Do you have the same experience in the morning: boiling water, ground coffee powder, brewing, and smothering, brushing your teeth, and a few minutes later, a pot of strong coffee is finished?
The French press has been considered particularly suitable for novice coffee makers: both novice and excellent baristas love the French press pot. As long as you master its core method, you can make a passable cup of coffee. But the prerequisite is you chose a qualified coffee bean. So, how do we pick the right coffee beans?
Why French Press Coffee?
Classic coffee pot, recognizable and stylish appearance, simple brewing method, affordable price, portable coffee pot, and most of all, the ability to brew a cup of rich flavor and texture of coffee, such a French press pot, why don't we like it?
How does French Press work?
Brewing coffee is the same as cooking in that it requires a proper extraction parameter. A problem at one point will impact the final flavor.
(click the picture for more French press pot details)
Although the French press is simple to use, it does not lose the full flavor of a good cup of coffee. The French press pot is the closest brewing method to the cup test output, which can bring out the best of the grease content, aroma, flavor, and other flavor elements in the coffee, and the sweet, rich taste makes it a very good breakfast coffee choice.
For more information on how to brew a good cup of coffee and how to grasp the extraction parameters, please refer to my previous articles on:
Read: How to Brew a Mellow French Press Coffee at Home
To prevent the over-extraction of coffee, we can also choose the right volume of French press pot for our use besides paying attention to the process. How to choose? Refer to my previous articles:
Read: Types of French Press - Picking the Right One
What Kind of Coffee Beans for French Press
Once we have the extraction parameters and the right French press, what else can we do to enhance the coffee flavor?
That's right, the coffee beans.
Good coffee beans, in addition to the quality of the raw beans, also include freshness, for example, you need to drink them in the appreciation period of 30 days. Also, you need freshly ground, pre-ground coffee powder may be okay, but not optimal because the aroma of the coffee dissipates very quickly after grinding.
I think this is all knowledge we are already familiar with, but there is one more question: which beans are suitable for French press pots? What beans brew better in a French press?
First, we must be clear about the principle of the French press pot: steeping.
The longer the steeping time, the more the coffee is extracted and even saturated, which is why we often say that the longer the steeping, the stronger the flavor.
Of course, the intensity of flavor is related to the degree of grinding. There are only 30% of soluble substances in coffee beans, only about 18% of which are ideal for flavor. As the coffee powder is ground more finely, the area of contact between the coffee powder particles and water will be larger, and the number of flavor substances extracted will increase.
Then, when selecting coffee beans, you can choose a bit of a balanced, similar to dark chocolate, nutty flavor beans for brewing.
As for beans with richer layers of flavor, it is not recommended, because the French press is a steeping extraction, if the beans have rich layers of flavor, it is more difficult to show them rich layers of beans with the French press.
If we are talking about specific coffee beans, based on the obvious characteristics of each coffee bean, suitable for the French press are Indonesia's Mantenin, Brazil's Queen Estate, Honduras Shirley, etc. These beans are very suitable for the French press in taste and flavor.
Of course, "there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand eyes" and taste is a very personal thing and I can't make the decision for you. But you can go ahead and pick specific brands and beans based on the suggestions above.
How to Grind Coffee Beans for French Press
As mentioned above, the strength of flavor is related to the grind. Here we share again how to grind the right coarseness of coffee powder.
(click the picture for more coffee grinders details)
Our regular grind scale is roughly coarse salt granular coffee powder. Use a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15 for steeping.
But we can't guarantee the desired grind every time, especially when you buy a new bean grinder. Can only waste? Maybe you may want to take a look at the following suggestions.
- When we grind to a coarser coffee powder, we need a longer extraction time.
A coarser grind scale and a longer extraction time can result in a clean-tasting cup of coffee with fresh and bright acidity.
- When we grind to a finer coffee powder, we use a shorter extraction time.
Not every cup of French press pot takes 4 minutes, you can try using a finer grind scale and a shorter extraction time of 2 minutes.
Even a good barista cannot guarantee that every cup of coffee made will be perfect. So let's not be afraid to make a mistake, maybe make a mistake and change the brewing method properly, it's also a good cup of coffee!
