The classic French Press is known for its ability to brew a consistent, heavy bodied black coffee.

What you’ll need:

• French Press
• 20g ground coffee (approximately 3 tablespoons)
• 240ml water (2 teaspoons less than 1 cup) at 94°C (1:50 minutes off the boil)
• Tablespoon
• Cup
• Kettle
• Scales, if possible, otherwise follow eye measurements

Brewing recipe:

• Add 20g of coffee into your French Press.
• Pour 40ml of hot water.
• Stir 10 times to wet the ground coffee, and leave it for 30 seconds on the timer.
• Pour the remaining water.
• Add the lid and leave for 3 more minutes.
• Stir a few times until the grinds fall to the bottom.
• Then, very slowly, plunge over 1 minute.
• Serve into cups straight away to avoid over extracting the coffee.

Pro tips:

• Darker roasts require lower and cooler temperature water. If the water is too hot, the brew will easily over extract and taste bitter.
• Lighter roasts require higher temperature water. Light roasts are more dense and need hotter temperatures to extract the flavours.
• Stir 10 times to wet the ground coffee, and leave it for 30 seconds on the timer.
• Pour the remaining water.
• Slow plunging is key! Always allow 45 seconds to 1 minute for plunging.
• Plunging too fast will make a gritty, unclean cup.
• For lighter to medium roast coffees, a few stirs of the brew just before plunging reduces sourness.
• Do not stir before plunging with dark roast coffees since this coffee has very little sourness and this will bring out over extracted, roasty notes.