Is there something wrong with my mom's press?

[Terje]

Been drinking Yirgacheffee all New Years at my mom's place, brewed in a press pot. She roasts here beans in the oven, which makes them more dry than when I roast mine in a frying pan, and I mention this cause maybe it has some effect on the things that follow.

After roasting we grind it (pretty fine grind) and pour it in the press pot, then the boiled water. There is a lot of foam! I mean, shitloads of foam! Usually so much that she has to pour the water over twice because after the foam sinks a bit when she's only poured water over it once the pot's only half full.

Then after more than five minutes waiting it is very, very hard to press down the coffee. Is this correct? My press pots do not behave like this. Four minutes and the coffee goes donw easily. Feels like there's some sort of vacume (sp?) creating the resistance. This a Bodum press, mine are another brand and cheaper. They both make great tasting coffee BTW.

[BazBean]

you will probably have tryed this but, grind a little coarser. i have 2 press pots and they have difffrent size meshes.

[Terje]

No, that's one thing we haven't experimented with. It doesn't seem to matter in my press pots, I use fairly fine grind myself too, but perhaps a coarser grind would do the trick for my mom. Thanks for the tip, I'll pass it on.

[espressomattic]

Baz is right, coarse is better for French. Also try to put a little cold water in with the grind and do not use boiling water. Wait about 3 mins before pouring the hot water in. I have found that this prevents scourching the beans and getting quite a bitter taste. This works really well with Yirg.

Happy Pouring

MAtt

[lukas]

With my oven roast I too get really big foam in the Presspot. I usually stir the coffee a bit an pour the rest of the water over it. When it's stirred, after 3-5 minutes there is practically no resistance anymore when pressing down, because all grounds lay on the bottom.

[Terje]

Wait about 3 mins before pouring the hot water in.

Wiat three minutes before pouring... do you mean three minutes after the water has boiled, or? Cause that sounds kinda extreme to me.

[motoman]

Water goes off the boil in about 10 seconds and pouring it into the press pot reduces the temperature to just the right level.

[HughF]

I saw some figures on alt.coffee (July 2nd, 2004) which implied that it might be a little hot unless you wait a little longer than that, say one to two minutes, even with the cafetiere not pre-heated.

Cheers,

Hugh

[anette]

If you're grinding straight after roasting you'll get a lot of co2 when yu pour hot water on, that's why you gat the masses of foam. Grind a little coarser, pour on water at 92-96 degrees, (let the water sit in you kettle for 30 sec or so with the lid off) fill almost full and give it a stir, that sould settle some of the bubbles. I sometimes fill it almost full, stir, and put the plunger on so that the screen is just over the coffee surface, then add hot water through 'on top of' the screen till it's full. Then I pull the screen up over the water surface again and wait till it's ready. Give the jar a swirl to help floating grounds settl before pressing down.

Ah such a complicated ting for a cup of coffee! But worth it I hope!

[espressomattic]

I've also found that warming the jar before hand also helps a little.

[Terje]

If you're grinding straight after roasting you'll get a lot of co2 when yu pour hot water on, that's why you gat the masses of foam. Grind a little coarser, pour on water at 92-96 degrees, (let the water sit in you kettle for 30 sec or so with the lid off) fill almost full and give it a stir, that sould settle some of the bubbles. I sometimes fill it almost full, stir, and put the plunger on so that the screen is just over the coffee surface, then add hot water through 'on top of' the screen till it's full. Then I pull the screen up over the water surface again and wait till it's ready. Give the jar a swirl to help floating grounds settl before pressing down.

But, I don't have any of these problems with my two press pots and I grind the beans right away, as I take them from the frying pan. I don't pour the water in slowly either. I get some foam but have no problems pressing it down after four to five minutes.

[zix]

IME Yirg does produce rather much crema when very fresh. More than usual for an arabica. Something similar happened when me and a friend made yirg in his Bodum pot.
Perhaps it is a combination of your mothers Bodum pot and the yirg?

[blackice]

When you use very fresh coffee to make french presh you should see bubbles from the CO2 the beans emit. The right brewing temperature is 95-96 C degrees. Boiling water is about 100 C degrees. Wait for a min after boiling and pour. The french press will lower the temp a bit so the final temp will be fine. Stir in order to moisten all the coffee. Put the lid and wait 4-5 minutes. The time depends on grind setting and your preferences.
Make sure you use a quality grinder that doesn't produce a lot of dust. Use a coarse setting. When pressing there should be resistance. Very low resistance means very coarse setting (weak coffee-underextracted) and high resistance means very fine coffee (very strong coffee-overextracted).

PS
You could try comparing your grind to a commercial grind for french press (ie Starbucks)