How much coffee for a French press? How much coffee powder for a standard French press? Does French press coffee have more crema?

Coffee is becoming increasingly popular among people, with various brewing methods available. However, when you're busy, making a pour-over might seem time-consuming, and even pulling an espresso shot might feel like too much effort. In such situations, using a "lazy pot" to make coffee might be an excellent choice! Compared to pour-over coffee, French press coffee retains more oils and has a richer, rounder mouthfeel, though it has less crema than espresso.

Understanding Coffee Oils

When it comes to coffee oils, you might immediately think of the "foam" layer on top of espresso, also known as "Crema." If espresso lacks that layer of oils, it might be considered an unsuccessful espresso. Indeed, espresso is perfect with that layer of oils. The oils in espresso are mainly composed of carbon dioxide and insoluble oils from coffee grounds.

After roasting, coffee beans contain gases like carbon dioxide. When modern semi-automatic espresso machines extract coffee, they create 9 bars of pressure to "squeeze" the coffee puck. Due to the high pressure, water becomes supersaturated with carbon dioxide, preventing its release and causing it to dissolve directly into the coffee liquid. During this process, fats in the coffee are emulsified, encapsulating carbon dioxide. Since these fats are lighter than water, they gradually separate, forming a beautiful golden oil layer on the surface.

The French Press Method

The French press is indeed one of the most convenient home coffee makers, and it's also a brewing method that most completely preserves coffee flavors (easily showcasing good flavors while also exposing coffee's flaws), so it requires higher quality and freshness of coffee beans. The French press is also the easiest method among those we've mastered to replicate the same coffee consistently. With the same French press, same coffee beans, same water temperature, same water amount, and same brewing time, different people can almost replicate the same cup of coffee—something that pour-over and siphon methods cannot achieve, making it the most recommended method for beginners to learn.

French Press: Also known as French press pot, press pot, tea maker, or "lazy pot," it's a simple brewing device consisting of a heat-resistant glass body (or transparent plastic) and a metal filter with a plunger, originating in France around 1850. Initially used primarily for brewing black tea, some people still refer to it as a tea maker.

The French press is the simplest to operate among all coffee brewing equipment, and its extraction rate is closest to that of professional coffee cupping. It can fully express coffee's oil components, aromas, and various flavor compounds, resulting in smooth, sweet, and rich mouthfeel—making it an excellent coffee brewing choice. Therefore, it's loved by most people.

The French press is indeed one of the most convenient home coffee makers, and it's also a brewing method that most completely preserves coffee flavors (easily showcasing good flavors while also exposing coffee's flaws), so it requires higher quality and freshness of coffee beans. The French press is also the easiest method among those we've mastered to replicate the same coffee consistently. With the same French press, same coffee beans, same water temperature, same water amount, and same brewing time, different people can almost replicate the same cup of coffee—something that pour-over and siphon methods cannot achieve, making it the most recommended method for beginners to learn.

French Press Brewing Method

Let's now learn about this simplest French press coffee brewing method:

We're using a two-serving French press to make coffee for two people. The typical ratio of coffee grounds to water is 1:14-18. Some French presses have water measurement markings, while others don't—we can use a kitchen scale to measure. For French presses with markings, you need to pour water first before adding coffee grounds to ensure an accurate coffee-to-water ratio.

☆ The grind size for French press coffee should be about the coarseness of brown sugar (coarse grind), with relatively uniform particle size. This is related to the French press's extraction and filtering method—the metal filter has lower density, allowing fine particles to pass through easily. Hot water directly contacts coffee grounds, and overly fine grinding can lead to over-extraction.

Equipment Needed:

French press, pour-over kettle, coffee grinder, thermometer, kitchen scale, timer, fresh coffee beans, coffee cup.

FrontStreet Coffee's French Press Brewing Steps:

1. Weigh 20g of fresh coffee beans.
2. Typically, French press water temperature can be controlled between 85-95°C. Adjust according to the bean's roast level—lighter roasts can use higher temperatures to highlight aromas, while darker roasts can use lower temperatures to suppress bitterness. This requires adjustment based on experience and personal preference.
3. Pour ground coffee into the French press.
4. Add water, similar to pour-over method with circular pouring motions.

5. Add approximately 300g of hot water, with a coffee-to-water ratio of about 1:15. As mentioned earlier, French press ratio is roughly 1:14-18, adjustable to personal taste. Since this French press has no measurement markings, we'll use a kitchen scale to measure water amount. After adding coffee grounds, reset the scale to zero, then weigh the hot water. Although there's some error between hot water weight and volume compared to cold water, this error is negligible in home brewing conditions.
6. Stir.

7. Place the lid on, but don't press down the filter yet. Let it steep for 4 minutes. Shorter time results in weaker flavor, longer time in stronger flavor, so adjust time based on personal preference.

8. Filter: Press down the plunger slowly to the bottom of the pot (this action should be slow to prevent fine particles from passing through the metal filter. Stop when approaching the bottom—don't wait until it can't move further).

9. Pour the coffee: Slowly tilt the French press to prevent coffee grounds at the bottom from floating up due to vigorous shaking, which would affect the taste.

10. Enjoy your French press coffee.

Does French Press Coffee Have Lots of Oils?

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, French press coffee has more oils than pour-over coffee but less than espresso, making it moderate in oil content.

Espresso Machine

If you want to extract coffee oils, the espresso machine is the most suitable extraction method because it uses fixed high pressure to extract coffee liquid—something other methods don't have. The extracted oils are the most abundant, perfect for latte art, with very rich mouthfeel, typically using dark roast blended beans with fine grinding.

Moka Pot

Friends who have used moka pots know that coffee extracted from them has relatively higher bitterness and concentration, requiring dilution with water or milk for consumption. Additionally, when moka pots use finely ground, dark roasted coffee beans for extraction, they can also produce rich coffee oils, though not as much as espresso machines. If budget is limited but you want to enjoy the oils of freshly ground coffee, the moka pot is undoubtedly an excellent choice.

French Press

To extract oils using a French press, you must use medium-coarse ground, dark roasted coffee beans. The oils extracted from French press won't be abundant, but the French press's characteristic is simplicity and convenience. If you want to quickly and easily enjoy a cup of coffee with oils, the French press is a good choice.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations:

Whether it's pour-over, French press, or espresso, as long as it's a flavor you personally enjoy, it's good coffee. FrontStreet Coffee believes that any brewing method requires fresh coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee has always maintained that coffee bean freshness greatly affects coffee flavor, which is why all coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are roasted within 5 days. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "freshly roasted good coffee," ensuring every customer receives the freshest coffee when they receive their order. The coffee bean degassing period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their beans, they're at their optimal flavor peak.

For friends who need ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee kindly reminds you: If coffee beans are ground in advance, there's no need for degassing because the pressure from carbon dioxide in the packaging during transportation can also help round out the coffee flavor, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly because it oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning coffee flavors dissipate relatively fast, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better appreciate the coffee's flavors.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official 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