French Press - Brewing Guide
French Press Brewing Guide
A reliable 20-ounce recipe for anyone who wants good coffee without the fuss.
A 20oz French press makes about three solid mugs. Two if you're generous.
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The French press is the most forgiving way to brew coffee at home. No paper filter, no fussy pour technique, no $400 grinder required. Just hot water, coarse ground, and a little patience. What you get back is a cup with body and depth, the kind of coffee that holds up to cream, a second pour, or a conversation that runs longer than expected.
Below is the recipe we use for a standard 20-ounce press. If yours is bigger or smaller, the ratios scale cleanly. Everything else stays the same.
20oz French Press
What you'll need
- A French press (this recipe is dialed in for a 20oz)
- 37 grams of fresh, coarsely ground coffee
- 560 grams of filtered water, just off the boil
- A timer
- A digital scale (optional, but it's the single biggest upgrade you can make)
How to make it
Step 1 — Heat the press
Pour a little hot water into the empty press, swirl it around, and dump it out. A cold glass press will pull heat out of your brew, and brewing temperature matters more than people think.
Step 2 — Add the coffee
Weigh out 37 grams of coffee, ground coarse (think coarse sea salt). Put it in the bottom of the press and give it a gentle shake to level it out.
Step 3 — Bloom
Start your timer. "Bloom" the coffee with about 280 grams of water over the grounds, and stir twice to incorporate the coffee that has floated to the top. Wait 30 seconds.
Step 4 — Pour the rest
After 30 seconds, pour in the remaining water (you should end at 560 grams total). Put the lid on with the plunger pulled all the way up, and let steep for 4 minutes.
Step 5 — Wait, then press
After 4 minutes, press the plunger down slowly and gently for approximately 30 seconds. Steady pressure, no rushing.
Step 6 — Pour everything
Pour all the coffee into a separate carafe or mug right away. If you leave it sitting on the grounds, it'll keep extracting and turn bitter by the time you go for a second cup.
If you're getting a muddy or bitter cup, the most common fix is to grind a little coarser. French press doesn't have a paper filter, so very fine grounds might slip past the mesh and over-extract.
The variables that actually matter
There are a lot of articles online telling you to obsess over every aspect of your brew. The three things that actually change your cup are:
- Grind size. Coarse for French press. If you're using pre-ground, ask for "French press" grind.
- Coffee freshness. Beans roasted recently taste meaningfully better. After that, the aromatics fade fast, which is why we roast-to-order and ship within 48 hours.
- Coffee-to-water ratio. 1:15 is our default (37g to 560g). Want it stronger? Try 1:14. Lighter? 1:16.
What to brew
French press loves medium and medium-dark roasts. The full-immersion brewing pulls out body, sweetness, and the cocoa-and-caramel range of flavors that those roasts do best. Light roasts can work, but you'll get more of their fruity, tea-like character from a pour-over.
Our award-winning Dreamlands Blend is a great place to start. It's a medium-dark roast with notes of dark chocolate and aromatic woods that holds up beautifully to a splash of cream. If you want a single origin option, try our Papua New Guinea Nebilyer, a delicious medium roast from the Simbu Province with notes of milk chocolate, honey, brown sugar, and dried fruit.
Brew it on a Saturday. Pour the second cup slowly. That's the whole point.
Keep Brewing
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