French Press

This goes by many names, including the Coffee Plunger or the Bodum Press, named after the manufacturer Bodum that has made this coffee maker popular. In short, the French Press involves a glass container that holds both the ground coffee and hot water. The two sit together for a period while the water extracts solids (and flavor) from the ground coffee.

In order to pour the brewed coffee from the container and into a mug without also pouring the ground coffee at the same time, the container's lid is designed with a plunger. The plunger is connected to a mesh filter that when pushed down, pushes all of the ground coffee to the bottom of the container. The mesh filter ensures the ground coffee is unable to pass through the mesh and remains pressed at the bottom of the container. Above the filter is nothing but brewed coffee without any ground coffee in it. Once the plunger is pushed all the way to the bottom, the brewed coffee is simply poured from the container and the mesh filter keeps any ground coffee from ending up in your mug.

Instructions

1. Start heating water on the stove.
2. Grind your coffee to a coarse grind. Coarse grind, for two reasons. One, to ensure you do not overextract solids from the coffee (see Disadvantages below), and two, to ensure the coffee is not ground so fine that it passes through the mesh filter.
3. Empty the ground coffee into the French Press coffee maker - which is simply a clear glass container.
4. Once the water is heated, let it sit for a second so that it is hot but not boiling. Pour as much heated water into the container with the ground coffee as you would like brewed coffee. For example, if you making two mugs of coffee, pour two mugs of heated water into the coffee maker.
5. Cover the French Press with the lid and the plunger pulled all the way to the top.
6. Let it sit for four minutes - adjust this to personal taste after trying it a couple times.
7. Slowly push the plunger down until it is pushed all the way to the bottom. This will push the ground coffee down and press it to the bottom of the container.
8. Pour brewed coffee from the container. Voila! The filter has separated the coffee grinds and brewed coffee so you pour only brewed coffee.
9. For clean-up, remove the lid and plunger. Empty the ground coffee into the garbage. Rinse the lid and plunger. Clean the glass container with soap and water.

Advanatages

Proper brewing: According to some experts, this is the single best way to prepare coffee because it allows prolonged contact between the water and coffee without boiling the coffee and without resulting in any ground coffee at the bottom of your mug (as you do in both cases with Turkish Coffee).

Disadvanatages

Overextraction: Not everybody is aware that there is such a thing as extracting too much coffee solids into the water, resulting in an overly bitter and syrupy coffee. There is an optimal extraction of solids from the coffee, and because the French Press keeps the ground coffee in water, there is a chance it is left too long and the water overextracts from the coffee. You will know when this happens by the taste of the coffee and by the residue that the coffee will leave on the inside of your mug as you drink it. This is one reason why you are advised to use a coarse grind of coffee with the French Press. A regular grind will result in overextraction because of its prolonged contact with water, and a fine grind may pass right through the mesh filter and into the coffee that you pour into your mug.

Inconvenience: This is a matter of personal taste, but many people like the 'flip-a-switch' convenience of using a drip brewer. With the French Press, you will need to heat the water yourself, pour it once heated, and set your own timer to know when the coffee is ready. Clean-up with the French Press is no better or worse than with a drip brewer.

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