French Press

Equipment:

o French press

o Burr Grinder

o Scale

o Kettle

o Timer

o Filtered water

o Something to stir

o Decanter

o BxA Coffee

French press can get a bad rap. People tend to let the coffee sit in the brewer and over extract, but often the real mistake is made in grinding the coffee too coarse.

Grinding the coffee finer, and decanting can produce well extracted coffee that maintains much of the texture that is the calling card of brewing with a french press.

You can make as much or as little coffee as you’d like, we suggest starting at 15:1 ratio for french press (water:coffee). Though some people like it as strong as 12:1

ONE -Fill kettle with more water than you’ll need for brewing. You will user the additional water to pre-heat the french press.
TWO - While the water is heating up, weigh out and grind your coffee. The grind should be fairly coarse, close to the consistency of sea salt. If you are using a Baratza Encore start at number 25.
THREE - Once the water has boiled, pour a small amount into your french press and swirl it around to pre-heat the vessel. Give it 25-30 seconds to heat up.
FOUR - Place the french press on your scale and pour the ground coffee in.
FIVE - Pour 2 times the water to coffee in and gently stir with a spoon or paddle to agitate the grounds and insure even coverage. Allow to bloom for 30 seconds.
SIX - Add the rest of the water, place the french press’s lid on top and allows the coffee to brew for 3 and a half minutes. 4:00 total.
SEVEN - At 4:00 slowly press the filter down. You want to 15-20lbs of pressure (unsure try it out on a bathroom scale). If it goes down to easy your grind is to course, if it’s hard to press your grind is to fine.
EIGHT - After you’ve finished, pour the brewed coffee immediately into your cup or decanter. Allows the coffee to settle for 30 seconds.