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French Press Technique

PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:51 pm
by kingseven
Hopefully this is more useful than seen as promotional.

This is how we've been making french press coffees for the last few months, and we like it much better this way. Less sludge, cleaner cup (cleaner both in appearance and taste) and more delicious.

French Press Technique

(delete if innappropriate)

Comments welcome!

RE: French Press Technique

PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:02 pm
by Gouezeri
Nah, useful little vid, and I'm sure this technique works just as well with other coffees and not just with SQM roasted beans :P

RE: French Press Technique

PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:07 pm
by kingseven
I've been brewing some awesome coffees from Intelli and Barefoot this week - so I can agree with the above statement!

RE: French Press Technique

PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:31 pm
by espressomattic
Cheers James

It's one of those 'Oh yeah, why didn't I think of that' moments.

With all my free time at the moments, I was also wondering about putting a Pree Pot through a filter after the brew for that cleaner cup, sort of like pouring it through the Aerobie and pressing down. Not practical for large brews but worth a try...gee I guess I will have to give it a go...

Thanks again

RE: French Press Technique

PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:31 pm
by BazBean
great stuff...

why is it the best ideas ... (skim off/ clean ) allways seem so obvious .
AFTER you hear then.

seems the best ideas have that in common

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:25 am
by charmon
Tried this method this morning and it was great.really clean and balanced.i did however notice that the grind i'm using isn't quite as coarse as the one in the video.that looks like a pestle and mortar job!

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:32 am
by syscrusher
I don't mind sludge to be honest. However, I did try this, and achieved a roughly similar grind size. I found that I still got some sludge (i wasn't able to get all the grinds out with the clean, and I reckon the grinder was producing fines). I also found that the brew tasted a little underextracted to my taste.

Jim did mention hard water - as far as I know, and my kettle will attest - in Dublin we have very hard water - so this may be an issue.

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:06 am
by kingseven
charmon wrote:Tried this method this morning and it was great.really clean and balanced.i did however notice that the grind i'm using isn't quite as coarse as the one in the video.that looks like a pestle and mortar job!


The size of the grind is a little exaggerated by the macro filming, though it is pretty coarse. That grind is what works best for me with that particular (Bunn G3) grinder. Messing about with my new Hario Skerton mill I've been going a tiny bit finer.

Hard water is a problem. I did some tests ages ago with my Chemex and London water and found that softening the water could increase the extraction percentage (how much of the ground coffee is leeched into the cup) by 5 or 6% which is really quite huge. Might be a little different for French Press as it is an infusion and not a percolation - I could probably test it if I had a spare half hour.

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:07 am
by charmon
We are known for our hard water alright...:) another tip i picked up recently is to pour some hot water into the cafetiere first and submerge the mesh in it so the metal expands for a snugger fitted plunge.i'm not sure but i'll credit hasbean101 with that one.

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:58 pm
by dsc
Hi James,

I've already asked this in the comments but I will do so again here, why do you stir and than remove the sludge when you can simply remove the majority of it without stirring? I mean if I understand this correctly you stir to sink some of the particles at the top and than you remove the rest with a spoon. Can't you just remove everything with a spoon without stirring? Or am I missing something?

Regards,
dsc.

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:18 pm
by charmon
I would have thought that the coarse grounds were necessary in the plunge because the water being forced through causes extraction whereas the scum is just,well, scum!

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:32 pm
by dsc
Hi charmon,

well it's the end of the extraction, so we don't really need anything in the extract, or do we? the coffee is already brewed and this is the final step of separating the bad from the good.

Regards,
dsc.

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 1:44 pm
by charmon
I know what you mean alright but by forcing the grounds down there must be some additional extraction?otherwise you could just invert the mesh and turn it from a plunger into a lifter...if you get me?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:09 pm
by kingseven
Mark Prince's method is to just scoop. I tried it last night, and he tried this way, and neither of us can taste much difference. I will dig my TDS meter out and do a side by side test to see if there is a big difference in strength/extraction resulting from it.

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:25 pm
by charmon
It'd be interesting to find out alright.we could even post you over some ultra hard dublin water :)