Anyone use a french press for coffee?

[lynn]

What is the best way to use one?  What coffee do you recommend?    Which french press do you like best?

[regentrude]

I do. Make sure the coffee you use is coarsely ground so it can be pressed down and does not go through the mesh. Other than that, whatever coffee you like.

I got a standard bodum one. 

[Melissa in Australia]

DH does. He is a coffee addict. He makes his a special nobody else can make it right ritual . So I leave him to it :-)

[Guest]

I do. It makes a quart of coffee. Exactly the correct amount.D

 

DH does pour-over.

 

I have read that pour-over=="smooth" coffee and french press=="a big muddy cup of coffee." Maybe I read that on the boards, actually. Anyway, sounds about right.

 

Always get the best coffee you can, regardless of how you prepare it. Fair trade, rainforest safe etc :) too!

[LuvToRead]

I use coarse ground coffee, and pour in boiling water.  Wait 4 minutes, then I depress the plunger.  I buy fair trade, small batch roasted when I can.  I live in rural USA, so generally just get Dunkin, etc. at the grocery, and then buy the good stuff when I am in a larger town.

 

I have a burr grinder, so I buy whole bean.  

Edited October 26, 2016 by LuvToRead

[pinkmint]

I used a French press for a few years. Ground my own coffee just prior to brewing.

 

My coffee routine has gotten increasingly less classy with each child I have become responsible for. Now it's all about preground coffee from the can with a drip coffee maker.

 

Anyway I feel French press coffee really is the best. I personally ignored the indication to use coarse ground coffee and used a medium grind. The reason I don't do it anymore is because it takes significantly more effort and cleanup. Maybe one day again when my kids aren't little.

Edited October 26, 2016 by pinkmint

[mamaraby]

I had a bodum standard one and a burr grinder. Coarse ground coffee definitely. I liked it, but I'm the only one drinking coffe and quantity-wise the clean-up didn't seem justified.

[Spryte]

Ditto to the coarse ground. Always buy the freshest roast you can find. Even a bag of Dunkin will have a roasting date stamped on it. Store it in an air tight container, not the freezer. I like shade grown organic - and I order beans from a place that roasts the day before ordering. :)

 

Fill the press to the line, and pour in very hot water - but not quite boiling, up to the other line (the lines may not be obvious, and sometimes look more like design features). I usually boil water then let it stop boiling before pouring. Let it steep for 5 mins and then press.

[bibiche]

We have an ancient Alessi that is very solid that DH uses. I prefer my trusty Bialetti (non French press). We both like coffee from La Colombe.

[Greta]

We have a double-walled stainless steel one that we bought at Starbucks, and I recommend that over a glass one like we had before (which broke, and which didn't keep the coffee very warm).

 

I don't personally use it, because my husband absolutely insists against all reason on grinding the coffee super fine, so that you get a mug full of gritty sludge instead of coffee.   :ack2:  I gave up and went back to using a drip coffeemaker, and I let him do his own thing.  But if you grind the coffee very coarse like you're supposed to, it really does make an excellent cup of coffee.

[Spy Car]

What is the best way to use one?  What coffee do you recommend?    Which french press do you like best?

 

As to which one? Any will work the same way and taste the same in a blind taste-test; however, there is an elegance IMO in preparing and serving from a Chambord.

 

I purchased my first Chambord in 1978, when they were quite rare. Drinking coffee from it now. Yum.

 

I have many (many) ways to aid meeting my caffeine addiction, but the Chambord has been the mainstay over many decades

 

The glass carafe now says "Bodum" (as there have been accidents over the years necessitating replacements) as somewhere in time Chambord became a Bodum Chambord.

 

I've had (have) all 3 sizes, but it is the big one that gets used daily. Link below (for descriptive purposes).

 

Any French Press will work. But using a Chambord is like going to Paris.

 

Guillaume

 

 

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/bodum-chambord-51-ounce-french-press/s252573?a=1552&campaignid=622767084&adgroupid=28469965136&targetid=pla-49871340419&pla_sku=252573&scid=scplp16374576&adpos=3o4&device=c&network=g&gclid=Cj0KEQjwqMHABRDVl6_hqKGDyNIBEiQAN-O9hN3xYjixv89kXC_G5dvnyUYoKHTJY-MZ3YzWCBjqHikaAnO08P8HAQ

Edited October 26, 2016 by Spy Car

[shawthorne44]

We have a double-walled stainless steel one that we bought at Starbucks, and I recommend that over a glass one like we had before (which broke, and which didn't keep the coffee very warm).

 

I don't personally use it, because my husband absolutely insists against all reason on grinding the coffee super fine, so that you get a mug full of gritty sludge instead of coffee.   :ack2:  I gave up and went back to using a drip coffeemaker, and I let him do his own thing.  But if you grind the coffee very coarse like you're supposed to, it really does make an excellent cup of coffee.

 

I second the stainless steel suggestion.  I had two glass ones break on me.  Maybe I press hard?  

[HeWillSoar]

I bought a steel French Press from Starbucks after my glass one broke.  I use hot water from our Keurig.  We usually use the K cups just for company--for us it's more like our hot water machine.   I like the smooth taste of Gevalia coffee already ground.  I mix regular and decaf.  Yes, there is sludge on the bottom but I don't mind, except when I forget to warn my friends and they get a surprise at the end! 

[ktgrok]

I used a French press for a few years. Ground my own coffee just prior to brewing.

 

My coffee routine has gotten increasingly less classy with each child I have become responsible for. Now it's all about preground coffee from the can with a drip coffee maker.

 

 

 

Yup. Was anti keurig until kid number 3. Then it became a need. I needed to be able to make coffee with one hand, quickly. 

[Rebel Yell]

I love any French press for the coffee, but I absolutely despise the cleaning so much that it makes cheap coffee brewed at the local sketchy gas station 4 hours ago and burnt in the warmer sound good.

 

(Did that make sense? I haven't had a great cup of coffee in a very long time.)