The French Press Review – All you need for gourmet coffee

The French Press coffee maker is a non-electric mobile simple device that extracts fresh flavorful coffee.

It’s a simple process to make great coffee at home, work, or camping each morning with the French press. Besides the simple coffee-making process,  and the easy clean-up, it makes strong coffee that has the flavor and aroma you would expect from a freshly brewed cup of Joe.

This is a very efficient coffee maker with no waste or additional cost from paper filters or any off-taste due to filters. If you are a coffee lover you may notice a difference in flavor and taste from conventional coffee making; if you are not, you will just notice a flavorful cup of coffee with different notes of aroma based on the coffee brand you’ll use.

A French press is very affordable and lasts a long time.

Why do people love French Press coffee maker?

Many coffee drinkers, myself included,  asked, why should we use a French press coffee maker? Well, one reason we’re curious about the French Press, is because this coffee maker will make your coffee taste better. Most manual coffee makers depend on paper filters that filters some of the aroma, flavor, and natural oils in coffee extraction process.

On the other hand, the French press coffee maker process retains the oils that make it into your cup, with a richer, and a full robust aromatic flavor.

The French press coffee maker does not filter the flavor, it adds small bits of coffee grounds in the coffee which extracts the flavor. This coffee process has the grounds steep the flavor instead of a filter, which in turn, makes the coffee tastes original and better.

All the ingredients end up in the cup of Joe, where it should be. In plain English, using a French press means that there is no filter for everything such as the oils, flavor, aroma and all the minerals in the coffee inside the press. The coffee grits is pushed and kept down by the plunger leaving all the natural coffee with out any grits. Its the true and pure coffee taste from this French Press coffee maker.

Electric and automatic coffee makers are not as simple or easy to be cleaned. Over time, residue coffee granules, and powder usually builds up around the inner-workings of most coffee makers. I use my an electric coffee maker, and I have to take it apart to get it cleaned, descaled, and I still have to bring it to a professional maintenance shop every 10 months, to have it professionally cleaned out.

Otherwise, the residual built up can cause your coffee to taste old, stale, or clog the machine. As you may know, most drip coffee pots rest on a heating surface, which continuously brews the coffee until it starts to burn the coffee, and making it taste bitter and flavorless. Coffee will always have the best flavor and aroma when it’s fresh, and a French press is a simple way to always make great fresh coffee.

The French press is one of the most Eco-friendly processes for brewing coffee; it creates virtually no waste. It doesn’t require paper filters, and unlike most other coffee makers, and it doesn’t use plastic pods. A French Press has a simple and quick brewing process.

How can we find the best French Press coffee maker?

Before you buy a new French press coffee maker, here are some things for you to consider:

Material – French presses come in a variety of materials, including glass, ceramic, and stainless steel. Glass and plastic French Presses allow you to see your coffee brewing, and sometimes they can be a great product for the price, and there is the ceramic, stainless steel, which are known to retain heat, keeping your coffee warmer for longer, especially if the carafe is double-walled, but these presses demand a higher price.

Filter – The inclusive three-layer filter made of stainless steel fine mesh is an integral part of a French press. The filters should fit tightly inside the walls of the carafe to ensure the coarse coffee grounds don’t mix into your coffee. This coffee maker should be a precision product.

Size – French presses are very diverse, and come in several sizes, and are made of different materials from 12 ounces (which is good for a single drinker) to 34 ounces, enough for four cups of coffee, or 51 ounces for 6 cups. I have a larger press for my family, or if I have guests.

This, of course,  is an individual preference.

Does the coffee taste good?

The coffee should taste incredibly good if the filter is efficiently brewing the coffee while keeping the grounds and coffee separate. If brewed correctly, this natural way of brewing coffee could be the most excellent and flavorful coffee you have ever tasted. If properly made, the coffee should not have a muddy, gritty  taste, and should be balanced, not bitter and over-extracted. Below it illustrates the simple brewing steps to achieve perfection.

How do you prepare coffee in a French Press?

1. Add Coffee Grounds

At this point, you can grind your coffee beans, or add your already high-quality coarse coffee you’ve chosen to brew, and add that coarsely ground coffee to the carafe. My perfect ratio is to mix 8 grams of ground coffee per 4 oz. of water ratio, unless you would like to increase, or decrease the strength for flavor, in which case you increase or decrease in 1 gram of coffee increments.

2. Pour Hot Water

Preheat the French press by filling it halfway with hot water from a kettle. This is to heat the carafe and keep it warm

3. Bloom to Enhance

Pour your water from your kettle to fill the 2nd half of the carafe in a spiraling motion, and make sure you evenly submerge all the grounds.
This part of the process is called Blooming

4. Fill & Stir

Fill the carafe the rest of the way with hot water while you gently stir to mix the coffee grounds. The ratio of coffee to water should be about 8 grams of ground coffee per 4 oz. of water and go from there. If you like it more, or less strong, then you can increase, or decrease the coffee in small increments till you find your fit, as I mentioned before.

5. Give it Time

I know you’re ready and anxious to take a sip, but let it sit for 3-4 minutes, then press that plunger all the way down gently, until the coffee grounds are packed on the bottom. Now you can definitely pour a cup or two, and enjoy the taste of that delicious flavored coffee. If you will not drink it all immediately, then pour the rest of the coffee into another carafe, or into a traveling mug to keep the coffee in the coffee maker from getting bitter. If you still have some left, place the coffee in the fridge, and have some iced coffee when you get home. Enjoy that cup.

The Best Grinder for French Press Coffee

Coffee beans grind is probably one of the most critical in the process of making that perfect coffee, but even more so for French Press, probably the most important thing some would say. First it starts with buying quality coffee beans, which is also important, and in the preparation process, you’ll grind your beans to a coarse, even ground. If you’re like me, you always, want freshly ground beans, so it very important to complement your French Press with an excellent and consistent coffee grinder, like the very popular and high quality Baratza Encore Conical Burr grinder. I recommend you pick this grinder, as it provides precision and consistent grinds for brew methods from espresso to French Press and everything in between. Easy and precise to use. Below, the illustration shows the coffee coarseness you should achieve for French Press coffee making.

One way to know whether the grounds are too fine or too coarse is when you press the filter down. You will know If the grounds are too fine, because there is great resistance pressing the plunger down. If the grounds are too coarse, the plunger will slide down w/o resistance. The illustration below, shows the appropriate coffee coarseness for the French Press.

The Takeaway

If you want to make the best French press coffee at a reasonable price, get one of the most popular ones on the market with a huge following and extremely high ratings, the Bodum Micro-Filtered  French Press, illustrated above.

The press is classic for a reason: it’s simple, has timeless beautiful looks, feels nice in the hand, and makes an incredible, flavorful, and aromatic-tasting cup of Joe. This French Press, has a patented double micro-filter which provides you with that deep rich flavor without any coffee grit in your mug. All this functionality at an affordable price compared to its competitors and other coffee makers that are much higher priced.

After I purchased my French Pres, I realized that a high-quality grinder is a critical part of the equation in the French Press coffee making process that results in incredible gourmet coffee. We recommend the Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder which makes it easy to grind precise fresh coffee. This grinder is the best unit for the budget as an Electric Coffee Grinder perfect for French Press coffee makers.

After you become a French Press gourmet coffee lover, you will want to take this incredible coffee flavor with you and sip on it all day while you are away from home. So, when I travel or on my way to the office, I take with me, and I can use it to make another coffee in the office. I believe that this travel coffee maker, is hands down one of the best travel french press on the market. It’s the Bodum travel French Press, which I highly recommend for you to try. You’ll become best friends every morning.  You will have a savvy, hassle-free coffee traveler with the lightest travel press on the market. You will Brew and sip barista style coffee anywhere.

If you have any comments, please leave them below, I’d love to hear from you. If you’re a coffee lover and a dog lover check these pet supplements.