wang Senior Member Joined: 27 Nov 2004 Posts: 42 Location: Dublin, Ireland Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Rancilio Nancy Grinder: Rocky, Maestro Drip: Bodum Columbia Roaster: Black & Decker Heatgun
Posted Thu Jan 6, 2005, 7:47pm Subject: French Presses - Quick extraction, finer grind and stirring!
It seems I'm breaking a lot of the rules but still am getting a decent cup of coffee. I grind about in between drip and press relative to the pictures here http://www.ineedcoffee.com/03/coffeegrind/
I seem to also prefere stirring whereas most people seem to not stir at all! I guess it's a habit from making tea. If you ever get a teabag, chuck it in a teapot or a cup and leave it to sit with boiled water, the colour barely flows from the teabag into the container. Stirring it increases the speed of the colour of the tea immensely. In terms of strength, standard Irish tea is pretty much judged by its colour after addition of milk. If it's too pale, it's not strong enough! I think it's far harder to notice the extraction as a factor of colour change in coffee - it gets dark very quickly in comparision! Also - what do you guys do about all the bloom you get from your home roasting adventures? If I don't stir it all away, the floating grinds as well as the faux crema only allow me to fill a press about half way! I tend to stir until almost all of the floating grinds have sank - and by reasoning, have absorbed enough water to become denser, so as they have been extracted rather than forced down despite not having been extracted.
I generally have about a two minute extraction time to get a decent cup with slightly off the boil water. I need to get a 3kW kettle though - I hate the wait in the morning with our lowly 2.2kW one :(
The only rule is to enjoy your coffee. Everything else falls into the area of guidelines. Once you have hit upon a procedure that yields coffee that you enjoy to the exclusion of other methods stick with it. I'm a medium grind, stir once, steep for 4 minutes and leave the coffee in the press pot until drunk kind of guy, myself. '-))
Posted Mon Jan 10, 2005, 9:57am Subject: Re: French Presses - Quick extraction, finer grind and stirring!
I brew course and steep for 4. Not really course, but the first course setting on my Infinity. If I grind any finer, the plunger bogs down every inch and I have to slosh it around to get another inch of push, then repeat. With the course setting, it requires a slight bit of effot in the push, but no bogging.
Also, I end up stirring for the first 2 minutes because even with my coffee on 4 days rest, 1/4 of the pot is foam. So I stir to bring the foam down, and add more water. I keep repeating this until the water is at the desired level. Normally takes about 2 minutes of playing. I also noticed yesterday that my first stir hit a hard chunk of something. Perhaps there was some huge temp difference, but my coffee had become a solid clump of grounds after pouring. Without the stir, I dread what it may have tasted like.
Stewart Senior Member Joined: 20 Jun 2003 Posts: 414 Location: North of Toronto Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Rancilio Silvia Grinder: Mazzer Mini,*$ Barista/Solis... Vac Pot: E Santos,Vintage... Drip: not Roaster: 4 lb RK drum,SC/GG combo,WB...
Posted Mon Jan 10, 2005, 10:10am Subject: Re: French Presses - Quick extraction, finer grind and stirring!
Ming:
I stir my grounds in the FP and it usually is for about 90 seconds then I let it steep for another minute. Over the pond here in N America we only have 115V mains so a luxury like a 3kw kettle is something only commercial establishments have. I have a 1500W kettle and it doesnt take that long to boil as my wife has her tea very early in the am. If I want really hot coffee to go I will use my Bodum e Santos and put it in a Nissan travel cup.
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