The Ultimate Guide to French Press: Complete Introduction and Brewing Tutorial

As the simplest brewing device among all coffee-making equipment, the French Press requires no precise pouring techniques or complex variable control, making it often the first choice for those who want an easy way to make coffee.

What is a French Press?

Originating from France, it consists of a cylindrical container and a lid with a metal filter that can be pushed up and down through the center, used to separate coffee grounds from coffee liquid to control extraction. The principle of the French Press is just like making tea - you steep coffee grounds in hot water for a certain amount of time, then push the plunger down to filter and obtain the coffee liquid. Although brewing coffee with a French Press is truly convenient, some friends have given feedback to FrontStreet Coffee that the coffee they make with their French Press always tastes unsatisfactory.

Key Brewing Parameters

How coarse should the grind be? How long should it steep? What water temperature? What ratio?

When we look at French Press tutorials, they generally recommend using coarse grounds. FrontStreet Coffee suggests choosing a coarseness where 70% passes through a China #20 standard sieve - roughly the size of coarse sugar.

Coarse grinding not only increases the fault tolerance of the extraction process but also reduces the extremely fine powder produced during grinding. French Press metal filters typically range between 80-300 microns, with filter holes that are visibly large to the naked eye, so fine particles easily pass through and enter the coffee liquid, making it cloudy. Of course, if you want to pursue more layered flavors and textures, you can also use fine grinding, but remember to reduce the steeping time accordingly to avoid over-extraction.

Time is a parameter that can be freely adjusted in French Press brewing. Without human stirring factors, 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 likely to become over-extracted, leading to bitterness, astringency, and woody flavors. Paired with coarse grinding, FrontStreet Coffee recommends about 4 minutes for light to medium roast coffee, while medium-dark roast coffee is more likely to extract bitterness, so 3 minutes and 30 seconds is sufficient. This time can fully release positive flavor compounds while avoiding the bitter mixed taste from steeping too long.

Since the French Press completes water pouring all at once, the extraction temperature will gradually decrease over time, so it needs slightly higher water temperature than pour-over. If brewing acidic light to medium roast coffee, you can use 92-94°C, while bitter medium-dark roast coffee should 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.

Adjusting coffee concentration naturally depends on the coffee-to-water ratio. FrontStreet Coffee generally recommends using a 1:16 ratio for brewing. For example, using 15 grams of coffee means you should pour 240ml of water. Coffee brewed with this ratio will have a concentration of about 1.1-1.2%, which is a very comfortable concentration range. If friends prefer a richer taste, they can also use a 1:15 ratio.

Coffee Bean Selection

"Is this coffee bean suitable for French Press brewing?"

Many customers, after selecting a coffee bean, ask FrontStreet Coffee whether it's suitable for French Press brewing. Theoretically, the French Press is suitable for all coffee beans that can be used for pour-over, but considering its extraction principle belongs to static immersion extraction, oils give the coffee more body, and flavors tend toward richness and balance, making it more suitable for expressing medium to dark roast coffees, such as black chocolate, nut, and caramel flavors. If you use light roast acidic coffee for extraction, the floral and fruity notes in the coffee can easily be masked, failing to highlight rich flavor layers.

Maintenance and Cleaning

Even "lazy people" need to clean and maintain their equipment

After long-term use, the metal filter of a French Press will absorb and accumulate oils released from coffee. Residual oil on the filter and plunger rod will oxidize and deteriorate, thus affecting subsequent use. Therefore, we must remember to clean it promptly after using the French Press. When cleaning the French Press, you need to disassemble all metal parts. Both the container and parts need to be washed with detergent and completely wiped dry and air-dried before storage.

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