French Press vs Pour-Over: Which Tastes Better? Which Coffee Maker is More Practical?

The Difference Between French Press and Pour-Over Coffee

To put it simply, the difference between French press and pour-over coffee lies between immersion and filtration. French press belongs to immersion extraction, while pour-over belongs to drip extraction. Below, FrontStreet Coffee compares these two coffee brewing methods.

Taste Differences Between French Press and Pour-Over Coffee

Pour-over coffee is one of the most common serving methods in specialty coffee shops today. Each coffee bean can exhibit unique flavor profiles under the control of the barista's brewing parameters. Therefore, pour-over offers more variety and higher playability. Since pour-over uses the water flow from the gooseneck kettle as the "extraction tool" to stir the coffee grounds and release the flavor compounds within, the efficiency of various compounds released at each stage differs, which creates more distinct layers in the taste of pour-over coffee.

The completely immersion-based French press has an extraction principle similar to making tea. Hot water is poured all at once over the ground coffee, allowing the water to penetrate the coffee grounds and wait for the flavor compounds to be released. Finally, the coffee grounds are filtered out from the coffee liquid to obtain a cup of black coffee. The biggest advantage of immersion equipment is that it doesn't require high-level brewing skills or any special accessories - it's easier to master than pour-over methods, which is why it's also called the "lazy person's coffee equipment." Because the entire process involves immersion, French press coffee emphasizes a richer, fuller body and relatively balanced flavors.

What Equipment is Needed for Pour-Over?

To make pour-over coffee at home, we need to equip ourselves with the following tools: gooseneck kettle, dripper, server, coffee grinder, filter paper, electronic scale, and thermometer.

The coffee grinder plays a very important role in pour-over and is typically divided into two categories: manual grinders and electric grinders. Regardless of which grinding equipment you choose, the goal is to obtain evenly ground coffee particles. The coarseness of the coffee grind directly affects the taste of the coffee. If the grind is too coarse, it's prone to under-extraction resulting in a weak taste; if too fine, it's prone to over-extraction, resulting in a bitter taste. FrontStreet Coffee uses a tool to adjust the grind size - a China No. 20 0.85mm standard sieve. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe is a high-altitude, light to medium roast coffee bean with high hardness. FrontStreet Coffee hopes to extract more rich aromatic compounds, so it selects a grind size with an 80% pass rate through the No. 20 standard sieve, corresponding to a setting of 10 on the EK43s grinder used in their stores.

The thermometer is used to measure the temperature of hot water. Water temperature plays a similar role to grind size - the higher the water temperature, the higher the coffee extraction efficiency, making it easier to release various compounds and resulting in higher concentration. If using near-boiling hot water for brewing, it's easy to extract unpleasant bitter compounds. Therefore, when brewing medium to dark roast coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee uses different brewing parameters than for light roast beans. FrontStreet Coffee recommends using 87-90°C for medium to dark roasted coffee beans, while lightly roasted coffee requires higher temperatures to stimulate aroma, thus using 91-93°C.

There are many different styles of coffee filter cups on the market. Different styles of filter cups can provide different brewing effects during the pour-over process and require corresponding filter paper to isolate coffee grounds. FrontStreet Coffee's daily store offerings typically choose Hario V60 and KONO filter cups. The V60 filter cup is mainly responsible for brewing lightly roasted coffee beans, while the KONO filter cup handles more deeply roasted coffee beans.

The gooseneck kettle is used to steadily inject hot water into the coffee grounds. The narrow-spouted kettle can pour a stable water flow, more evenly rinsing the coffee bed to release flavor compounds. An electronic scale allows us to control the total water amount and extraction time, aiming to brew according to the originally designed brewing plan. FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing a fast-display electronic scale with timing functionality, or directly searching for "pour-over coffee electronic scale" when making a purchase.

The Charm of Pour-Over Coffee

The charm of pour-over coffee lies in the ability to adjust various subtle parameters, regulate extraction variables at different stages, and create coffee with flavors and mouthfeel that you personally enjoy. FrontStreet Coffee believes that all the parameters mentioned above are very important factors affecting pour-over coffee. Mastering these will lead to more stable extraction and better flavor presentation.

How to Operate a French Press?

The construction of a French press consists of a cylindrical container and a lid. The middle of the lid has a metal filter that can be pulled up and down, used to separate coffee grounds from coffee liquid to control extraction. The principle of a French press is similar to making tea - after soaking coffee grounds in hot water for a certain period of time, the plunger is pushed down to filter and obtain the coffee liquid.

Unlike the complexity of pour-over coffee, the "one-pour" water injection method of French press is much simpler. This means there are only four factors affecting the coffee: coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, water temperature, and steeping time. Similar to cupping, extraction is relatively stable, and the coffee's flavor can better reflect its original taste.

Since French press completes water injection all at once, the extraction temperature gradually decreases over time, so it needs slightly higher water temperature than pour-over. If brewing acidic coffee with light to medium roast, you can use 92-94°C, while bitter coffee with medium to dark roast is recommended to use 89-90°C. During autumn and winter when room temperature is lower, we can preheat the French press with boiling water to reduce heat dissipation during extraction.

Time is a parameter that can be freely controlled in French press brewing. Without the factor of manual stirring, steeping time becomes one of the key factors affecting extraction rate. Under the same conditions, generally, the longer the extraction time, the richer the taste, but it's also more prone to over-extraction leading to bitterness, astringency, and woody flavors. Paired with coarse grinding, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a steeping time of about 4 minutes for light to medium roast coffee. Medium to dark roast coffee more easily extracts bitter flavors, so steeping for 3 minutes and 30 seconds is sufficient. This time allows for full release of positive flavor compounds while avoiding the bitterness and off-flavors that come from over-steeping.

Which is Better: Pour-Over or French Press?

If you ask FrontStreet Coffee whether pour-over coffee or French press coffee is better, FrontStreet Coffee believes there's no standard answer - what suits you is what's best. If you want to taste the richer, more diverse layers of coffee, choose pour-over coffee; if you want simple operation to get a cup of black coffee with rich aroma, choose French press.

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's private WeChat account, 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