Preparing Coffee With A French Press
This simple, elegant brewer is the easiest way to make good coffee. Freshly boiled water is poured over coarsely ground coffee, then allowed to infuse for about four minutes. The plunger�s stainless steel filter is then pressed down through the infusion, resulting in a very thickly textured cup rich in natural coffee oils.
Amount of Coffee: Bodum, the principal manufac- turer of these and many other brewers, defines a cup as 4 ounces. The 1-cup scoop which comes with their products is sized accordingly, holding 7 grams of medium-roasted coffee. For the most popular 1-liter (8-cup) size, use 2 dry weight ounces of beans (.12 on a digital scale). A convenient volumetric approximation for this amount is a 12-ounce paper cup filled 3/4-full, or a blade grinder�s worth.
Grind: Coarse, about 12 seconds in a blade grinder.
Steps For Brewing
- Make sure the brewer is clean. If it has been sitting unused for any length of time, residual oils in the filter screen assembly may be rancid and will spoil anything you brew. To avoid this common problem, disassemble the screen, scrub it thoroughly by hand with dish soap, clean, and reassemble. Always store your plunger pot with a couple of inches of water covering the screens; coffee oils only turn rancid when they dry.
- Measure your ground coffee into the press pot, and bring a liter of fresh water to boil in a kettle.
- Remove your kettle from the heat, wait a moment to achieve the just-off-boil temperature, and pour half the water over the grounds. Give them a quick stir, add the rest of the water and place the filter assembly loosely on top. (This traps the aroma.)
- Enter 4 minutes on your countdown timer and press start, or keep a close eye on your watch.
- When the 4 minutes are up, gently press the plunger through the grounds and serve. If you encounter much resistance when you start to plunge, pull up gently on the plunger and then continue pressing down. Always press straight down, not at an angle, to avoid breaking the glass.
To brew iced coffee
- Grind and measure twice the amount of coffee used for coffee served hot.
- Follow steps 2-5 above. As the coffee brews, fill serving cups or a pitcher full to the top with ice (made from good water, of course). You may encounter extra resistance when plunging.
- Pour the double-strength coffee over the ice. Enjoy!
The best coffees to serve iced fall into two camps: those with strong floral or fruity tastes, such as Kenya, and those with milder characteristics. Here�s an unusual must-try: half Sumatra, half French. Mind-bogglingly strong when hot, this combination has great presence and persistence when diluted over ice.