French Press Coffee Hacks Everyone Needs to Know

French press is one of the most powerful mechanism for brewing coffee. So, I'm not talking here about the flexibility outside of making coffee. I'm talking about altering your cup of joe to satisfy any coffee lover, from espresso lover to drip coffee drinkers. Following AeroPress it is potentially the second most powerful coffee maker. You can make a strong cup that is comparable to espresso, and you can make a cup that is almost as clear as a drip coffee, (if you know it).

How can an economical gadget such as the French press coffee maker be so versatile? Okay, this is not about the maker itself, it is the information itself. In fact, manual brewing of coffee generally has the advantage of allowing you to tweak your coffee. How do you change a drink which consists of two ingredients? You should change precisely those two ingredients. I'll show you how minor improvements will drastically shift your cup to water and coffee beans. This article will dive into finer details.

 Brewing Temperature

Water is the solvent, and the solution lies in various coffee compounds. Some of these compounds have a greater solubility than others. We can dissolve more compounds from the beans with warm water, and a lot faster. That is not fundamentally healthy. At higher temperatures some of the bitter compounds extract more easily. If you like the gulp of coffee, so the boiling water is for you. 194-202 ° F is the best temperature for brewing with a French Press coffee maker, if you want a coffee that is in smooth in taste. If coffee is way too smooth for you, adjust it.

Steeping Time

This is a significant variable and is in direct relation to the temperature of the water. That means the steeping time should be lowered if you increase your water temperature. If the temperature decreases you will be steeping longer. The lower temperature range, for example (around 196 ° F), demands a total extraction time of 5 minutes.

However, one thing to remember, higher temperatures should always be avoided, no matter how short the steeping time, unless over-extracted coffee is your "cup of tea."

Water & Coffee Beans Quantity

The amount of water and the quantity of coffee beans are inversely proportional. The more you use the water, the more grounds you need to add. You can certainly tweak that to your liking, and make your cup lighter or stronger. People enjoy using very small volumes of coffee, so they get a good French press cup similar to espresso. That may be a latte's foundation, or a cappuccino.

Grind Size

The size of grind is unquestionably one of the primary factors that is often underestimated, and the general consent is to "grind coarsely". I know I'm going to step here on some barista toes but there's no finesse in this approach. For French press, the concept behind the coarse grind is that the fines will pass through the filter making for a silty coffee. This is true if you're using a bad grinder but you won't get a lot of fines with a good grinder. A great approach is to use a filter to get the fines separate.

Roasting Level

The degree of roasting is one of the best tweaks to your coffee. There is a common misconception that the degree of roasting will affect the level of caffeine in the beans. This is not true but you can get a better cup with darker roasts. That means the more soluble solids your coffee can produce. This is because it is easier to extract darker roasts. The quantity of caffeine in both a dark roast and a light roast is equal.

From a brewing perspective the difference is that we need to increase the brewing temperature, and finer grinding for lighter roasts.

Origin of The Beans

 The origin of the beans in the final cup will determine the finite variations. Coffee needs to be roasted lighter to preserve these delicate flavors of origin. When choosing an origin there are myriad options. If you are using a Brazilian bean you will get a medium and sweet coffee. Very similar to an espresso. With a Yemeni mocha coffee, you can get good chocolate points, or Kenyan coffee wine tasting points. The list is too extensive to name all the origins but you can find the origin that fits your taste with a little research.