REVIEWS

How To Make Coffee With A Coffee Press

By Philip Yiga | July 27, 2015

A lot of coffee making machines have been designed, some have all the best unique features and are made with all the innovative technology but according to coffee fanatics there is no machine that beats the quality of coffee made by a coffee press. This is because a coffee press leaves no room for best flavor compounds to escape from the machine the way it is in other methods. Many people also know a coffee press as a French press while others call it a cafeteria, now it does not really matter what you call it, out interest is learning how to make coffee using the machine. it is true that making the best flavored coffee with a coffee press is much easier than it is with other machines but if you go wrong one some steps, you will definitely have wrong results. If you use the wrong grind size, heat the water too much then you will get bitter coffee so this guide will surely be very helpful in helping you get the best of your coffee press. With the right procedure you can get the best flavor, all the natural oils onto your cup of coffee so try it out with the steps below.

Have the necessary materials: before going you start looking for you coffee press to put it to use, you must ensure that all the necessities you will be needing are available. These include, water, craft coffee beans, timer, burr grinder, mug, kettle and timer.
Prepare well for the brewing process: to avoid any weird taste in your coffee, ensure that your coffee press is sparkling clean, use the burr grinder to grind your coffee just prior to the procedure so that you limit the possibility of losing any necessary compounds. Also make sure that you accurately measure the amount of water and coffee beans, it is not advisable to take quantities when you have already began the process.
Heat the water: heat the water separately in a boiling kettle, percolator or whatever else you can use to boil water. The best heating point for flavor extraction should be between 195 degrees and 205 degree, this point is below the boiling point because excessively heat water may instead make you coffee bitter.
Grind the coffee beans: after doing all the necessary preparation the next step should be working on the coffee beans, like I pointed out before, you should grind just before the brewing process. When you are using a coffee press, you must use coarsely ground coffee because any larger grinds will block the filter making it difficult to put out coffee from the machine.
Pour coffee grinds into the coffee press:the amount of coffee grind and water you add greatly determines the flavor of your coffee, if you are using 1 table spoon of coffee grinds add 90ml of water. However you can switch these measurements if you want your coffee stronger of lighter.
Pour heated water over coffee grinds: the water you use must have heat to optimum temperature, and then begin to slowly pour it over the coffee grinds until they have all soaked in. make sure that you do not exceed the volume of water required for the particular amount of coffee grinds you have. For coffee grinds to mix well with water, you can use a spoon to stir.
Let the mixture steep: after stirring to make coffee grinds and water mix perfectly, allow the mix steep. During this time is when all flavors are extracted from the coffee grounds.
Close the coffee press to brew and have your timer ready: put back the lid of the coffee press and lower the plunger a bit but not too much so that the handle sticks out. The best brewing time for a coffee press is four minutes so wait for exactly four minutes, if you use less than four minutes you coffee will lack flavor and if you go beyond the specified time there will be over extraction and coffee will be bitter.
You are now ready to plunge: when brewing time is over, starts lowering the plunger down into your coffee but do this with extreme gentleness to avoid agitating coffee grounds into your ready coffee. As you shift the plunger downwards only the liquid which is coffee will be pushed out through the filter while the coffee grounds are left at the bottom of the coffee press.
Pour coffee into your coffee mug: after totally lowering the plunger, you can now pour coffee into your cup as it will be ready to drink. One tip that will prevent over extraction when you are using a coffee press is pouring out coffee not more than 20 minutes after the brewing process. The more you leave the coffee in the coffee press the more bitter it will become.

Tips for perfect flavor extraction when using a coffee press:

Use heated water not boiled water, if you heat water to boiling point you are definitely going to get bitter tasting coffee. The water you use should be heat just below boiling point. Optimum flavor extraction is achieved with hot water not boiled water.
Coarsely grind the coffee beans and right before you brew, most coffee making machines use medium size grounds but it is totally different when it comes to the coffee press. Medium size coffee grinds will block the filter of the coffee press.
Clean the coffee press after every use , a dirty coffee press will definitely destroy the flavor of your coffee however if you are using soap to clean the coffee press only do it once in a while, using soap after each use is not necessary.
Allow coffee grinds to completely sink into water, there is no way you can perfectly extract flavor from dry coffee beans therefore always make sure that the amount of water you measure to add to the coffee grinds is enough to dissolve them. Stir well to make them two mix perfectly.
Pour out coffee as soon as brew time is over, unlike other coffee making methods with the coffee press, coffee flavor can be destroyed even after brewing to make it bitter.