French Press Coffee: Grind Size, Water Temperature, Steps, Process, Characteristics - How Does French Press Coffee Taste?

Making Coffee at Home: FrontStreet Coffee's French Press Method

Unsurprisingly, FrontStreet Coffee has been working from home for the past few days. This created a problem because the transition was so sudden that I didn't prepare the necessary coffee brewing equipment in advance. But a coffee lover can't go a day without coffee, so after rummaging through everything, I found some long-forgotten equipment.

"A Chemex, but no corresponding filter paper; a V60, with filter paper available, but no pour-over kettle, electronic scale, or thermometer...; a French press, which seems like it might work."

Finding the Right Equipment

Back in the shop with all the professional coffee equipment available, FrontStreet Coffee rarely shared methods for brewing coffee in simple conditions. This time provides the perfect opportunity to share how FrontStreet Coffee does it.

Among these three available devices, the "Chemex" without its dedicated filter paper can only serve as a vase. The remaining filter cup with paper could勉强 suffice for pour-over, but without the stable water flow from a pour-over kettle and the difference in grinding quality from a proper grinder, achieving even 70% of the shop's quality level would be quite challenging.

That leaves only the French press as a viable option. In the past, FrontStreet Coffee has described the French press as a very simple and straightforward device for brewing good coffee. However, it still requires attention to appropriate water temperature, ratio, time, and some technique details.

Solving the Ratio Problem Without Equipment

Without an electronic scale or thermometer, it's difficult to solve the ratio and water temperature problems. But difficult doesn't mean there are no alternative solutions.

The advantage of a French press is that it has measurement markings on its body. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's French press has markings for "1CUP, 2CUP, 3CUP." After checking the manual, 1CUP equals 200ml, 2CUP equals 400ml... This solves half of the ratio problem.

The other half is solving the problem of weighing coffee beans. Without an electronic scale, we can use other things as substitutes, such as a measuring spoon. When you buy a V60 filter cup, one usually comes with it - that spoon holds about 12g of level coffee powder.

But what if you don't have these measuring tools? FrontStreet Coffee has another method, inspired by the story "Cao Chong Weighing the Elephant" from the second-grade Chinese textbook. In that story, Cao Chong used the displacement method to weigh an elephant. We just need to reverse this concept: use objects of fixed weight to displace a certain amount of water, then place coffee beans until they reach the same water displacement level to get coffee beans of a fixed weight.

Here's a little piece of knowledge: China's one-yuan coin weighs about 6g, 50-cent coin about 3.8g, and 10-cent coin about 3.2g. From this, we can create common coffee amounts like 12g, 15.2g, 18g, 20g, 22.2g, etc. This solves the ratio problem.

Managing Water Temperature and Brewing Parameters

Next comes the water temperature issue. Since we can't precisely control water temperature, we need to make other parameters as rigorous as possible to achieve a wider compatible temperature range. Earlier this year, FrontStreet Coffee wrote an article about water temperature that included an experiment: using 100°C, 94°C, and 80°C water to steep coffee in cupping form. The results showed that coffee at 100°C only developed unpleasant bitter and miscellaneous flavors after 20 minutes, while 94°C took 30 minutes to show slight off-flavors, and 80°C needed to steep for more than 10 minutes to show obvious flavors, though the taste was balanced but bland.

This means using cupping parameters can maximize compatibility with significant water temperature differences. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee uses a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:18, with 2CUP (400ml) of water, calculating exactly 22.2g of coffee grounds. The grinder used is an 800-yuan hand grinder, which is considered adequate quality. Compared to an EK grinder, there's still a significant difference in grinding quality, so the grind will be slightly coarser to avoid the risk of fine particles.

As for water temperature, FrontStreet Coffee's approach is to bring water to a boil, open the kettle lid, and let it sit for one minute before pouring. If you can measure the temperature, 93-94°C would be ideal.

The Brewing Process

Once the theoretical parameters are prepared, the practical part becomes very simple. Pour the ground coffee into the pot, then pour hot water into the pot up to the measurement line.

Then wait for 4 minutes, and gently stir the coffee grounds on the surface with a spoon, similar to "breaking the crust" in cupping. At the 5-minute mark, gently press down the plunger - you don't need to press it all the way, just to about halfway down or slightly lower. Then simply pour out the coffee liquid, and you're done.

Conclusion

This time, the coffee-related equipment used only included a French press and a hand grinder. Perhaps everyone's minimalist environment is different, but as long as you think creatively, there will always be a solution.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473