind lets grounds slip through the metal filter and leaves sediment in the cup. Use a 1:15 ratio (15 grams of coffee to 225 grams of water) for a brew around 1.1-1.2% strength. Since a press is filled in one pour with no stirring during the steep, use water a degree or two hotter than a normal pour-over, around 90°C (if you have no thermometer, boil and let the water rest 2-3 minutes). Steep for 4 minutes as a starting point, within a general 3-5 minute range, stirring gently after pouring, then press the plunger down slowly and pour carefully without disturbing the grounds at the bottom.