French Press

Total Brew Time: 10-12 minutes

The French press is one of the most beloved and accessible brew methods in the world. Simple in design yet capable of producing a rich, full-bodied cup, it’s a staple in homes and coffee shops alike. With this technique, you get all the depth and body of a traditional French press with a cleaner, more refined cup that truly showcases the character of your coffee.

THINGS YOU’LL NEED

• Water kettle
• Digital scale (ideally w/ 0.1g accuracy)
• Timer
• 2 spoons
• 8-cup (34oz) French press
• 500g filtered water
• 30g of coffee (ground medium, see Notes below)

BREWING

1. Grind 30g of coffee to a medium setting — a bit coarser than you would for a V60 or Chemex. Grind right before brewing for the best flavor.
2. Place your French press on your scale and tare/zero the scale. Add your ground coffee to the French press.
3. Bring water to a boil, then let it rest for about 20 seconds (targeting approximately 94°C / 200°F). Start your timer and pour all 500g of water over the grounds in one go, making sure all the coffee is saturated.
4. With the lid off, allow the coffee to steep for 4 minutes.
5. After 4 minutes, you’ll notice a crust of coffee grounds has formed on the surface. Using a spoon, stir through the crust 2–3 times to break it up and allow the grounds to begin sinking.
6. Using two spoons, carefully skim and scoop out the foam and floating coffee bits from the surface.
7. Now, here’s the hard part: wait an additional 5–8 minutes. It’s still too hot to drink at this point, and this allows the fine coffee particles to settle to the bottom of the press.
8. Place the lid on the French press and gently press the plunger down only until it just reaches the surface of the liquid — do not press all the way to the bottom. This prevents agitating the settled grounds.
9. Pour slowly and gently into your cup(s), stopping before you reach the sediment at the bottom of the press.

Some Notes:

• We like to use a 1:16.6 ratio of coffee to water. You can scale up or down to suit your French press size — simply maintain the same ratio.
• We always recommend grinding your coffee right before you brew. We use the Fellow Ode (Gen 2) grinder, and we typically grind our coffees between 5 and 6 on this grinder when we’re brewing a French press.
• This recipe is based on James Hoffmann’s ‘The Ultimate French Press Technique,’ which you can watch on YouTube here. A big thanks to James and his team for developing these great, easy to follow recipes backed by tons of data and testing. We highly recommend watching this video before you brew.