You’ll need

• Coarse ground coffee (you can buy ours here)

• Kettle

• Cafetière/French Press

• Tablespoon

• Timer

• Digital scales (optional)

NOTE

Cafetière sizes are usually 3-cup (1 serving), 8-cup (2-3 servings) and 12-cup (4-5 servings).

If you want an easy-to-remember guide, a general rule of thumb for brewing any coffee in a cafetière is:

3 cup - 20g coffee to 290ml (10 oz) water
8 cup - 50g coffee to 850ml (30 oz) water
12 cup - 85g coffee to 1350ml (47 oz) water

This is the ‘fool proof’ version! Therefore the coffee measurements are approximate. Also, yes, we know the ml-oz conversion isn’t exact - the water volume is rounded to the nearest 10 for ease of remembering.

There are of course other measurements/guides… Read on for ours!

Top Tips to consider

• If you live in particularly hard water area, boiling filtered water can make for a ‘cleaner tasting’ brew!

• The freshness of the coffee can affect the taste, you may wish to adjust your brew method to your taste as the coffee ages. For example, if the coffee is too fresh (ideally you want to be brewing our coffee 7-10 days onwards after it’s roast date), you can adjust the brew by pouring the first part of the hot water on the dry grounds and leaving it to ‘bloom’ for 30 seconds, before slowly pouring the rest of the water on. Or perhaps as the coffee ages you may wish to brew a little longer to draw some more of the flavour out.

Method

• Boil some water in a kettle, leave it to cool slightly whilst you prepare the rest of the coffee

• Optional - pre-heat the cafetière by pouring some hot water slowly into the cafetière. Do not pour too fast or else you’ll risk cracking the glass if it is exceptionally cold. Pour this water away before you add the ground coffee in the next step

• Add one heaped tablespoon of course ground coffee, approx 7g if you are using scales, per 100ml of water that you’ll be brewing with. (See note above for an easy-to-remember system that differs slightly to this but is pretty fool-proof!)

• Slowly add your not-quite-boiling hot water to the cafetière, completely covering the grounds. Give the coffee a stir ensuring it’s all wet, and then add the rest of the water and stir again. If you are brewing a full cafetière the fill line is generally the top of the metal ring around the glass)

• Put the cafetière lid on with the plunger above the grounds. Make sure the cafetière is sealed and the heat stays in by turning the lid to the seal side (opposed to the side you pour from)

• Leave the coffee to steep for 3-4 mins (the timing depends on your personal taste, play around to see what works best for you)

• Optional - once the timer finishes, right before plunging, use the tablespoon to scoop out the grounds sat on the top of the water

• Once the timer is up filter the coffee by very slowly pushing the plunger down to just above the grounds

• Turn the lid to the pouring side and pour in to cups to serve

• Optional - if you aren’t drinking it straight away it’s best to decant the coffee from the cafetière to avoid any astringent flavours from over brewing.

• Enjoy your coffee at home!

• (Once you have finished, make sure you clean your cafetière carefully in hot soapy water to rid the residual oils.)

Alternative Method

We really enjoyed Sierra Wen Xin Yeo and Phil Wain’s piece on the humble cafetière published in Issue 44 of Caffeine Mag (you can subscribe here, we’re not affiliated with them, just big fans).

In the article they share James Hoffermann’s (of Square Mile Coffee) Ultimate French Press Technique. You can check out his Youtube video to try it, or follow the method here.

If you wish to try this method with our coffee from our shop, select the filter grind and possibly play around with the brew time to suit your taste.

James Hoffermann’s Ultimate french press technique

• Add medium ground coffee to your cafetière, with a ratio of 60g per litre of coffee. Adjust the quantity depending on the volume of water you are using

• Boil clean soft water (use filtered water if you are in a hard water area) and pour over the water when it just off the boil

• Leave the coffee to steep for four minutes

• Stir the coffee crust that has formed on top. Use two spoons to scoop off the bits that don’t sink to the bottom

• Leave the coffee to sit for 5-10mins, the sediment should settle and the coffee will become clear as time passes

• Place the plunger on top of the cafetière and carefully lower the plunger to the top of the coffee/water level (we’re not plunging the coffee!) - this is to act as a filter as you pour/decant the coffee

• Pour/decant the coffee, you should do this gently to leave the sediment behind