How to Brew French Press Coffee

If you’re only familiar with one method of manual brew coffee, I’ll bet it’s the French press.

Over the last few years, French press coffee become a popular addition to hipster coffee shops and Sunday brunch menus across the country. We discovered our own love for it at Lot 2, a modern restaurant in the Benson neighborhood of Omaha.

Here’s a quick primer on the French press:

The French press is a full-immersion brewer, meaning it keeps the water and coffee grounds together during the brewing process. In simplest terms, you add grounds to boiling water, let it steep, and then press the grounds to the bottom to filter the coffee.

Kait Berreckman, the training manager at Aromas in Omaha, described immersion brewers as a “passive method of brewing coffee” because the water that’s steeping the grounds is really doing the work. By comparison, you’re actively brewing the coffee with every milliliter of water you add to a pour-over brewer like a Chemex, she explained.

Many consider the French press to be the easiest manual brew method because there’s no paper filter to change or replace. Just remember that the paper filter captures the oils of the coffee as it brews, so French press coffee will be more acidic than other methods.

It’s also important to make sure that the pitcher, plunger, and metal filter are completely clean before you start. Old coffee grounds stuck in the filter will alter the flavor of your cup.

Ready to learn how to brew French press coffee?

You’ll need:

Weigh out 32g of whole coffee beans and grind on a coarse setting in a burr grinder.

Good to know:

• A burr grinder is preferred over a blade grinder because it produces a more even grind.
• Using a food scale will give you exact coffee and water measurements. Seems nit-picky, but it’s important!

Pour hot water into French press and plunge to preheat pitcher. Discard preheating water.

Good to know:

• If you skip this step, the boiling water you add to brew your coffee will significantly decrease in temperature as soon as it hits the cold French press.

Add ground coffee to the bottom of the French press, place it on the scale, and tare to zero. Slowly pour 500mL of hot water over the grounds, completely saturating them.

Good to know:

• One of the keys to making French press coffee is using water that’s between 205-210 degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer, let your boiling water sit for one minute before using it.
• A kettle with a fine spout allows for slow, even pouring.
• Fresh grounds will begin to bubble when water is added. 

Cover French press immediately but don’t push down on plunger. Set timer for 4 minutes and let coffee steep. Stir after 30 seconds to relax the bloom (the build up of CO2 in roasted coffee) and replace the lid.

Slowly but steadily press plunger down to filter the grounds from the coffee. 

Good to know:

• The metal filter of the French press allows more oils to pass through, resulting in a cup that’s more acidic than other manual brew methods.
• The French press is ideal for deeper, earthier coffees.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Good to know:

• Preheating your mugs will prevent coffee from cooling too quickly.
• Any coffee left in the French press will continue to brew and become bitter, so decant extra coffee into another vessel.

Some final thoughts from Kait:

“You don’t need a fancy gooseneck kettle, but an electric one will make your life easier. The stovetop is also fine. Just please don’t microwave your water — it will never get hot enough.”

“A basic kitchen scale is a great investment, and when you can, splurge for a good burr grinder. Cuisinart and Bodum both make decent ones around $100. Or have the local shop where you buy your tasty beans grind them for you. You might notice a little drop-off in flavor towards the end of it but it will beat the hell out of a blade grinder.”

A big thank you to Ally Wallin, the barista at Aromas who taught us how to make French press coffee and was our model in these photos!