French Press Manual Coffee Maker | Immersion Technique

Who doesn't like coffee? Most people acknowledge it as one of the beverages that have its own dominant savor. Even astronaut brought coffee candy into the International Space Station in 2017. If not for its taste, what else then?



There are many ways to make a cup of coffee according to what quantity and flavor-quality of the cup that wants to be achieved. If you want the best of both aspects, it will require a high-priced commercial coffee maker.



But, even if a café use commercial coffee maker, it's said the cup still lacking the impression of the caffeols' freshness and fragrance, despite the ease of brewing in high-quantity.



One way to retain its freshness is by manual brewing. Manual brewing itself has many kinds of tool that lead to different methods and one of them is the immersion technique utilizing a French Press.

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French Press

The tool consists of the body and the cap. The body can be made from stainless-steel or glass pot ( also called carafe), held in a frame-handle.

The cap is the unification of the lid and the filter. They are united by a stick-knob that can be pulled or pressed from the top of the lid.

The filter in the bottom of the stick-knob commonly has three layers: lower cross-layer, middle mesh layer, and upper holed layer with the spiral on its perimeter.

Preparation

Preheat The French Press


It's a recommendation to preheat the pot so it can preserve the temperature while brewing the coffee. Remember to preheat it slowly; sudden heat will decrease its durability. If you preheated it with water, don't forget to cast away the preheat water before the brewing process.



The Coffee


The choice of coffee may vary and all are okay depending on personal preference, but dark roasted coffee like the one from Sumatra is a recommendation for this. This is because French Press has the capability to enhance the savor and aroma from the oil of fresh coffee ground; hence, less-roasted coffee will have less oil.



For 150 ml of water, prepare 8.25 g of coffee (a heaping tablespoon or nearly two full tablespoon after you grind the coffee bean).



Coffee Grinding


You need to grind your coffee first with Burr Grinder. Why not blade grinder? Because blade grinder will produce irregular grounds of fine and coarse size. The irregularities shall result in the decrease of the flavor quality.



The fine and the coarse ground has different extract time. The fine one will be faster, unlike the coarse ground. So, while the coarse ground just half extracted, the fine ground might already over extracted and becomes bitter.



In order to gain more regular grounds, use Burr Grinder instead. It's equipped with grinding edges rather than huge blades.



For french press, set your grinding to produce coarse ground. If you make fine grounds, they might slip through the filter and create a slimy coffee.



And also, why grind them yourself? Because you can earn fresh oil from them. Coffee in the form of grounds will evaporate its oil exponentially faster due to the smaller surface area, especially if you expose it to sunlight.

Water


Heat the water just below the boiling point at 195 - 200 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) or 90 - 95 degrees Celsius (°C). One way, you can do it by heating it up and stop until it has its first one or two bubbles. I don' recommend you to use hard water as it may spoil the taste.

Brewing

Open


If your press is enclosed by the cap, open it and put away the cap.


1. Add Your Coffee Ground



2. Add Water, Stir, and Wait


Add a quarter of the total water for initial immersion of the coffee. Dissolve the ground by stirring it calmly; wait a minute.



3. Add Water and Stir Again (and Scoop {Recommended})


Now add the rest of your water for the last immersion. Why not adding the water in one go? Because that will risk the ground to over-clot and become hard to dissolve. Then, stir it calmly five times just one direction (clockwise or the opposite) around.



After that, a layer of some floating ground and foam on the top will emerge. A recommendation, scoop-out as much of it from the water, you will obtain a better taste of clear coffee.



4. Close And Wait

It's not yet the time to press, so, pull the knob up from the lid and the filter will also be pulled up. Then, close the pot with the lid, and the filter just above the water. After that, wait for the ground to settle down in 3 - 5 minutes.



6. Press

Press the filter slowly and steady by pressing the knob that was pulled up. Just try not to blend the settled coffee ground with the coffee water.



Done



Pour it into your cup and sip it as fresh as possible. If it's too hot, you may wait a little while though, but the longer you wait, the more bitter the taste will become because of over extract.



If you want to store it for a little while later, don't keep it in the press, pour it somewhere else. You should wash your press immediately with mild detergent thoroughly, and then dry it. Each part, especially the filter, should be able to be disassembled for cleaning or replacing purpose.



Again, those standards are not absolute, you can alter them to your heart content. People are different, so does their tongue.

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Mayer and Delforge from France first patented this press design in 1852 with the outer appearance that resembles both watering can and teapot with cylindrical tube body. All the foundation mechanism is just the same as modern French Press.



Attilio Calimani and Giulio Moneta, Italians, patented this press in 1929 in the basic structure of pot, rod and cheesecloth screen. Since then, the design has evolved to the demand of the people.



Faliero Bondanini from Swiss patented the more popular design of this press in 1958 and marketed it as Chambord in France, and La Cafetiére in the UK. Later, A Danish company named Bodum bought the Chambord, while La Cafetiére doesn't undergo a change of ownership.