Becoming a Coffee Expert Chapter 1: French Press

I recently got married, and my husband and I received pretty much every device for making coffee. We both love coffee, so these gifts were excellent and thoughtful. Even though I enjoy coffee, my brewing skills are at a pretty rudimentary level. As a new bride, one of my hobbies I'm hoping to build is coffee-making. I'm pumped! ☕️

The first method of coffee-making I will detail is using a French Press. This is how I typically make coffee, and I like this method for its straight-forwardness and not needing filters. The only pain is disposing of the grounds and cleaning out the press when you are done.

In this article, I will write out how I make coffee using a French Press. There are better articles out there, but for when I want quick, easy, add decent-tasting coffee, this is my fall-back. I definitely had to Google how to use a French Press the first time I made coffee in one, so thank you and an acknowledgement to all those articles that helped me along the way. Let's make coffee!

What You Need for Coffee in a French Press

• French Press (mine is a 12oz, which claims to make 3 cups of coffee, but I typically drink the whole thing)

• Electric kettle (or traditional kettle, just something to boil water)

• Ground coffee (I don't know how to ground beans yet, so I typically buy pre-ground coffee)

• Tablespoon

• Creamer (optional, but I really like Coffeemate Sugar Free French Vanilla at the moment, and I use a food scale to measure out 60ml/40kcal)

• Container for disposing the grounds (optional, but a jar or old yogurt container can be nice for containing the used grounds so they don't make your trashcan wet; if you compost, you could dump the grounda straight into the compost and give yourself a high five for being awesome)

Instructions

1. Boil a kettle full of water. The coffee will take on different notes if you stop the water just shy of boiling, but I typically wait until the switch on the electric kettle clicks off.

2. Measure 4tbs (more if your French Press is bigger) of ground coffee into the French Press.

3. Pour water over the coffee grounds to fill the press about 3/4 of the way.

4. Set the lid on the French Press with the plunger pulled all the way to the top.

5. Set a timer for 4 minutes and get your creamer ready in your mug, if you are using it.

6. After 4 minutes has passed, put your hand on the base of the lid so it stays in place, and slowly push the plunger all the way down.

7. Make sure the filter is aligned with the spout (you'll see the little lines that will catch any grounds that escaped the plunger), and pour your delicious coffee into your mug.

8. Celebrate being a coffee expert, and get on with your happy caffeinating! 🥳

Cleaning the French Press: When you are ready to clean the French Press, remove the plunger and rinse it with hot water, cleaning out all of the grounds. Empty out as many of the grounds into a container, trash can, or compost bin as you can (so you don't clog the drain), and rinse the container part of the press with hot water. Let it air dry. You can also put the French Press in the dishwasher every once in a while (maybe not, but I do...just use the top rack).