all brew guides

French Press

The French Press is the most honest brewer we know. Total immersion, no paper, and the oils carry through — which is why the cup reads heavier, sweeter, and more generous than a paper filter ever could. It's 45 grams of coffee, 720 grams of water, and four minutes. That's the whole game.

making coffee at home

What you'll need

  • French Press · 8-cup / ~1L · glass or stainless
  • Burr Grinder · Coarse setting · breadcrumb texture
  • Gram Scale · 0.1g precision · with timer
  • Kettle · Any style — no gooseneck required
  • Stirring Tool · Wooden or bamboo · no metal on glass

Directions

  1. Heat water, weigh coffee | Before start | Bring water to a boil, then pull it off the heat for about 30 seconds — that gets you to roughly 200°F. Weigh 45g of whole-bean coffee and grind it coarse. Breadcrumbs, not sand. Too fine here is the number-one French Press mistake.
  2. Pour and start the timer | 0:00 → 0:30 | Add the grounds to the empty French Press. Pour all 720g of water in a steady, circular motion — aim for every ground to get wet at once. Start your timer the moment you begin pouring.
  3. Stir and lid | ~1:00 | At around 1:00, the grounds will have floated into a crust on top. Give the slurry a gentle stir with a wooden spoon or bamboo paddle — four or five passes, nothing aggressive. Seat the lid with the plunger pulled all the way up. This traps heat without pressing anything yet.
  4. Steep | 0:00 → 4:00 | Do nothing. Wait. Let the press work for a full four minutes from the start of your pour. We've tested longer and shorter windows on our roast level, and four minutes is the sweet spot — long enough to pull the sugars, short enough to leave the bitter stuff behind.
  5. Plunge slowly | 4:00 → 4:20 | At 4:00, press the plunger down in one slow, steady motion — about 20 seconds from top to bottom. You should feel gentle resistance. If the plunger fights you hard, your grind is too fine; if it drops straight through, it's too coarse. Stop when the mesh touches the grounds — don't grind them against the glass.
  6. Decant and serve | Finish | Pour immediately into mugs or a separate server. Don't leave the coffee sitting on the grounds — every minute it stays, it gets more bitter. If you brewed more than you're drinking, decant the rest into a thermal carafe.