The French press asks less of you than any other brewer. There is no pour technique, no paper, no drawdown to time, and no way to choke it. You add coffee, you add water, you wait.
It also has the worst reputation of any brewer among people who care about coffee, and that reputation comes down to one thing: sludge. A gritty last third of the mug, bitter and muddy. The method below deals with that without giving up the body that makes a French press worth using in the first place.
Why not to plunge
Pushing the plunger down through the coffee does two things, and both are bad.
It drives the mesh through the bed like a piston, stirring every settled particle back into suspension. And it forces liquid through a compressed layer of grounds at the bottom, extracting hard from the most exhausted coffee in the pot. The result is the muddy, bitter cup the French press is known for.
The alternative is to let gravity do the work. Break the crust at four minutes, skim the foam, and leave it alone for another four. The fines settle by themselves. Then press only far enough to hold the bed down while you pour - the mesh should end up just below the surface, not at the bottom.
This is a version of the method James Hoffmann popularised. It takes twice as long and requires you to do less. Both of those are features.
Grind and ratio
Coarse - like sea salt or coarse breadcrumbs. This is the coarsest grind of any brewing method here, and for good reason: the coffee is in contact with water for a full eight minutes, so a finer grind would over-extract badly, and the extra fines would go straight through the mesh into your cup.
This is where a burr grinder earns its money. Blade grinders cannot produce a coarse grind at all - they produce a mixture of dust and chunks, and in a French press the dust goes straight into the cup.
| Press size | Coffee | Water | Serves |
|---|---|---|---|
| 350 ml (3 cup) | 21 g | 350 g | One large mug |
| 500 ml (4 cup) | 30 g | 500 g | Two mugs |
| 1 L (8 cup) | 60 g | 1000 g | Four mugs |
1:16.5 is our house ratio. Push towards 1:15 for a bigger, heavier cup, or 1:18 if you find it too intense.
No paper means more of everything
Paper filters trap coffee oils and almost all of the fine particles. A metal mesh traps neither. That is why a French press cup feels so much heavier in the mouth than a Chemex® - those oils carry aroma and texture, and they are all still in your cup.
It also means the coffee keeps developing in the pot. Decant into a carafe or a preheated mug if you are not drinking it straight away, or the last cup will taste noticeably stronger and more bitter than the first.
One practical note: those same oils are the reason unfiltered coffee raises cholesterol slightly more than filtered. If that matters to you, the V60 or the Chemex® give you the paper back.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Gritty, muddy last third | Plunged all the way down | Skim, settle 4 min, press only to the surface |
| Bitter and drying | Over-extracted, or left in the pot | Grind coarser; decant as soon as it is ready |
| Weak and sour | Grind too coarse, or water not hot enough | Grind finer; use water at 95 ºC |
| Lots of floating grounds | Crust never broken | Stir at 4:00 and skim the foam off |
| Second cup much stronger | Coffee still brewing in the press | Decant the whole batch straight after brewing |
| Plunger very hard to push | Grind too fine | Grind coarser - never force the plunger |
Which coffee to use
The French press rewards body and sweetness. Naturals, honeys, Brazilians and anything with chocolate, nut or dried-fruit character come through beautifully, because the oils that carry those flavours are not being filtered out.
It is also unusually good with decaf - the full body compensates for the slight thinness decaf sometimes has. Browse everything we are roasting, or let the subscription send a fresh bag ground coarse for the press.
French press questions, answered
What grind size for a French press?
Coarse, like sea salt or coarse breadcrumbs. It is the coarsest grind of any common method, because the coffee steeps for a full eight minutes and fine particles pass straight through the metal mesh.
What is the French press coffee-to-water ratio?
1:16.5 - 30 g of coffee to 500 g of water. For a one-litre press, use 60 g to 1000 g. Move towards 1:15 for a stronger cup or 1:18 for a lighter one.
How long should coffee steep in a French press?
Eight minutes with our method: four minutes steeping, then break the crust and skim, then four more minutes for the fines to settle before you pour. The traditional four-minute plunge is shorter but gives you a much muddier cup.
Why is my French press coffee gritty?
Because you plunged. Pushing the mesh to the bottom stirs every settled particle back into the liquid. Skim the crust, let it settle, then press only until the mesh sits just below the surface.
Should I stir the French press?
Once, at four minutes, when you break the crust - and gently. Stirring at the start is unnecessary if you poured properly, and stirring near the end undoes all the settling you have been waiting for.
Can I leave coffee in the French press?
You can, but it keeps extracting and gets bitter. If you are not drinking it all at once, decant the whole batch into a carafe or preheated mugs as soon as it is ready.
French press or AeroPress®?
The French press gives a heavier, oilier cup and brews for several people at once. The AeroPress® is faster, cleaner, portable and easier to clean, but makes one mug at a time.
Keep going
If you like the body a French press gives you but want it cleaner, the AeroPress® with a metal filter sits neatly between the two. If you want the opposite - maximum clarity - go to the Chemex®.
And if you brew coarse anyway, you are most of the way to cold brew, which uses the same grind and does all its work in the fridge overnight.
