French Press Coffee: Simple, Bold, and Pretty Great
No fancy tricks. Just a really good cup of coffee.
I think the French press is one of the most underrated ways to make coffee at home.
No pods. No paper filter. No machine that needs a firmware update before you've had caffeine. Just coffee, hot water, a little patience, and a plunger.
That's it.
The coffee itself is different from a pour-over. A metal mesh filter lets more of the coffee's natural oils and tiny particles through, so the result often feels richer and fuller in your mouth. If a Chemex is crisp and clean, a French press is the friend who shows up in boots and stays for another cup.
The best part? It's not difficult to do well. Let's walk through it.
The short pour
Best for: Rich, full-bodied coffee and making multiple cups with very little equipment.
Grind: Coarse, like rough breadcrumbs or coarse sea salt.
Coffee: 16 g for every 8 fl oz of brewing water.
Water: Around 200–205°F, just off the boil.
Steep: About four minutes.
What you'll need
A French press, coffee, hot water, and a timer. A scale and grinder help, but you can still start with pre-ground coffee prepared specifically for French press.
Here's a useful starting point:
Brewing water Coffee
8 fl oz 16 g
16 fl oz 32 g
24 fl oz 48 g
32 fl oz 64 g
Make sure the total water fits comfortably in your press. Remember that “8-cup” or “4-cup” labels on French presses may refer to small manufacturer cups, not the size of your favorite mug.
1. Warm the French press
Heat a little extra water and swirl some around inside the empty press. Pour that rinse water out. This keeps the glass from cooling the brewing water too quickly.
Is it absolutely required? No. Is it easy enough to be worth doing? Yes.
2. Grind coarse and add the coffee
Measure your beans and grind them coarse. Add the grounds to the bottom of the press, giving it a small shake to level things out.
Very fine grounds can slip through the mesh and leave a muddy cup. A little sediment is normal; chewing your coffee is…nasty.
3. Add hot water
Heat the water to just off the boil, around 200–205°F. Pour it over the grounds, making sure everything gets wet. Start a timer.
You can add the water in two stages—roughly half first, a gentle stir, then the rest—or simply pour it all in and give it one gentle stir. Either way, the goal is to wet the grounds evenly, not whip up a coffee smoothie.
Set the lid on top to keep things warm, but don't you DARE press yet.
4. Wait four minutes
This is the difficult part. Mostly because your kitchen smells good and you want the coffee now.
Let the grounds steep. Around the one-minute mark, a gentle stir can help any floating grounds get wet, but please—don't overthink it.
5. Press slowly, then pour immediately
At about four minutes, lower the plunger with steady, gentle pressure. If it feels impossible to push, stop and check whether the grind is too fine or the filter is seated correctly. You shouldn't have to wrestle it. Sometimes you’ll have to pull it back up just a tad.
Pour the coffee into mugs or another carafe right away. Coffee left sitting on its grounds can keep extracting all those flavors, but it become harsher as it cools.
What if it tastes…wrong?
Too bitter? Try grinding a little coarser or shortening the steep slightly. Pouring it out promptly helps, too.
Too weak? Add a little more coffee or use a slightly finer grind. Make one adjustment at a time.
Too much grit? Use a coarser, more even grind. Avoid the very last sip at the bottom of the press if you don't like sediment.
Too sour? Try slightly finer grounds or a longer steep before changing the amount of coffee.
The best French press tip I can give you
Don't chase somebody else's exact definition of the perfect cup.
Use the recipe as a starting point. Taste it. Maybe your favorite roast is a little bolder than mine. Maybe you love the full-bodied character. Maybe you want to add milk and turn it into something that feels like the weekend.
Great. That's the whole point.
Our interactive Perfect Pour guide will help you calculate the amounts for the number of servings you're making.
Better coffee. STronger connections.
Coffee has a funny way of bringing people together. Around a kitchen table. In the office. At an event. In the five-minute break that somehow turns into the best conversation of the day.
We built MSTRY COFFEE around that idea. We develop custom specialty roasts for companies and organizations, design branded bags for client and employee gifting, and build office and event coffee experiences that give people something genuinely worth sharing.
If your next celebration, client gift, or office coffee setup could use something a little more memorable, we'd love to hear the story behind it. Let's create something together.
