French press

Immersion coffee maker invented by Attilio Calimani (Italy, 1929). 3-5 minute infusion with coarse grind, separated by metal piston-filter. Allows through oils and fine particles (full-body coffee). Typical capacity 350-1000ml. Simple, robust, no paper. Slightly cloudy coffee, rich in lipids.

Where does the French press come from?

The French press (also called a cafetière, press pot, or plunger pot) is one of the oldest and most widely owned coffee brewers in the world, and the highest-body filter brewing method available to home consumers. Despite its name, it was first patented by Italian designer Attilio Calimani in 1929, as European Coffee Trip documents. The mechanism is simple: coarsely ground coffee steeps in hot water for 4 minutes, then a metal mesh plunger is pressed down to separate grounds from liquid. The critical difference from paper-filtered methods: the metal mesh allows coffee oils (cafestol, kahweol) and fine particles to pass through into the cup, producing a heavier, more textured, richer-bodied experience, what the specialty world calls 'mouthfeel'. The downside of these same compounds: cafestol and kahweol are diterpenes shown in clinical studies, indexed on PubMed, to raise LDL cholesterol levels when unfiltered coffee is consumed regularly in sufficient quantities. This is not a concern for moderate consumers. French press coffee is particularly forgiving of grind imprecision: it is an excellent method for learning because the relatively coarse grind, long steep, and simple mechanics leave substantial margin for error before the cup degrades noticeably.

How do you brew a great French press?

Standard French press recipe: 60g coffee per litre of water (for example, 15g in a 250ml press), grind coarse (like sea salt), water at 93 to 95°C. Add water, stir once gently, place the lid on without pressing, steep 4 minutes. Press slowly and steadily. Pour immediately, and do not let the coffee continue steeping after pressing, as it will over-extract through continued contact. The Hoffmann method (James Hoffmann's widely shared technique) advocates breaking the crust at 4 minutes, letting the grounds settle, and decanting through the plunger rather than pressing, which produces a cleaner cup than the traditional method.

Related Terms

Related terms: Immersion brewing (the extraction principle French press uses). Body (highest in French press among filter methods). Brew ratio (1:15 to 1:16 is standard for French press). Grind size (coarser than all other filter methods).