French press - I'm impressed!

[marqueemoon]

I've never been much of french press fan. Always tastes too weak to me. I must be one of those weirdos who doesn't like those extra oils. Also those glass beakers are way too fragile and the plungers are a PITA to clean.

I had some french press coffee tonight at a restaurant and my opinion really hasn't changed.

 

[a_retent]

To those that keep their beans in the freezer or fridge - rethink that. Refrigeration in a frost free fridge or freezer is just sucking the essential oils out of your beans. You're loosing flavor. Air tight, dry and dark is best.

I'll second that, used to keep mine in the fridge until I read an article from Caribou Coffee that stated the same thing... air tight, dry, dark and under vacuum for long term storage.
A burr grinder is thee way to go, I've thought about getting the grinder and making my own wooden collection box. Yes, I know I'm in the presence of woodworking greatness. :ntwrthy:

Final note: My Cardiologist told me as a heart patient I should use paper filters in a drip maker to trap thoughs oils which are not good for the ticker.
What a buzz killer, I bet he's a riot at parties.

 

[thedelihaus]

I have used nothing but a French press for as long as I can recall now.

Heck, I don't think I've used any other method (other than on a job site or an occasional ex-girlfriend's place) in 22 years, come to think of it.

Love the simplicity of it.

 

[olblueyez]

Love the French press, Dont use it often but I do love it. Had my first cup of French press about 10 years ago at Ruth's Chris Steak House, mighty tasty. For all the people grinding your own, try some Dunkin coffee, fresh ground it just smells like coffee should. The wife got us going on the Gevalia stuff for X-mas, doesnt even come close to good old DD coffee.

 

[Goodwill_HiFi]

To those that keep their beans in the freezer or fridge - rethink that. Refrigeration in a frost free fridge or freezer is just sucking the essential oils out of your beans. You're loosing flavor. Air tight, dry and dark is best.

I don't see how it could suck oil out. What I've heard about keeping beans in the freezer is that every time you go to use some beans you let warm moist air in. When you put the beans back in the freezer the warm air becomes cold and all the moisture from the air condenses on your beans.

 

[imready]

Coffee, the elixer of the gods! It you like pressed coffee, get yourself an Aeropress. About $29 with shipping on Ebay and was voted as the best way to brew coffee on the coffeegeeks webite when I was researching such things a few years back. They claim it is good for espresso too but not so in my opinion.
ROAST YOUR OWN BEANS! It's cheap, easy and you won't believe the difference in flavor. Freshness is the key to better coffee. Check out sweetmaria's for info on home roasting coffee, coffeemaria has go prices on small quantities of beans and u-roast-em is my choice for good beans at a good price. Order $75 worth and get 15% off. I use 3 different roasting methods depending on quanity of coffee desired. A popcorn popper, an "I roast" ( my most used method) and a SCCO (stir crazy popcorn popper with a convection oven on top of it) for larger quantities.
Ground coffee only stays fresh about 2 days, whole bean coffee about 2 weeks before they start going stale. "Green" (unroasted) coffee beans stay fresh about 1 year.
Your grinder is as important as your brewing method. General rule is the quicker the brewing, the finer the grind. Many coffee entheusists will actually spend more on a grinder that the brewer. I use a kitchenaid grinder and brewer for my drip coffee. This grinder is not the best, but was what I could afford and does a good enough job for me. The brewer is one of the better one you can buy and almost meets all the critera for the "perfect" cup. When I researched a few years back , only 2 brewers were in that sellect group and they were out of my price range. There may be more availible now.
Lastly, if you love coffee and want to learn more about it, check out the "green coffee buying club" or "coffeegeeks". I don't really like to get to annalitical about my brewing but you can go where ever you want to go with coffee with the informantion you can get from these websites. Serious coffee people.
john

 

[imready]

To those that keep their beans in the freezer or fridge - rethink that. Refrigeration in a frost free fridge or freezer is just sucking the essential oils out of your beans. You're loosing flavor. Air tight, dry and dark is best.[/QUOTE]

That is correct, coffee in the freezers doesn't affect freshness much. Also , when you are buying roasted beans, if they are oily on the outside the oils have already been mostly roasted out of them . When that happens , you lose the "flavor of origin" and many coffee all taste the same when "burnt" in my opinion. Each coffee has a uniqueness all its own depending on where it is grown and the origin of the seed/bean. Roast your own coffee and taste coffee for the first time.

 

[elcoholic]

A burr grinder is thee way to go, I've thought about getting the grinder and making my own wooden collection box. Yes, I know I'm in the presence of woodworking greatness. :ntwrthy:

Thanks, you're too kind.

I don't see how it could suck oil out. What I've heard about keeping beans in the freezer is that every time you go to use some beans you let warm moist air in. When you put the beans back in the freezer the warm air becomes cold and all the moisture from the air condenses on your beans.

... continuing the process - condensation freezes on the bean surface and you have freezer burn. What that does for steak it does for coffee too.

 

[elcoholic]

Coffee, the elixer of the gods! It you like pressed coffee, get yourself an Aeropress. About $29 with shipping on Ebay and was voted as the best way to brew coffee on the coffeegeeks webite when I was researching such things a few years back. They claim it is good for espresso too but not so in my opinion.
ROAST YOUR OWN BEANS! It's cheap, easy and you won't believe the difference in flavor. Freshness is the key to better coffee. Check out sweetmaria's for info on home roasting coffee, coffeemaria has go prices on small quantities of beans and u-roast-em is my choice for good beans at a good price. Order $75 worth and get 15% off. I use 3 different roasting methods depending on quanity of coffee desired. A popcorn popper, an "I roast" ( my most used method) and a SCCO (stir crazy popcorn popper with a convection oven on top of it) for larger quantities.
Ground coffee only stays fresh about 2 days, whole bean coffee about 2 weeks before they start going stale. "Green" (unroasted) coffee beans stay fresh about 1 year.
Your grinder is as important as your brewing method. General rule is the quicker the brewing, the finer the grind. Many coffee entheusists will actually spend more on a grinder that the brewer. I use a kitchenaid grinder and brewer for my drip coffee. This grinder is not the best, but was what I could afford and does a good enough job for me. The brewer is one of the better one you can buy and almost meets all the critera for the "perfect" cup. When I researched a few years back , only 2 brewers were in that sellect group and they were out of my price range. There may be more availible now.
Lastly, if you love coffee and want to learn more about it, check out the "green coffee buying club" or "coffeegeeks". I don't really like to get to annalitical about my brewing but you can go where ever you want to go with coffee with the informantion you can get from these websites. Serious coffee people.
john

I might try roasting, but I am blessed to live close to Kean Coffee, Martin Diedrich's back-to-his-origins coffee business. He roasts right in the store, very, very fresh, and every bag is closed with a signed and dated seal.

http://www.keancoffee.com/AboutDiedrichFamily.aspx

 

[MichaelJ]

dunno if anyone mentioned this but if you have a cholesterol problem and you drink LOTS of coffee like I do, you should use a paper filter. The filters eliminate oils in the coffee which can raise your cholesterol. Just a heads up from some one stupidly who drank non filtered coffee before a blood test!

 

[Pili]

Sam, my wife and I discovered french press coffee during the terrible ice storm three years ago. We were without electricity for three weeks. You were probably affected as well? We boiled water in the fireplace and voila, discovered the best coffee to date

 

[Sam Cogley]

Sam, my wife and I discovered french press coffee during the terrible ice storm three years ago. We were without electricity for three weeks. You were probably affected as well? We boiled water in the fireplace and voila, discovered the best coffee to date

I was still in Columbia then, but my good friend down here didn't have power at his house for about three weeks. His office, about a mile away from the house, had power back in a couple of days.

At least we haven't had one of those damned things this year - the one right after I moved here in Feb. 08 was bad enough.

 

[shimniok]

ROAST YOUR OWN BEANS! It's cheap, easy and you won't believe the difference in flavor. Freshness is the key to better coffee. Check out sweetmaria's for info on home roasting coffee, coffeemaria has go prices on small quantities of beans and u-roast-em is my choice for good beans at a good price.

I think it's fun too. SweetMaria's gets a lot of our $.

Talk about tweaking... if you like tweaking with audio and turntables, the skills and nuances involved in roasting your own and pulling espresso shots on a good machine are quite fun.

I use one of the cheaper roasters but anyway, it is fun, cheap, and at least for espresso nothing beats beans roasted just right and that have outgassed for a day or two. Green coffee beans keep for a long time.

Michael

 

[guitarslam]

We use our French press on weekends, when we have the time to watch over the kettle. Weekday mornings our coffee is brewed via a drip coffee maker with a built-in timer. Also keep some vintage coffee perks and a retro ceramic Melita drip system for backup

 

[elcoholic]

I use a digital timer and a Bodum electric kettle. It starts at 5:15 when my alarm clock goes off. It takes 12 cups of water to a boil and shuts off in 4 minutes, just about the time I stumble into the kitchen. 1 min to grind and 4 mins later I'm pressing. On bus/bike commute days I make 1/2 a litre of coffee and the rest of the kettle exactly fills my wife's teas pot. It's a good system as I have to be out the door on my bike in 0:40 from get up to catch my bus.

 

[JohnVF]

I've been using a French Press since I dated a Barista (so...coffee snob) several years ago. She made me get a coffee mill, too...she was a good one.

I also use a cup-top drip funnel/cone. The plastic funnel that just sits on top of the mug. I can make it super strong that way, and it's really easy to clean up.

There's a couple brewing methods at a local coffee shop that look like chemistry sets..they're also for sale. I may investigate and report back. Coffee is one of my favorite things in life.

 

[Goodwill_HiFi]

I also use a cup-top drip funnel/cone. The plastic funnel that just sits on top of the mug. I can make it super strong that way, and it's really easy to clean up.

I have something similar. It's ceramic and it's a cone that sits on top of a tea-pot looking coffee pot. I do like how easy it is to clean up, but trying to use regular drip filters in it usually gets me grinds in the pot. Yes, I know cone filters can be had........ don't know why I didn't buy any.

If I remember correctly, it takes more coffee to get a strong enough cup, Though. I guess I should try it again.

 

[JohnVF]

I have something similar. It's ceramic and it's a cone that sits on top of a tea-pot looking coffee pot. I do like how easy it is to clean up, but trying to use regular drip filters in it usually gets me grinds in the pot. Yes, I know cone filters can be had........ don't know why I didn't buy any.

If I remember correctly, it takes more coffee to get a strong enough cup, Though. I guess I should try it again.

I use fairly high quality cone paper filters but yes, it requires more coffee to get a strong cup...but you can make it REALLY strong if you want.

 

[toxcrusadr]

I have a little one-cup press I use at the office, where the 'coffee club' is all you can drink Folgers Vietnamese floor sweepings brewed in 2 minutes on a giant Bunn 3-pot commercial machine, then simmered to a harsh bouquet. Ugh.

I like Columbian for the press, I'm sensitive to bitter tastes and most dark roasts are just too bitter in the press for me. I grind it at the store, relatively coarse, I know it won't be that fresh but the grain size is much more consistent than the grinder at home, so I get less fines.

Never did buy into the no cold storage thing. I haven't heard a mechanistic explanation that I could understand as to why it would affect the flavor. I keep all my beans in recycled coffee cans in the freezer.

 

[kneeOhFight]

a coarse grind is critical when using a press, as is water just shy of boiling temperature....coffee ground too fine makes for way too many fine particles defeating the screen, which makes for horrible flavor, as I'm sure you experienced pressers already know. I love hearing about the press gaining more widespread use...I've been using nothing but for 36 years