How to make French Press coffee at home - 7 easy steps

In 1852, two French guys, Mr Mayer and Delorge, registered the first patent for a cafetière (thanks for that awesome contribution!).

Based on their work, the Italian designer Attilio Calimani patented the version that looks most like our modern day version of the beloved cafetière, back in 1929. Also known as a ‘French press’, the cafetière is probably the easiest way to make a delicious cup of coffee at home using our coffee beans.

Here are seven easy steps to get up the stairway to filter coffee heaven and brew the perfect cafetière a.k.a french press, coffee!

Watch our founder Richard on Youtube, making a filter coffee with a French press for you.

Our coffee choice

For strong coffee drinks, we recommend our dark roasted Big Shot coffee beans and Italian Lover dark roasted beans.

For a more flavourful and yet still powerful strength coffee we also recommend our Pink Elephant specialty, medium roasted coffee beans from Thaliand and The Jones Blend coffeefrom our Specialty coffee range, perfect with the French Press brewing method.

Use code “BREWIT” at the checkout to get 10% discount when purchasing the coffee gadget along with any of our Specialty coffee beans!

How to make the best French Press coffee at home?

1. Grind your coffee beans

For the tastiest filter coffee possible we recommend to grind the coffee beans freshly. Try to get a course grind first – with a grinder with a disc, not a blade. By doing this, the coffee extraction is slower and more balanced, which allows the structure and flavours to thrive.

2. Put the ground coffee into the pot

To keep it in proportion, there should be about 7 grams of ground coffee (roughly one tablespoon) for each 120ml of water, or 2 tablespoons per cup of water. Have a play around with this and adjust to your own taste.

Note: It’s better to make it a bit too strong than too weak – you can always add a bit of water afterwards, but not the other way round!

3. Add hot water

This can be from the tap, but if you’re a purist you want to go with filtered water. Bring the water up to boil and let it cool off for a few minutes. Don’t add the boiling hot water immediately as there’s a good chance you end up burning the coffee.

Pour the water swiftly and with a firm hand so that all the ground coffee is diluted equally and you get a bit of a spiral going on in the pot. Don’t hold back on this! Leave about 2-3 centimeters of space to the top and you should see a caramel-esque bit of foam. This is called the bloom or ‘bloei’ and is caused by the released of the CO2 in the coffee. It’s how you can recognise a super fresh cup of coffee!

4. Set your timer for 4 minutes

For us, four minutes is the magic number. But opinions and tastes differ! Some people recommend to barely let the coffee set. Other say that for a small cafetière of 3 to 4 cups of coffee, it only needs to set for 2 to 3 minutes. Coffee is very subjective and the best way is not always the same, so go ahead and discover what works best for you!

5. Stir the pot

After about a minute, you’ll notice that the coffee is shifting and floating on top. Stir this through the water to make sure that you get maximum flavour. If you like you can add a bit more water until the filter coffee has sunk again. By stirring you can combine the right amount of water and coffee without making a mess (we all hate a mess!).

6. Press the Press

After exactly four minutes – when the top is mounted – we slowly push down the press but with a bit of force. Keep the pressure equal and feel how the coffee is pushed down. You might have to relieve some pressure every now and then. If you’re having trouble pressing the float, it’s likely that the coffee was ground too finely or that there’s simply too much in the cafetière.

7. Time to pour!

The final step is to pour yourself a delicious cup of filter coffee, sit back and enjoy! If you made more coffee than needed, store some in a thermos to keep it warm. Don’t let the coffee sit in the pot as it can lead to some unwanted flavours developing.

Note: If you finished your pot it’s best to throw the ground coffee left overs in the bin (you could clog your sink with the coffee), but it’s also very fertile for plants! Divide it equally across the soil for the best result.

And that’s it! Simple, fast and amazing – definitely the best way to start on the stairway to filter coffee heaven.

Would you like to discover more immersion brewing methods? Read our blog post on how to brew Clever Dripper coffee at home or how to make the best Aeropress coffee!

Happy drinking!

The Bean Team