French press coffee: simple, full-bodied and hard to get wrong

The French press is one of the easiest ways to make good coffee: grounds in, hot water on, wait a few minutes, press. Because the coffee steeps fully and is strained through a metal mesh, the cup has a heavy body, plenty of natural oils and a round taste. Learn a handful of numbers and you will get consistent results almost every time.

What you need

• Coffee: 30 g for about 450 ml of water, a ratio of roughly 1:15. For a stronger cup, try 1:12–1:13.
• Grind: coarse and even, like coarse sea salt. Too fine and the coffee turns bitter, silty and hard to press. See choosing a grind size.
• Water: 93–96 °C, which is just-boiled water left for about 30 seconds.
• A kitchen scale and a timer, if you have them.

Step by step

1. Preheat. Rinse the press with hot water and discard it.
2. Coffee and water. Put the press on the scale, add 30 g of coffee and pour 450 g of water, wetting all the grounds evenly.
3. Steep for 4 minutes. Rest the lid on top without pressing. A crust of grounds will form.
4. Break the crust. At 4 minutes, stir the crust gently with a spoon; most of it will sink. Skim off any foam and floating bits for a cleaner cup.
5. Press slowly. Push the plunger down steadily over 15–20 seconds. If it fights back hard, your grind is a little too fine.
6. Pour it all out. Decant everything into a jug or cups. Coffee left in the press keeps extracting and gets more bitter by the minute.

Tip: Stop pouring just before the end and leave the last spoonful or two in the press. That is where most of the fine sediment sits.

Tuning the taste

For a French press, beans ground just before brewing make a noticeable difference to aroma. If you own a grinder, Signature Roast whole bean is an easy place to start. After each brew, take the mesh filter apart and rinse it, so old coffee oils do not taint the next pot.