The beauty of French press lies in its simplicity. Grind your beans, add water and you are set! Well, this is really a quick and easy process. Even though it is an easy process, something may go wrong. A single mistake may make your coffee kind of disgusting. So, despite its simplicity, you must be careful while brewing French press coffee. Here are four common mistakes people make and ruin their coffee taste.
Mistake #1: Using Unfiltered Water:
A coffee cup contains about ninety-eight percent of water. That’s why the taste mostly depends on water. If your water tastes gross, then there is a huge possibility that your coffee will taste terrible. Using the filtered or bottled water is the best if you don’t want to pollute your coffee.
However, don’t forget to check the water temperature. If you failed to reach the optimal temperature, your grinds will fail to provide the perfect taste. Boiling water can extract the acids of beans so that you will get a proper taste of coffee. At Starbucks stores, coffee is brewed at 205° Fahrenheit. While serving their customers, the temperature slightly cools down to 175° Fahrenheit and customers get the ultimate taste of French press.
Mistake #2: Not Grinding The Beans Properly:
Grinding is the best thing to consider while brewing French press. Every machine needs different grind. The wrong grind may let the water run too much quickly or hold the water to extract through the beans.
For French press, you have to grind your beans just like breadcrumbs. Don’t grind the beans too coarsely or too finely. Try to grind exactly like what your machine requires. You will get the instructions on the user manual comes with your machine. You can easily check whether your beans are properly or coarsely grinded. At first, put your grinded beans in a filter. After fulfilling the filter, press the filter down. If the beans are too fine, you will find it difficult to press it down. But if you can push the filter with no resistance, that means the beans are too coarse.
Moreover, don’t store the coffee beans in the freezer. The moisture of the freezer will reduce the ultimate taste of your coffee. So, try to store your beans in a dry and cool place. Moreover, always try to use freshly ground beans. This will help you to get a great taste. Remember, Fresh is always best.
Mistake #3: Use The Appropriate Amount Of Coffee:
The main art of French press is in the coffee to water ratio. You are strongly recommended to maintain the appropriate coffee to water ratio while brewing French press.
The French press baristas suggest you maintain 1:12 ratio of coffee to water. So, if you want to use 30 grams of coffee, 350 to 360 grams will be the best amount of water to use. However, some other baristas also use maximum from 1:15 to 1:10 coffee to water ratio. Among all of the French press machines, the 4-cup and 8-cup variants are most commonly used.
For a 4-cup French press, 480 or 500 grams of water will be best with 38 grams of coffee. If you own an 8-cup French press, then you may use 650 grams of water with 53 grams of coffee.
Mistake #4: Don’t Leave The Coffee In The French Press After Pressing:
Do not ever leave any coffee in your French press coffee maker after it has finish brewing. If you do that, your coffee may over-extract and results in a bitter taste.
So, the best solution is to brew the exact amount of coffee you are going to drink. The brewing time is also a great fact. The optimum brewing time is about 4 minutes. This is really IMPORTANT. Try to set a timer for 4 minutes after you had start brewing. The beans will extract the acids and molecules of these acids will begin to mix up with water just in three minutes. Another one minute is required for the ultimate taste and proper mix up of acids and water.
Remember one thing carefully, if you love to consume bitter coffee, use a bit more coffee grounds, never brew for a longer time.
Coffee is not just a science, it’s an art. Whatever you will do, just keep trying until you get it right. However, avoiding these most common mistakes will help you to reach your French press goal easily and almost effortlessly. Still having trouble? Inform us in the comment section without any second thought. Happy brewing!
