French press
Applies to: standard French press immersion brew.
Target: 4 minutes steep.
- Grind coarse immediately before brewing.
- Preheat the French press with hot water, then discard it.
- Heat brew water to roughly 92–96°C.
- Add coffee at roughly a 1:15 ratio (for example 30 g coffee to 450 g water).
- Pour all the water in at once and start the timer; give the grounds a single gentle stir to ensure full saturation.
- Place the lid on with the plunger pulled up, without pressing down, and let steep undisturbed for 4 minutes.
- Press the plunger down slowly and steadily.
- A plunger that suddenly gets hard to push usually means the grind is too fine.
- Serve immediately, or decant off the grounds into a separate vessel if it won't be served right away.
- Coffee left sitting on the grounds after pressing keeps extracting and turns bitter.
- Full body with visible fine sediment — this is expected with a metal mesh filter, not a fault.
- No excess bitterness from over-long contact after pressing.
The mesh filter lets more oils and fine particles through than paper filters, which is what gives French press its characteristic heavier, textured body.