How to use a French press

Ah, the French press. One of the simplest ways to brew delicious coffee. Shoutout to the two Frenchmen, Henri-Otto Mayer and Jacques-Victor Delforge, who patented the initial French press design in 1852. We at Lab Fuel salute you! Unfortunately, many have their French press tucked away in a long-forgotten corner of their pantry because they don’t know how to use it properly. Motivated by this disheartening trend, we wrote this step-by-step guide for how to use a French Press. Mayer and Delforge would be proud!

What you need to get started

Equipment:

• A French press (bet you didn't see that one coming). We like to use a classic Bodum Chambord 8-cup press.
• Kettle
• Digital kitchen scale
• Coffee grinder.
• Timer 
• Spoon(s)

Ingredients:

• Water. For best results, we suggest using filtered water. 
• Freshly roasted coffee beans 

How to make coffee using a French press. 

Step 1: Don't be in a rush

Using a French press is a great way to brew tasty coffee. However, it takes about ten minutes to make coffee using this method. Don't let this time commitment dissuade you. We promise that your patience will be rewarded. 

Step 2: Bring your water to a boil

Check out the table at the end of this post to determine how much water to use.

Quick side notes: some French press aficionados like to preheat their press with hot water before starting the brewing process. The idea is that preheating the press keeps the water temperature consistent throughout the brewing process. If you'd like to preheat your press, go for it! However, we found that preheating our press didn't make much difference in the taste of our coffee. 

Step 3: Weigh your coffee beans

The French press relies on an immersion brewing technique where you submerge coffee grounds in hot water for a few minutes. The amount of coffee you use depends on the size of your French press and how strong you like your coffee. We suggest using 7 grams of coffee for every 100 milliliters (100 grams) of water as a starting place. In our experience, this coffee-to-water ratio helps to avoid over-extraction and bitter-tasting coffee. Check out the table at the end of this post for more details. 

We suggest using 7 grams of coffee for every 100 milliliters (100 grams) of water as a starting place.  

Step 4: Grind your coffee beans

Grind your pre-weighed coffee beans to a medium-coarse grind. We don't recommend using pre-ground coffee in a French press for two reasons. First, grinding the coffee beans yourself will ensure they are as fresh as possible. Second, pre-ground coffee is often ground for drip brewers. This type of grind can potentially clog your French press' filter. Even worse, the smaller grind size could lead to over-extraction (aka the dreaded bitter coffee we are trying to avoid). 

Grind your pre-weighed coffee beans to a medium-coarse grind

Step 5: Add coffee and water to the French press

Remove your press' lid and place ground coffee inside. Add the required amount of boiling water. Start a timer for 4 minutes.

After 4 minutes have passed, remove the press lid and stir the coffee grounds on top of the water with a spoon. Then wait for 5 more minutes. We've found that skipping this step can increase the sediment in your cup after the brewing process. Yikes! 

After 4 minutes have passed, remove the press lid and stir the coffee grounds on top of the water with a spoon. Then, wait  for 5 more minutes. 

Step 7: Filter your coffee and enjoy

Place the lid back onto the press and slowly filter your coffee by pushing the plunger downward. Congratulations! You made your first batch of French press coffee.

Final thoughts

We hope you found this guide helpful and use it to start brewing coffee using your French press. Speaking of coffee, what type do you plan to brew using your new found French press knowledge? Leave a comment to let us know. We'd love to hear from you.