Tips For Brewing With a French Press

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Hey folks, how’re ye getting on? We’re still settling into January, the blues are starting to leave us! We’ve got loads of questions in the shop recently about different brew methods and what’s the best way to brew for each one. So we’ve decided to make a brewing series on our blog, where we talk about different brew methods, recipes and tips and tricks to help you make savage coffee at home! We’re going to kick it off with the iconic French Press!

Tip 1: Clean Your French Press Up!

It seems like an obvious one, but sometimes this is ignored! Cleaning your French Press is vital to get rid of the coffee left over from your previous brew. It’s quick and easy to do! First, when you’ve finished your coffee, fill the French Press with cold water, on top of the left over coffee grounds. Next, pour the grounds and water mix into a sieve over the sink to separate them. Put the grinds into the bin or keep them for compost. Add warm water and soap to the glass, and press the plunger up and down a few times. Pour that water out and give the glass a clean with a sponge or cloth, whatever takes your fancy! Check out this video for a tutorial on it!

 

Tip 2: Use A Scales

If you want to make great coffee every time, you need a scales. You know how it is, everyone’s tablespoon is different, sometimes heaped, sometimes flat. It’s very difficult to measure exactly by eye. So get your scales out. You can use the digital scales, which measures to the gram (g) but the best one is the coffee gear scales (they measure to the .1 of a gram!) which are available here. The scales will help to give you consistency. You want to be able to replicate your favourite brew, every day right? The scales is your answer!

Coffee Scales

Tip 3: Hot, Not Boiling.

This may seem like a strange one, but using boiling water (100° ) isn’t ideal for making coffee! We use a variety of temperatures in our shop, ranging from 88° to 96° . Measuring temperature at home is a bit much though, right? What we do at home is boil the kettle, then leave it cool down for 2 minutes. The water should be at a good temperature for brewing then and you won’t burn the mouth off yourself!

Bonus Tip: Try filtering the water before boiling it, gets rid of the nasty stuff!

Tip 4: Use A Wooden Spoon To Break & Stir

Has anyone ever shattered their french press or cracked the glass? We definitely have. This is because we were stirring with metal spoon, breaking down the glass when we tapped off it. Not great right? What we did to fix this was use a wooden spoon to avoid the metal touching the glass! Sounds simple, but it does the job!

French Press Wooden Spoon

Tip 5: Grab Your Timer

A timer is so important when brewing coffee. If the coffee is not brewed for long enough it’ll be sour, or two long it’ll be bitter and burnt. So grabbing your timer gives you a bit more accuracy and consistency when making coffee!

French Press Timer

Tip 6: Check This Recipe Out!

What we were originally taught is to brew for 4-5 minutes, then press down completely and serve. What happened was that the cups we served contained a bit of sediment and it wasn’t our favourite brewing method. We then stumbled across this recipe, where you grind the coffee a little finer than what we originally did, leave it sit for 4 minutes, break the crust, stir and remove the”suds” on top and leave sit for another 5 minutes to both cool the coffee down and help the sediment fall to the bottom. It is savage! Chris Baca from Cat & Cloud Coffee demonstrates this recipe so well. Check it out below!

Let us know what you think of these tips and tell us if you have any tips or tricks of your own! If you’re looking for a french press, we have a 3-Cup and and 8-Cup in stock at the moment!

That’s all from us we’ll be back with more brewing tips very soon! Enjoy!

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