[wheeledgoat]

My wife got me a french press a few years ago and I've been hooked ever since. It's perfect since I'm the only one in the house that drinks coffee, and easier to clean up that a drip coffee pot.

Besides that, it makes way better coffee than the drip machines!

I caught an episode of Good Eats w/ Alton Brown a few weeks ago where he did a step-by-step of how to use a French Press. It was all pretty standard stuff except I found the following very interesting:

He said that after your 4 minutes of steeping, when you go to press the plunger down, you should go very slow and take at least 30 seconds to get to the bottom. According to Alton Brown, when done right you emulsify the oils and give the coffee good body.

[t2000kw]

I never heard about the 30 second plunge but I did read that you're supposed to do it slowly.

Funny that you feel that a French press is easier to clean than a drip maker. I went to a Technivorm drip maker, partly for that reason. I didn't like messing with cleaning out the grounds in the press. :-)

Donald

[0110x011]

I always wondered why i got such a fuller body out of my 10-cup press than my daily use 3-cup. The 10-cup is much harder to push down than the three, so it always takes longer. Interesting.....

[t2000kw]

I noticed that when I was using fine ground coffee it was hard to press down the plunger. When I switched to coarse ground it was easier. And you're right about the larger pots. More coffee grounds to press down, same diameter screen/piston, it takes more effort.

Donald

[bigmike787]

Just before plunging, take two spoons and scoop out the majority of the grounds. It makes plunging much easier and keeps a lot of the fines out of your cup, resulting in a smoother coffee. Give it a try.

[bendbrewer]

After waiting 4 minutes to steep, I have a hard time waiting another 30 seconds.

But I will try tomorrow morning. Thanks for sharing!

[bosunbrew]

I'll have to try that. So by plunging slowly, it gives the oils more contact time with the rest of the liquid and allows the oil and liquid to bond or emulsify?
Also, I'll try scooping out the grounds before plunging, one of these days. I use a coarse grind, but there are always fines in the cup. I don't mind it at all, but I'll try these suggestions.

[wheeledgoat]

Actually, I think it has more to do with forcing the liquid (and contained oils) through iddy biddy spaces between the tightly-packed grounds. It breaks up the oil into smaller molecules and since they're smaller, they stay suspended in the coffee longer, giving it a fuller body.

Scooping out grounds might mess up the whole thing. You want the grounds to be tight; you want to feel resistance as you're pushing the plunger down. If the grounds are too loose and it's easy to push down, I don't think you're going to be emulsifying much of anything.

[-TH-]

Thanks for the tip!

[Austin]

Good Tip. I like Alton Brown. I'll have to look up the episode.