How to Make French Press Coffee Taste Great Every Time

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Most people who think they don’t like french press coffee, really just haven’t had good french press coffee.  That’s okay, there is a lot of misinformation about what it takes to actually make good french press coffee.

So rumors abound, and people begin to think that french press coffee just isn’t that good.

Here’s How You Make It – The Right Way

  • You need to use the right water.  Use a Brita filter or some equivalent and make sure that the water is cold.  Starting the process with high quality, cold, filtered water will produce a much better cup of coffee that is fully extracted and very soft on the palate.  The excess minerals in tap water can cause the coffee to have all sorts of strange flavors added.  We don’t want strange flavors – we just want good coffee.
  • Grind freshly roasted whole bean coffee with a manual conical burr grinder.  You do not want to use a blade grinder for your coffee because these damage the bean instead of crushing it – this causes the flavor notes (that you are paying for when you buy freshly roasted whole beans) to be lost.  Don’t waste hard earned money by using a blade grinder, buy a manual conical burr grinder: they’re inexpensive, dishwasher safe, and are very easy to use.  They will increase the quality of your coffee by leaps and bounds.
  • Don’t overheat your water.  Water for a french press should be as close to 200 degrees Fahrenheit as possible when you pour it into the press pot.  If the water is boiling it will not be able to extract as well from the ground coffee and will cause the entire pot of coffee to taste stark, bitter, and extremely over extracted.  I have little doubt in my mind that this is the primary reason people end up drinking very bad coffee from their french presses.  Just heat the water to boiling and then let it sit for thirty seconds before pouring.  In those thirty seconds it will have cooled down to almost exactly 200 degrees.  If you demand more precision, just use a thermometer.  That’s what we do.

It Isn’t Hard Once You Know What You’re Doing

Learning how to make french press coffee doesn’t take any extra effort, it really doesn’t.  As you can see from our comprehensive instructions, the difference between making stellar press pot coffee at home and making over extracted, flavorless junk is simply a matter of knowing the right steps to take.

Remember: when you are grinding your coffee for the french press it is extremely important that you make sure your grind setting is quite course.  If you grind your coffee to fine it will slip through the wire mesh of the press pot and end up in the final cup of coffee.  We did this the first time we used our Bodum Chambord and it wasn’t a very pretty sight.

So keep the grind course.

Just knowing the right type of water, the temperature, and the type of grinder that you need is all it takes to set yourself apart from other press pot coffee drinkers – people who still don’t know how to make their coffee substantially better.  When you meet these people, don’t forget to pass on the information!