French Press is best (for me)

French Press is best (for me)

Congrats to the Top-Ranking Qualifiers at U.S. CoffeeChamps Denver

Dozens of coffee professionals competed at qualifiers this weekend in Colorado for coveted spots at the U.S. Coffee Championships next month. BY J. MARIE CARLANBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Cover photo by J. Marie Carlan For competitive coffee professionals in the USA, the U.S. Coffee Championships are the place to be. Over the weekend, the second USCC […]


Design Details: Brewing Reinvented at ULA Café in Melbourne

Welcome to Design Details, an ongoing editorial feature in Daily Coffee News focused on individual examples of coffee shop architecture, interior design, packaging design or branding. If you are a coffee…


4 Cool Cafés to Try Out in Bologna

Bologna, the Italian city home to the world’s oldest university, is traditionally famous for its food and drink—and it has some stellar specialty cafés. BY TANYA NANETTI SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Featured photo by Annie Spratt via Unsplash Bologna is home to the oldest university in the world and is the unofficial “capital“ of the porticos […]


U.S. Coffee Championships 2023 Baltimore Qualifiers Results

More than 100 competitors brought their talent to Baltimore to take part in six competitions, and 63 will progress to nationals in April. BY NATE KLOCKBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Photos by Matthew Temple courtesy of the U.S. Coffee Championships Last weekend, my hometown welcomed the U.S. Coffee Championships (USCC) qualifiers with the charm only Baltimore could […]

French Press is best (for me)

U.S. Coffee Championships 2023 Baltimore Qualifiers Results

More than 100 competitors brought their talent to Baltimore to take part in six competitions, and 63 will progress to nationals in April. BY NATE KLOCKBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Photos by Matthew Temple courtesy of the U.S. Coffee Championships Last weekend, my hometown welcomed the U.S. Coffee Championships (USCC) qualifiers with the charm only Baltimore could […]


Know Your Sweeteners: Agave: Part One — Indigenous Use

Known today primarily as a sweetener, agave can be traced back thousands of years. BY EMILY JOY MENESESBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Featured photo by Bruno Cervera via Unsplash Recently, we launched our brand new article series “Know Your Sweeteners,” where we’re discussing a variety of sweeteners and syrups, and analyzing the unique characteristics of each one. […]


Know Your Sweeteners: Honey: Part Two

We continue our deep dive into honey, bringing to light environmental and animal rights concerns related to the product, and how the industry is addressing them. BY EMILY JOY MENESESBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Feature photo via Unsplash This week we started our discussion of honey, uncovering how it’s produced, the differences between varieties of honey, and […]


Brewing at Home and on the Road with Justin Pierce

In this series, we ask coffee professionals how they like to drink their coffee while at home and when traveling. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Feature photo courtesy of Justin Pierce Coffee professionals tend to spend most of their days brewing coffee. Baristas brew coffee behind the bar for their customers. Roasters brew it to […]

French Press is best (for me)

Book Review: From Nerd to Pro, by Patrik Rolf

From Nerd to Pro: A Coffee Journey is an autobiography by roaster, café operator, and coffee competitor Patrik Rolf sharing his coffee journey. BY TANYA NANETTI SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Featured photo by Tanya Nanetti I’ve read plenty of books on coffee over the years: manuals on how to brew great coffee at home, books on […]


The Caripe Variety: A Groundbreaking Milestone in Venezuelan Coffee Farming

Today, we unveil the story behind the Caripe variety and its significance for the Venezuelan coffee industry. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Featured photo by Carlos Felipe Ramírez Mesa via Unsplash In the heart of Venezuela, nestled among the picturesque states of Monagas, Anzoátegui, and Sucre, lies a legacy deeply rooted in coffee cultivation. This […]


Understanding the Process: Double Fermentation

Continuing our series on coffee processing, we learn about double fermentation, a term that can refer to several different processes. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Cafe Imports Editor’s note: Check out other entries in our “Understanding the Process“ series here. When exploring the wonderful world of high-quality coffee, you’ll discover that no […]


Don’t Skip the Budding Specialty-Café Culture in Quito, Ecuador

Introducing the specialty cafés of Quito, a city worth exploring on your coffee quest. BY JORDAN BUCHANANSPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE Featured photo courtesy of Stratto When traveling across South America, Ecuador can be forgotten between the high profiles of Colombia and Peru. Similarly, coffee from Ecuador may be overlooked due to its giant neighbors, including […]

French Press is best (for me)

French Press is best (for me)

minimum dose size?

I use the Hario switch to brew my coffee and am trying to reduce my caffeine consumption. Hence I would like to brew smaller cups of coffee. I am currently using 10g of coffee with 160g of water. (1:16 Ratio) I am wondering if there is a minimum amount of coffee...

French Press is best (for me)

I've come full circle really. I started off my fresh (ish) coffee journey about 15 years ago using a French press with pre-ground coffee. I bought an espresso machine (Gaggia Baby) and a grinder and started making espresso. French Press became my inferior alternative when either my machine was broken (which is was often) or I was away from home. FP always tasted muddy and muddled and bitter. Didn't really reveal much about the bean.

In the past couple of years I've gone through an intense espresso journey. I've really started to pay attention to my technique and my beans, and I've made leaps and bounds. I've realised a lever machine is the one for me, and in the past year or so I've made some of the best espressos I've ever tasted.

I then fell in love with pourover and really started concentrating even harder on the beans. Working out what I liked and seeking out local roasteries I can converse with and buy and sample coffees in their prime. I realised that espresso is indeed not the be-all and end-all, and to me actually much more enjoyment can be got from a carefully prepared pourover.

Then I started reading about the "immersion is better than percolation" stuff and read James Hoffman's FP method. I found a single-cup (10oz) FP at work, a metal one with thermal walls. I tried the method, and by jove it's even better than pourover. Most mornings now I will make a French Press first thing in the morning, then attempt to better it mid-morning with my Hario V60, and every time I prefer the French Press.

I find with the French Press it's simply an intrinsically more reliable and less error-prone method. The coffee is always, always extracted with intensity, body and the right level of acidity for the particular roast, and next to zero bitterness. This eben applies to less-than-perfect beans, i.e. ones off the supermarket shelves.

And don't get me wrong, it can be bad. At work someone will regularly make a huge jug of french press, evidently all wrong. It's bitter above anything else and at the same time lacking any kind of richness or subtlety. So I guess it all comes down to technique, I've gone from using the wrong technique, and thinking French Press was possibly my least favourite method, to finding the right technique and reaching the conclusion that I don't think I can better it as a method of extraction.

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