What makes a good french press?

June 5, 2006 10:03 PM

I have a french press that I use to brew all my at-home coffee, however, I always get grounds in my cup.

First of all, I use a greater number of beans, and grind them _very_ coarsely, but I always have grounds in my cup. What makes a good french press? What should I look for in one? Does anyone have any recommendations?

I've seen models such as the Aero Press but I'm turned off by the idea of having to use a paper filter... I like the eco-friendly feeling of not using some disposable. Currently, I use this model I found at Ikea, but I'm wondering if there's something better out there.

posted by triolus to Food & Drink (23 answers total)

A small amount of "grounds" is normal... but I quote grounds because what I usually see in my cup after making a cup via the french press isn't something I'd consider grounds. It's more of a dust. Is that what you mean?
posted by nitsuj at 10:08 PM on June 5, 2006

I think it's impossible avoid at least a little bit of dust in your coffee with a French press. If it's really that important to you, there's really no substitute for a paper cone.

But you'll get less dust if you press the plunger more slowly. Try for about 10 seconds from top to bottom, if not even longer.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:08 PM on June 5, 2006

I have had two French presses -- both cheap -- and I always had that dust/grounds stuff in my cup.
I think that is just how they are.
As long as it settles to the bottom, you're good. You just don't drink the last sip
posted by Methylviolet at 10:12 PM on June 5, 2006

I have the Aeropress, and I like it a lot. I don't think you'll ever completely rid yourself of grounds when using a french press. (which is why I switched to the aeropress - smoother/richer coffee, easy to clean, and now I sound like an advertisement :)

The paper filters for an aeropress are reusable - I reuse mine for about 4-5days before swapping to a new one. Helps me feel better about using paper filters.

I put two tablespoons of espresso-ground beans in & fill to the top with water. Quick, strong, and convenient. Same amount of beans per cup used for drip, but better tasting. Sounds like it's also fewer beans than you're currently using, which is a savings. If you've ever seen the stats about how much resources go into a pound of coffee - yikes! It's best to just stop drinking coffee altogether. (yeah, right!)

Anyway, not quite your answer, but I thought sharing some personal experience with the Aeropress would help.
posted by jpeacock at 10:14 PM on June 5, 2006

Response by poster: Yes, this dust is what I'm talking about, and I do expect some of it to be there. I've tried pushing the plunger as slow as I can, and while I do it, I can feel a bit of resistance. However, when I get towards the bottom of the pot, the plunger shoots straight to the bottom (and I think _this_ is when the grounds spurt up).

Basically, I just wanted to know what I should look for with the metal filter, and if some are better than others.
posted by triolus at 10:16 PM on June 5, 2006

I too have an Aeropress and I love it.

The amount of paper used for the filter is laughably small. It's a circle of paper only somewhat larger than a silver dollar. You'd use more paper resources blowing your nose on a tissue. I can't believe that it would bother anyone, but you can just rinse them and reuse them if it really bothers you.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:23 PM on June 5, 2006

Sediment is pretty much unavoidable. If you give it a little time to settle after pressing it, you will get less in your cup. Correspondingly, I've found that when I put coffee from a french press into a (tall and thin) thermos, and drink it a bit later, there is very little sediment except in the last cup.
posted by advil at 10:40 PM on June 5, 2006

I have that same exact french press from Ikea. I haven't empirically tested the theory, but it seems I get less grounds and/or dust in the cup if I push the plunger slightly down and then pull back up to let the grounds settle to the bottom before I plunge it all the way. I also leave 1/4 inch or so of coffee in the press when I pour it.

This also avoids the embarrassing event of the coffee squirting out if I've used a lot of grounds to where I really need to use a lot of force to get it started and end up pushing too hard I actually do this more often than one might think.
posted by a_green_man at 10:42 PM on June 5, 2006

However, when I get towards the bottom of the pot, the plunger shoots straight to the bottom (and I think _this_ is when the grounds spurt up).

Check that the filter bit and ring at the bottom of the plunger doesn't have a ding in it. I had a cheapo little plunger for my desk which did this, and it was due to a deformity in the ring part.

I believe you can get replacement filter bits - dunno about the whole ring part.
posted by pompomtom at 10:58 PM on June 5, 2006

Another vote for aeropress... you get a "lifetime supply" of filters with it, The filter probably has the same amount of paper in it as one square of double-ply Toilet Paper... the "lifetime supply" is about 1/2 a roll of TP... just use one square less per week and you'll offset the paper filters for your aeropress.

(p.s. the filters compost, so they go into the compost pile with the grounds every friday)
posted by hatsix at 12:07 AM on June 6, 2006

If you get a sudden loss of resistance near the bottom of the plunger stroke, your pot probably has a marked outward internal taper near the bottom. I've seen this with quite a few plunger pots. It makes them quite susceptible to breakage, too; hitting the inside while stirring with a large metal spoon reliably breaks these pots.

The spring around the edge of the plunger should maintain a reasonably good seal between the mesh and the glass even with a certain amount of taper, although I've seen some very cheap presses where the mesh is off-center or too small or both and doesn't actually make it all the way out to the glass all the way around.

If you suspect that your problem is due to leakage around the mesh, see if stopping your plunge at a point above the place where you normally lose resistance makes a difference. If it does, get a better press.

But I'm tipping you'll still get some dust in your cup, just because there are always going to be some particles in the grind that are smaller than the holes in the metal mesh.

If this really truly bothers you, you could always try washing the dust out of the grounds before you brew. Dump the usual ration of grounds into the pot, fill it up with ice-cold water, stir vigorously and plunge immediately; pour off the liquid, remove the plunger, refill, stir, plunge, repeat... until what you're pouring off looks more like water than mud. That should wash out anything small enough to fit throught the filter mesh, and when you brew with what's left in the pot you should get a dust-free cup.

Or you could try the cold-brew technique: use about four times as much ground coffee as you normally would, fill the pot with ice-cold water, stir, and leave it in the fridge overnight; then plunge, put it back in the fridge for another hour or two to settle, and carefully decant into a bottle (don't be greedy on the decanting; leave the dregs in the press).

You now have cold-brewed coffee concentrate, which you can keep in the fridge and use like cordial: add five parts boiling water to one part concentrate for a very smooth cup.

Or you could give up on trying to avoid dust, grind your beans ultra-fine, and learn to enjoy coffee Turkish style!
posted by flabdablet at 12:12 AM on June 6, 2006 [1 favorite]

Another yay for the Aeropress. It makes fantastic coffee and one filter lasts me a week.
posted by essexjan at 1:15 AM on June 6, 2006

The problem may be with your coffee grinder. Good coffee grinders will grind your coffee into even chunks, always. Bad coffee grinders will grind some into even chunks, and some into overprocessed dust which can't be filtered out through the mesh.
I have a Bodum press and this problem has never happened to me. However, it's fairly new, which might affect it.
posted by Juliet Banana at 4:28 AM on June 6, 2006

Best answer: Several people here are correct. Steven, pompomtom, and Juliet present great solutions and explanations.

You have to push slowly and embrace the resistance that the Press gives you. That's part of the proof that it's working properly. If you feel like pushing is really easy, you're allowing too much air (and therefore coffee grinds) into your final solution.

Second, there are a lot of cheap, shitty presses out there. Don't be fooled. There's a reason why Bodum is world reknowned. They use the best glass and their filter system is amazingly accurate.

Third, a blade grinder (one of those small ones you use for spices) SHOULD NOT BE USED for coffee. NEVER. NEVER. Why? Because coffee needs to be ground consistently and accurately. There is no way to grind consistently with a random blade. Either have the coffee shop grind the beans for you or pay $65 for a "burr grinder".

French pressing is an amazing way to experience coffee. You can enjoy the full oils, aromas, and body of a coffee through this process. On the other hand, if you aren't committed to using good beans, filtered water, a good press, and a quality grinder, you end up putting up with "grinds in the coffee", stale flavor, and a bitter aftertaste.

One final note: the last ounce of every french pressed cup of coffee will always have an excessive amount of oils, dust, and residue. It's like the worm in tequila. More power to you if you want to drink it, but I would highly recommend against that. Try to drink the last half of your coffee in a proactive way as to avoid the last ounce. It's just a function of gravity that the dusts and residue settle.
posted by SeizeTheDay at 5:42 AM on June 6, 2006

I have a cheapo press as well. I use a small strainer, similar to this one, on my coffee cup as I carefully pour the coffee from the press. I catch about 97% of the floaties this way, which is good enough for this coffee slut...
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:29 AM on June 6, 2006

I also have an Aeropress and agree that it is beyond awesome.
posted by chunking express at 7:14 AM on June 6, 2006

One way I have found to get a little less "dust" in my coffee press coffee: cut out the center circle of a stack of "bowl" type coffee filters (cheap) and put one in between the screen and the spring part of the press' filter. It does make a little paper waste, and more resistance when you press, but it seems to help.
SeizeTheDay brought up Bodum, and I would like to comment that I have owned two Bodum presses, and both lasted less than a year due to poor construction. The first became easily stripped at the filter, so I could no longer tighten the filter, and then second lost a cheap plastic plug that held the top of the handle on, leaving it ready to fall off and spill boiling hot coffee and broken glass everywhere. World renowned design is worthless if the construction is shoddy.
I now own a metal coffee press that acts as it's own thermos, not glass but it makes a great cup.
posted by bradn at 7:15 AM on June 6, 2006

I've got a Bodum press-pot that I use when camping. You don't say how meticulous you are about cleaning the filter, but that's the one thing that popped into my head—that perhaps you need to.

Since I use the French press fairly infrequently, I wind up completely disassembling and cleaning it every 3-4 uses. I can imagine if I used it daily, I wouldn't, and over time, that could easily lead to grit in the coffee.

Also, fwiw, I just got an Aeropress, partly to replace the press-pot (the Aeropress is vastly easier to clean—and uses less water in the process—at a campsite). It's pretty cool, and I concur with others that the amount of paper used is inconsequential. However, it produces a completely different kind of coffee (I haven't quite gotten my technique down with it yet—tips welcome from other Aeropress users) that you may like more or less than the press-pot.
posted by adamrice at 7:17 AM on June 6, 2006

You could try pouring it through a cheesecloth to remove that last little bit of stuff. I've seen that recommended for a French drip, at least.
posted by solotoro at 7:24 AM on June 6, 2006

A bit late to the question, but my friend Blork posted pretty good directions for making good coffee using a French Press on his website about a year ago. The only modification I would suggest is to let the coffee in the press sit for about a minute following the press to let it settle before pouring it into your cup or mug.
posted by mikel at 7:30 AM on June 6, 2006

I have a Bodum french press at home, and on camping trips I use this GSI coffee pot. It's a french press too, but it has an additional feature that you will find very useful - two filters instead of one.

there's the standard filter at the bottom of the press, yes. But there's also a fine little net built into the top of the press, near the spout for the pot, that allows a second fitering of the little grounds that got away.

Note: coffee pot is made of lexan, not of glass - if this matters to you. Also features a Neoprene sleeve that velcroes around the container, to keep your coffee warm while you sip your cup.
posted by seawallrunner at 8:02 AM on June 6, 2006

Never tried this so I can't say it works for sure, but what about putting the coarse grounds into a fine-medium mesh strainer before pressing and giving a few taps to the side so all the dust falls out and you are just left with the coarse chunks? Sort of like flabdablet's idea of washing the grinds, but this seems a little simpler to me.
posted by rorycberger at 10:36 AM on June 6, 2006

I recently got a 3-cup Bodum Columbia Press. It is stainless steel as opposed to glass. The filter mechanism is also a one-piece metal mesh filter with rubberised edges. The rubber edges act like a squeegie along the metal sides, to help prevent any leakage around the edges of the filter as you plunge. You also don't have to disassemble things to get it cleaned. I still experience some dust at the bottom of my cup, but, that's partially due to my cheap burr grinder.

As for stirring causing problems with glass presses, try using wooden chopsticks instead of metal spoons.
posted by jeversol at 2:08 PM on June 10, 2006