Brew Coffee in a French Press
J. Michael Wheeler
Making coffee in a French Press is
simplicity itself: medium to coarsely ground coffee is placed in a
cylinder, hot water is poured into the cylinder and a plunger separates
the coffee from the grounds. Done.
Like other brewing methods you can vary the amount of coffee to your preferences. Illy suggests one tablespoon per 8 ounces, others recommend two tablespoons per eight ounces (I use two). Almost universally, it is recommended to let the coffee brew for 3-5 minutes depending on the grind (always use a medium to course grind). Illy, at its web site, tells us you don’t need to let the coffee brew at all. I’ve tried both ways. The Illy method yields a cleaner but less rich cup of coffee. It’s up to you.
How to Use Put the French Press on a flat, dry surface and holding handle of the press, pull the plunger straight up and out of the pot.
Place one or two heaping tablespoon (7 - 8 grams) of coffee into the pot for every 8 ounces of water. A medium to course grind should be used. Try different grinds to suit your taste. Too fine a grind can clog the filter and make it difficult to press.
Pour hot (not boiling) water into the pot.
Stir the water and grounds a couple of times then fit the plunger into the cylinder with plunger base above the water.
Set your timer (buy a timer) for 3-5 minutes. I let my coffee brew for four minutes.
When ready, push the plunger down using a slow, steady motion. Slow and steady pressure produces the best results. (Pushing too fast could cause hot coffee to shoot out from the spout of the pot. Not a good thing.)
Let the pot rest for a minute or so to let the coffee settle. Like good red wine, there will be sediment at the bottom of your coffee cup; don’t drink it!
Wash the pot in mild detergent and water and dry thoroughly after each use.
Extras:
To heat the water for my coffee I use an electric kettle.
I fill it the night before, and as soon as I wake up in the morning, I
stumble into the kitchen and click it on. When I stumble back, the
water is hot and the first thing I do is to pour hot water into the French Press to pre-heat it. Then I pour that water into my coffee cup to pre-heat that. Then I make my coffee.
It’s hard to find a better tasting cup of coffee brewed at home this side of a really great espresso machine.
Frieling 0103 5-6 Cup French Press: Beautiful? Yes! But, there is more than what meets the eye. Double-wall construction keeps coffee or tea hot and cold drinks cold longer. 
(55 customer reviews)
Features:
• 18/10 stainless-steel, double-wall construction keeps coffee or tea warm after brewing
• Full-length handle is comfortable in the hand
• All-steel mesh plunger easily pushes down coarse coffee grounds or loose tea leaves
• Also works as a pitcher for hot or cold beverages
• Measures 8-5/8 inches tall; disassembles for dishwasher or hand washing
The Best for Coffee Lovers at Foodie's Emporium.
While many coffee aficionados feared that Starbucks would vanquish all the great little coffee houses around the country, I was never one of them. In fact, most cities and towns never had great coffee houses to begin with. Maybe with the exception of New York, San Francisco, and a couple of isolated towns or cities, great (or even good) coffee was hard to come by. Starbucks changed all of that.
It is one of the more persistent myths in the coffee biz, that “espresso” signifies a style of roasting. In the popular conception this style would be expected to look extremely dark and showing a glossy sheen from the emergence, to the coffee bean's surface, of the oils that such a dark roast forces out. Certainly, this is a popular way to roast coffee for espresso; for one it's quite easy, with such an approach, to achieve consistent results but, and maybe more pertinently, it's also a lot cheaper. 
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