French press / Cafetière

Pour some hot water, wait, press the plunger down.

Have your tried coffee made in a French press? If so, you probably remember the unpleasant gritty texture on the tongue, as some of the coffee grounds make it to the cup. But it doesn't have to be that way.

You are going to need the following:

• French press
• Gram scale
• Spoon
• Decanter (optional)
• 15g to 17g coffee per person
• 250g water per person

Turn on the kettle, weigh and grind the coffee. When using a light to medium roasted coffee (such as ours) you can let the kettle reach 100℃. With darker roasted coffees, you might want to lower the temperature to 95℃ or 90℃ to reduce bitterness.

Place the French press on the scale, add the ground coffee then tare the scale. Pour the hot water to the desired weight, set a 4 minutes timer. Keep the plunger aside for now.

After 4 minutes, stir vigorously with the spoon, until all ground coffee have sunken to the bottom. Place the plunger on the brewer but don't press it down. Wait another 4 minutes.

Now here is the difficult part.

Do not press the plunger down.

I know, that's what it is designed for! I know it is very tempting. But now that the coffee grounds have settled to the bottom, we must be very careful not to agitate the brew., and pressing the plunger down would do just that.

Instead, hold the French press with one hand and place your other hand on top of the plunger to stop it from falling. Now, slowly, carefully pour the coffee in the mug or decanter. Don't rush this part, as we still want to minimize agitation.

Decanting the coffee is optional, but very helpful when serving more than one person. Indeed, the repeated back in forth motion that goes with serving cup after cup can agitate the brew.

Enjoy!