The Cafetière, also known as the French Press, is probably the most widely available device for brewing coffee at home which most people are familiar with and know vaguely how to use. It’s often that you may be presented with one when visiting friends for coffee, where they will add some scoops of coffee and saturate it in boiling water for a few minutes, before plunging and serving.
However there are a few basic techniques that can help you make a great tasting and consistent brew each time, to stand well above the rest.
What you need:
A Cafetière (A small one - "3 cup”)
Kettle (preferably a goose neck kettle to help with the pour)
Grinder (Burr, not blade)
Scales
Timer
Spoon
Filtered Water (the taste difference is huge)
Good Coffee
The Basics:
Two cup recipe = 22g, 400g water (for larger Cafetières, simply multiply these measures by two or three)
Coarse Grind (Coarser than sand)
Water Temperature at 95°C-97°C
Add 80g of water, stir well, and wait for 30 seconds
Add the remaining 320g of water and wait for 3-4 minutes
Skim the top crust off with a spoon
Position your plunger, and gently press it down until it lightly reaches the bottom
Serve immediately
The Details:
RATIO - The ratio of your coffee to water is the most important step in any brewing process. Too much coffee leaves you with an extraction that’s too strong, and too little can leave you with an extraction that’s too weak. The golden ratio is approx. 18:1 (18 parts water to every 1 part coffee). So for a two cup Cafetière brew we recommend 22g coffee to 400g water. More coffee can be used depending on the preferred strength, lowering the ratio to anywhere between 18:1 to 14:1.
PRE-HEAT - Bring the water in your kettle just off the boil to 95°C-98°C. This is so that it doesn’t damage the coffee flavour later on. Pour a small amount of the water into your Cafetière to pre-heat it and prevent a temperature change once you start brewing, then discard the water used.
GRIND - Weigh out 22g of coffee and freshly grind it so that the grounds are coarser than sand. Add the coffee into the Cafetière.
BLOOM - Set the Cafetière on top of your scale and zero it. Start your timer, and then saturate the coffee with 80g of water (slightly more than you would for a filter, as it kick starts the initial coffee extraction when the grounds are submerged). This is called the Bloom, and helps to de-gass the coffee, especially when it is fresh. Give it a good stir before waiting for 30 seconds.
POUR - Add your remaining 320g of water and leave it to sit, do not stir as this will slow down the rate of extraction and not allow the grounds to settle to the bottom as desired.
PLUNGE - After 3-4 minutes in total, skim the crema-like crust from the top of the brew, as this will remove any fine grinds that have stayed at the top. Then position the plunger on top of the Cafetière and gently press it down until reaching the bottom. Try not to do this too hard, as you want to refrain from agitating the grounds at the bottom.
ENJOY - Serve the coffee immediately and do not leave any remaining within the Cafetière as otherwise this will continue to brew. Enjoy!
EXTRA: For an extra clean cup, you can filter the brew through a filter paper before drinking, but this is completely optional. Other techniques also involve not plunging at all, but instead letting the grounds to settle, and pouring through the metal plunger at the top using it as a strainer to prevent any loose grounds.
