In the 1950s a coffee appliance emerged in Europe that is still revered by coffee lovers around the world today, known as the French press coffee maker.
Till today, the Oxford English Dictionary's first explanation of the French Press is "an exercise that exercises and strengthens the biceps." In the early 1980s, some Americans took up the British use of the French press and called it a cafetière, while others called it a "French piston coffee maker. In 1993, Florence Fabricant introduced readers to this "French press" in the New York Times, but at the time, the French press had a serious weakness, as Florence said. "The coffee that comes out of it sometimes looks like mud."
Who Invented the French Press?
" From the beginning, the French have devoted more enthusiasm to making coffee than any other country," wrote William Harrison Ukers in his book "All About Coffee," published in 1922. The first French-made coffee machines appeared around 1800, Ukers said, and another 40 years passed after that, and the first coffee machines made of glass came out.
Although the Ukers are like an encyclopedia of coffee, listing dozens of coffee machines, there is not a single word about the simple French press maker in the entire book.
The French press is called a cafetière in England, and it is not mentioned in Ukers' book because not many people were using this device when Ukers was alive, but the history of the French press can be traced back to long before Ukers' book.
In March 1852, a Marigold craftsman and a businessman were granted a joint patent for a "piston filter coffee device". The patent described a metal pot connected to a movable rod with holes in the bottom of the rod and a layer of facecloth sandwiched between the top and bottom. After manually pulling the movable rod, the rod moves around in the cylindrical container. "By pressing the lever to the bottom," the inventor writes, "the filtered coffee is left above the lever, which is particularly refreshing."
It was not until the late 1920s, however, when a Milanese company registered a patent for a modified version of the French press that the French press became better known. The company had developed the design of the French press within a few years after the patent was registered: in 1935 they introduced a modified version of the French press with a spring in the disc at the bottom of the piston that kept the disc flush with the bottom of the container.
This action is called French Press.
How to Use with French Press?
The entire French press is a heat-resistant glass container with a metal filter with a lever. To make coffee, simply place the coarsely ground coffee powder into the preheated French press and pour 190.4-194 °F hot water over it and let it steep for 3-4 minutes, then press the lever and pour out the liquid and enjoy!
1. First pour hot water into the pot, preheat the container with a metal filter with a pressure bar, then pour out all the hot water and set aside.
2. Grind the coffee beans into coarse particles and pour them into the pot ~ coffee ground to the size of coarse sugar can be!
3. The amount of powder recommended for brewing in a French press pot is 0.53oz or more, with a brewing ratio of 1:13-1:16 (if 0.53oz of powder is added to 6.88oz-8.47oz of water), 1:13 if you want it to be richer, 1:15 if you want it to be just right, 1:16 if you want it to be fresher, and of course, you can adjust it according to your taste preferences.
4. Different roasting levels of coffee should be added to different temperatures of hot water. Front Street recommends that light to medium roasted (light brown-brown) coffees be steeped in hot water at about 92 degrees Celsius, and dark roasted (dark brown) coffees are steeped in hot water at about 190.4 °F. After adding the hot water, pull the lever to the top of the lid and close it. (Do not press the lever yet)
5. The steeping time also varies depending on the roast level. Front Street recommends a steeping time of about 4 minutes for light to medium-roasted coffee, and about 3 minutes and 30 seconds for deep-roasted coffee. No need to steep for too long! Since the French press is a direct steeping mode of coffee powder and water, the pleasant flavor can be fully extracted in this period. If you steep it too long, you will have a bad coffee flavor, such as woody or burnt bitterness.
6. After the final steeping is complete, press the lever and pour out the coffee liquid at once. (If you do not pour out the liquid at once, the coffee particles in the pot will continue to release a bitter flavor, and the coffee in the pot will only get worse and worse)
7. Coffee beans will produce cream after roasting, and the French press pot will have a layer of coffee cream after making coffee. When cleaning the French press pot, you should disassemble all the metal parts, both the container and the parts need to be cleaned with detergent and completely dried and dried before putting it away.
Tips for Making French Press
- Suitable for single-origin coffee beans, or coffee beans with heavy fruit acidity, suitable for medium to dark roasted coffee beans (such as South Sea coffee).
- The coffee powder should be slightly coarser (because hot water directly touches the coffee powder, too fine is easy to over-extract), you can use a medium grind, about 5-6 degrees. If the powder is too fine, the coffee powder will run out of the holes in the filter and the coffee will become cloudy.
- Be sure to use fresh coffee powder, because it is not a high-pressure extraction, the taste of old coffee powder will easily come out sour and burnt bitter.
- The resting time is about 3-4 minutes. The longer the steeping time, the stronger the flavor and the heavier the acidity. Each type of coffee bean has a different taste and personal preference, so try them one by one. Do not press the filter when steeping, so that the coffee has more time and space to come into contact with the water.
- Do not use too little coffee powder, usually two level spoons of coffee powder (0.7oz or so) plus 6.76 fl oz of water.
- The water must be filtered and not too hot, around 194 °F.
