Coffee
How to Make French Press Coffee
French press coffee is simple arithmetic plus patience: coarse-ground coffee, water just off the boil, a 1:15 ratio by weight, four minutes of steeping, and one slow plunge. That is roughly 30 g of coffee to 450 ml of water for a standard three-cup press.
The ratio and the grind
- Start at 1:15 by weight — 1 g of coffee for every 15 g (ml) of water. Stronger: 1:14. Lighter: 1:17.
- For a 350 ml press use about 23 g; for 1 litre use about 65 g.
- Grind coarse, like sea salt. Fine grounds slip through the mesh and keep extracting after the plunge, which is what makes press coffee taste bitter and silty.
- Grind immediately before brewing if you can. Pre-ground supermarket coffee is usually cut for drip and is too fine for a press.
The method, step by step
- Boil the water, then wait 30 seconds. Around 93-96 °C (200-205 °F) is the target; boiling water scorches the grounds.
- Rinse the press with hot water so the brew does not lose heat immediately, and add the coffee.
- Pour in twice the coffee's weight in water, stir once and wait 30 seconds. This 'bloom' lets trapped CO2 escape so the rest of the water extracts evenly.
- Add the remaining water, put the lid on with the plunger raised, and leave it for 4 minutes.
- Stir the crust on top, skim off the foam if you like a cleaner cup, then press down slowly — 15-20 seconds, not one shove.
- Decant immediately into cups or a carafe. Coffee left sitting on the grounds keeps extracting and turns bitter.
Fixing a bad cup
- Bitter or harsh: grind coarser, shorten the steep, or let the water cool a little longer before pouring.
- Weak or sour: use more coffee, steep a little longer, or grind slightly finer.
- Muddy and silty: the grind is too fine, or you plunged too fast.
- Cold by the third cup: preheat the press and decant straight after plunging.
A French press does more than coffee
- It is a workable milk frother: pour in warm or cold milk and plunge quickly 30-40 times.
- It makes cold brew — coarse grounds, cold water, 12-18 hours in the fridge at about 1:8, then plunge and dilute.
- It brews loose-leaf tea with the same steep-and-press motion.
- Wash the mesh screen properly. Old coffee oils in the filter are the most common reason a press starts tasting stale.
Gocha FrothMaster Handheld Milk Frother
View the product1:15 by weight is the standard starting point — about 30 g of coffee to 450 ml of water. Use 1:14 for a stronger cup or 1:17 for a lighter one.
Four minutes from the final pour, then plunge slowly and decant right away so the coffee stops extracting.
Usually the grind is too fine, the water was boiling, the steep ran long, or the coffee sat on the grounds after plunging.
Yes. Pour in milk no more than a third full and plunge fast 30-40 times. The foam is coarser than a frother whisk produces but perfectly usable.