Photo by Anton Darius on Unsplash.
I don’t think I need to introduce this coffee brewing vessel much to anyone as I am pretty sure most of you reading this post have, on occasion, brewed coffee with it.
The French press, known also as a cafetière was first patented in 1852 by the French. Although this design was not exactly what we brew the coffee with today, it was the start to it all.
In 1929 two Italians upgraded the French press with a seal inside the carafe, and in 1958 a Swiss man Faliero Bondanini patented the most popular design which quickly became the favourite coffee brewer in France.
Today, the cafetière is one of the most popular coffee brewing vessels. It’s affordable and not very complicated when it comes to brewing. The french press is a full immersion device with a metal mesh filter. Immersion brewing means that coffee stays in contact with water at all the time until we decide to stop it. The metal mesh filter allows some of the coffee oils to get through to the brew which lead us to an excellent cup of coffee with a rich flavour and round body.
There are a lot of different styles and designs out on the market, if you would like my recommendation look for a brand called Bodum, which has been manufacturing since 1974.
Brewing your daily coffee with cafetière can be pretty simple, yet you can control the grind size, water temperature and coffee to water ratio as well as the brewing time, which leaves a little bit of space for experiments.
Check out our cafetière brew guide for FCR recommendations.
If you own a cafetière you can give it a try to recreate your favourite barista drinks at home too.
Play a little bit with a coffee to water ratio and contact time to get a more concentrated brew. After you heat the milk, try frothing it with a french press for a cappuccino of sorts.
With a lot of positives this brewer also has one not so favourite point for me.
With its metal mesh filter that allows for the precious coffee oils to access the brew, it also allows quite a bit of sediment through too, which when accidentally poured into the cup can be quite an unpleasant sensory experience.To avoid that try to resist from puring the last bit of coffee from your pot and you should end up with a delicious and well textured brew.
Another negative is the fact that they are a bit of a pain to clean and if this bothers you, then something like an Aeropress will give you similar results and is much easier to clean.
by Magdalena.
