Outside of espresso-based coffee drinks, my favorite way of preparing coffee is with the French Press. It is less convenient when making coffee for a gathering as it has to be made in multiple batches, but for daily use, once you find your preferred coffee to water ratio, it comes together fairly quickly. This recipe covers both single-serve and full carafe measurements. These measurements and grind sizes are unique to my equipment, so this recipe is more in case I forget the ratios I found to work best for me. I also tried adjusting various variables including things like heating the carafe before adding the water and agitating the coffee mixture along with more obvious variables such as grind size, the coffee to water ratio, the time to steep, and the temperature of the water. In the end I disregarded things that did not seem to impact the flavor in any meaningful way.

Timings

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 1 minute
Wait: 4 minutes
Total: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Single Serve

• 33g coffee beans (6 scoops)
• 483g water (water and coffee grounds fill 2/3 of my carafe)

Full Carafe

• 50g coffee beans (8 scoops)
• 700g water (fill my electric kettle to its maximum level)

Steps

• Measure the coffee beans and grind them coarsely. I set my coffee grinder to 28 out of the maximum of 42. (For reference, I use a grind size of 12 for espresso.) Add the grounds to the bottom of the French Press.
• Heat your water to just below a boil. On my electric kettle I set the temperature to 200°F / 93°C.
• Pour about a half cup of water into the French Press then stir to agitate. Then add the rest of the water. I use a circular pattern to try and use the water to hydrate and briefly push down any clumps of coffee grounds that may rise above the surface.
• Cover and let steep for 3 minutes 30 seconds.
• Remove the cover and with the edge of a spoon slice down through the top a few times until foam rises to the top. Skim off the foam until the top of the coffee is mostly all black.
• Place the cover back on and push down the filter smoothly and not too quickly. I do not think that the rate at which the filter is pushed down impacts the flavor in any way that I can tell, but the goal is not to agitate things too much.
• Empty all liquid into your container(s) of choice so things do not continue to steep. For gatherings I use a large insulated carafe and brew multiple batches of coffee.