The French Press, also called plunger coffee maker or piston coffee maker, is one of the simplest devices for making coffee. Invented in France in the 1850s, it was patented in 1929 by Italian designer Attilio Calimani, who improved the original design. Years later, another Italian designer, Faliero Bondanini, finished refining it to arrive at the design we know today.
The French press is basically made up of two parts; a cylindrical glass or plastic container and a plunger, which runs through said cylinder. The plunger has a filter at one of its ends, either nylon, rubber or aluminum, which allows only the water to pass through and not the ground coffee beans.
The operation of this type of coffee maker is very simple; at first, boiled water has to be poured into the cylinder. If you don't want it to be too hot, you should let the water stand for 30-45 seconds. And then, you proceed to add the ground coffee. The recommended type of grinding is coarse, the thickness of sea salt, so that there are no traces of ground coffee in the drink. The ratio is 12 grams of ground coffee for every 150 ml of water and once the coffee is added, we stir it a little so that it is distributed in the water.
Finally, the lid of the coffee maker is put on, and the plunger is inserted into the container. The piston is pressed slowly but steadily to the bottom and allowed to stand for a few minutes 4 minutes. After this time, it is ready to be served and tasted.
If you want to know if a coffee made with a French press has more or less caffeine than an espresso, be sure to read this post.
By the way, this coffee maker also allows you to froth milk, in case you want to make a cappuccino!!
To do this, simply heat the milk beforehand, put it in the coffee maker and move the plunger up and down repeatedly, thus forming a little foam.
A few last notes on the preparation of coffee with the French press:
If lowering the filter (activating the plunger) is difficult, that is, it requires a great pressure force, it means that the grinding is too fine.
If, on the other hand, the filter lowers without much resistance, then it means that the grind is too coarse.
It is recommended to remove the liquid after brewing because otherwise coffee extraction will continue to occur, adding bitter flavors. That is, it is better to transfer it to another container if it is not going to be consumed all at once.
The filter of the coffee maker must be cleaned very well with pressurized water and preferably without adding soap and with some frequency, since the old coffee beans can get trapped, thus altering the aromas, flavors and fragrances of the new preparations.
We leave you the following video developed by French Press Coffee who teaches us how to prepare a coffee with the french press and we see how simple it is.
In short, the French press or plunger coffee maker is very comfortable and easy to use. It is enough to find the right grinding point and for this, there is nothing better than practicing.
Regardless of the chosen coffee maker, what really matters is the quality of the coffee. It is preferable to invest a little more money in a good coffee, knowing that in this way, you will be enjoying a drink of excellent quality.
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