davip_p Senior Member Joined: 7 Aug 2012 Posts: 1 Location: USA Expertise: Just starting
Posted Wed Aug 8, 2012, 12:10am Subject: French press takes too long time to brew
I need a big strong cup of coffee first thing in the morning and French press seems to provide the most satisfactory result so far (I prefer a shot of espresso after lunch).
I have some problems about mastering the French press to my liking, however. I looked up the guidelines on how to properly use the French press online (e.g. here: "How to Use a Press Pot") but still don't manage to get it "right" somehow.
I use a 12oz Bodum Kenya which pours to 3 small cups - or for my case, 2 standard cups and then some. I fill the pot with 4 spoonfuls of dark ground coffee (espresso roast) using the Bodum spoon that comes with the pot. For water I use an electric kettle, a little bit off the boil.
I usually let it steeps for about 4-5 minutes before pressing and pouring. But I find the coffee produced there to be too hot to sip and the coffee taste is still not strong enough. I need to let it sit for a very long time - e.g. 15-20 minutes before it gets down to the right temperature and strength of my liking.
The timing does not work well for a busy weekday mornings so I would prefer to find a solution to get a cup of coffee with the right temperature and darkness I like in a shorter amount of time. One method I found is to add in more amount of coffee in the pot, but it seems like I would need to really use a lot of coffee for each cup which just does not seem right.
Sometimes I wonder whether I have a taste for unusually dark coffee than normal, but I found myself enjoying a regular cup of brewed coffee or an Americano at regular cafes fine (not at Starbucks though, but most established & independent coffee houses seem to make a perfect cup of black coffee fine), just somehow cannot manage to produce a similar result at home.
carlsilver Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2003 Posts: 228 Location: Portugal Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: La Pavoni Europiccola/La... Grinder: la Pavoni Jolly/Ascaso i... Vac Pot: Normax Drip: Melitta (manual) Roaster: no
Posted Wed Aug 8, 2012, 2:10am Subject: Re: French press takes too long time to brew
You are probably grinding too coarse. For grind I follow the French Press Brewing Instructions from Sweet Maria's which work very well for me click here
Their advice is "Use the finest even grind coffee you can, but coarse enough to avoid having the grind pass through the filter. I use a grind just a few notches coarser than filter drip, and nowhere near a coarse multipurpose or perc grind"
This will get you a strong taste. As for temperature it seems you don't like the coffee very hot so I suggest you pour it from your cup to a cold cup as many times as needed until it gets less hot...
Posted Wed Aug 8, 2012, 4:17am Subject: Re: French press takes too long time to brew
French Press/Press Pot is an immersion method. It requires more coffee to water than a drip method to produce similar strength at similar taste/flavor profile (Lockhart's "extraction" percent).
Bump up the coffee amount. At some point, if you can weigh the coffee and water, you should be at a ratio of about 15.4 grams of water per gram of coffee.
Press Pot is a long prep time for coffee. Can't get around that. The solution will reach an equilibrium within about 5 minutes or so - but you can help the infusion by trying a few things:
-Make sure all the grounds are wet and stirred in immediately -immediately after mixing, Press the filter in and push the floating crust of grounds down into the coffee solution until a small amount of solution is at top - then time your steep. -About 30 seconds prior to the end of steep and pressing/filtering, pull the filter and use a spoon to gently stir down/pat down any remaining floating grounds. After about 4:30, they should be minimal, less than a teaspoon, and consist of only the biggest chunks of grounds - if excessive, this is a clue you aren't grinding fine enough or have too many "boulders".
Good luck.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
CoffeeHealth Senior Member Joined: 19 Jul 2012 Posts: 11 Location: Indiana Expertise: Just starting
Posted Thu Aug 9, 2012, 12:42pm Subject: Re: French press takes too long time to brew
Netphilosopher Said:
Bump up the coffee amount. At some point, if you can weigh the coffee and water, you should be at a ratio of about 15.4 grams of water per gram of coffee.
Posted Thu Aug 9, 2012, 2:07pm Subject: Re: French press takes too long time to brew
Press pot:
"4 cups setting" ground fine on my Breville Smartgrind (approx 6 tablespoons) 11 oz. water
Off boil (let settle) pour water in press pot over grinds. Stir for 30 seconds. Put press top on and let steep for 4 minutes. After steep give the press a couple swirls, then press real slow until complete. Pour and enjoy.
The above method has never failed me.
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
Last Q first - there isn't a "best" method. It all depends on what you're trying to do, how much time you have, and there's even consideration on what (if you're really trying for perfection) method is most appropriate for the coffee terroir.
I really have trouble with ounces - I always have to convert back to grams. I consider that ANY coffee brewing method should be done in mass, not volume. Metric really helps here.
Also, be careful - the scoop can vary. It's not always 1 or 2 tablespoons, you can load it heaping or exactly level, before or after grinding, and there's variation in ground coffee density. In general, the mass of 1 tablespoon of coffee (not one scoop - that's probably a 2 tablespoon scoop, but only you can determine that) is between 3.5 and 7.5 grams. Generally, the darker roasts will be about 2% lighter for a given volume (because they will tend to have less water).
I advise people to start around 15.4 grams of brew water per gram of coffee. Personally, I find that if the strength hangs around 1.25% - 1.35%, using a water brew ratio of 15.0 - 15.6, it's a nice press pot cup for me.
I've been running about 825g brew water for 55g coffee (15.0 water brew ratio) for my press pot, 5-6 minute infusion.
If you really want conversions:
Approximately 3.5 CUPS of water (measured cold). If hot, then bump to about 3 5/8 cup. Approximately 10 Tablespoons, or 5/8 cup coarsely ground coffee. Or, better yet, 1.94 Oz. (avoirdupois, like how a letter is weighed - but if you're weighing anyway, just switch your $10 scale to grams and follow the recipe).
Best of luck!
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
Here as usual, you can use 9-10 grams of coffee ground and 150-200 ml water, as SCAA suggested. The point is to disturb the coffee ground in the water to make it well mixed with water, until almost all of the ground down to the bottom of the cup, except few of the very big size of ground.
If you want to make it faster, grind the beans to smaller ground, almost near espresso. Then you need only about 1-2 minutes and the coffee will taste as good as it should be.
It is important to know that it does not care about the grinding size, coarser or finer are ok.
Peter in Beijing ------------------- http://www.kaffa.cn/ ------------------- I am looking for the way and the place to extend our trainning courses.
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