Helpful Guide To The Best French Press!
There are now many ways to make your coffee. There are advantages and disadvantages to all the methods, so it’s basically about what you prefer.
Let’s start with clearing up the various names this plunger has….
The following is about the press plunger jug, which is usually called the French Press, sometimes coffee press, cafetière, Chambord or sieve plunger jug, often also called the Bodum jug.
From this point in the article, we only call it the French Press. I always prefer to use the Bodum model.
If you do not know what to acquire, then you need to research the market to find a machine or product that can help you make your coffee.
In this article, we start with piston jugs (Also known as French Presses), which are considered to be one of the arguably best ways to make coffee.
There are generally many reasons for this.
One of the advantages of a French Press coffee maker is that you get a fresh and tasty coffee.
You do not lose the lovely taste of the coffee. This is one thing that many people prioritize, and the reason why many choose just a pitcher.
Making a good round of coffee is both easy and simple, and it takes a long time from start to finish.
Look further down below and read our piston jug tests.
Stelton AJ French Press
Double insulated stainless steel French Press.
Stelton is known for their classic, simple designs that somehow never go out of fashion.
This also applies to this great french Press, which is designed in stainless steel by Arne Jacobsen. The Stelton AJ french Press is out of a series, Cylinda-line, where you can also get coffee and teas, sugar bowl, cream jug, as well as a serving tray. All in stainless steel.
The French Press is composed of an outer and inner jug. This double insulation is made with regard to. to keep the coffee warm and thus preserve the aromas as best as possible.
The jug can hold 1 litre, which corresponds to approx. 8 cups of coffee.
It is easy to clean the jug.
The outer and inner jug can be clicked off.
The inner pot can go into the dishwasher with the piston, while the outer pot must be washed by hand.
La Cafetiere Classic Chrome French Press
Classic French Press in glass.
La Cafetiere Classic Chrome french Press is elegantly designed in crystal clear glass with a stainless steel stand, lid, and plunger. The french Press is available in three sizes with a capacity of 4, 8 and up to 12 cups.
Thanks to the simple design, La Cafetiere Classic Chrome is also quite easy to clean as it can be virtually separated. The glass jug can be cleaned in the dishwasher but the other parts should be washed by hand.
Stelton EM Press french Press
Nice double jug French Press.
In 1977, Erik Magnussen designed the famous Stelton coffee pot.
The Stelton EM french Press is in the style of the classic coffee pot, but in 2010 the design was modernized at some points, so it is both contemporary and suitable for making piston coffee.
The model is available in several different colours.
The 1-litre pot is double insulated with an outer and inner pot that keeps the coffee warm at the optimum temperature.
The design allows you to adjust and refine the taste of the coffee in a simple way.
The French Press can withstand being washed up in the dishwasher, while the pot itself should be washed by hand.
However, it can be easily disassembled, allowing you to reach all corners completely.
What size espresso cup should I choose?
The espresso cup is available in many different sizes, often stated in the number of cups – here it is important to know that a cup of moka is much smaller than the cups and mugs we traditionally use, so keep this in mind when choosing size.
The usual sizes are 3 and 6 cups, but some models are also available in sizes such as 1, 2, 4, 9, 10 and 12 cups.
The table below is Bialetti’s guide sizes for Moka Express.
After brewing, a little water will remain in the bottom chamber, so the amount of finished coffee will be a little less than indicated.
| Number of cups | capacity |
| 1 cup. | 60 ml |
| 3 cup. | 200 ml |
| 6 cup. | 300 ml |
| 9 cup. | 550 ml |
| 12 cup. | 775 ml |
Who invented the French Press?
The best-known patent dates from 1929 for a “push jug” and comes from the Italian Attilio Calimani.
However, the first patents can be found as early as 1852 by Henry Otto Mayer and Jacques Victor Delfforge and in 1854 by Jean-Honoré Lavigne.
All of the French. However, the jug did not experience its breakthrough until the mid-1970s, when the Danish company Bodum came onto the market with its first jug called “Bistro”.
One of the success factors was certainly the price.
In addition to the infusion in the cup, as it is still popular in Eastern Europe today, the French press’s preparation is one of the cheapest ways to enjoy coffee.
It neither needs a filter, nor does it produce waste.
What is a French Press Really?
French Press can be different in many ways. It does not resemble the many other products on the market and not coffee machines at all.
It’s basically just a glass jug, which is mounted in a holder with a handle.
That’s what a French Press is. There’s not a lot of useless stuff loaded on it.
That is a huge advantage on many points. The coffee is made in the pot, so you get an excellent taste and a fresh coffee.
The design of a French Press
One of the big reasons for choosing a french Press is that it is simple and elegant.
The design is not packed with many useless features or a lot of other fancy stuff.
It’s all neat and tidy, so you won’t have to pay for features you won’t use.
Many people do this when buying machines.
But a French Press is not a machine, so you know exactly what you are getting.
There is nothing fancy about it. You get what you pay for.
The neat design also means you can have your french Press standing in front of either the living room or the kitchen without removing it all the time because the design is ugly.
Many different variants
No matter what kind of products you are looking for, you will find countless different models and brands.
It can be not easy to find around the market, and the same goes for french presses.
Several different models have advantages and disadvantages.
It is therefore recommended that you read more about the individual french presses to find out how exactly the one you are looking at differentiates from the market others.
After all, you need to know why it costs more or less than other products on the market and what makes each jug unique.
Here’s how to use a French Press
It is really very easy to use a french press.
There are countless guides on the web about it.
Once you have used it once, you will know how to use it in the future.
But if you haven’t tried using a french press before, let’s take a look at how to do it in practice.
You have to start by making up your mind which coffee you prefer.
I assume you have tasted coffee before and thus know which type you prefer.
Then be sure that the French press you purchased can make that type of coffee.
If it can, then you must grab the beans for the coffee. Then you grind the amount that you need.
When you need to use the coffee for a French press, it must be coarsely ground.
For 7g of coffee, use about 1.5dl of water.
However, it may vary depending on which jug you use.
It would help if you had complete control over your piston’s various information so that you form the perfect framework for making a good round of coffee.
After that, you must have boiled a lot of water. Don’t hesitate to cook too much of the kind.
If you cook too little, you have a problem, because then you have to cook a whole new round.
Therefore, boil a little too much, so you are sure you have enough water.
After boiling, it should stand for some time. It is not too hot when you apply it.
Therefore, let the water stand for 1-2 minutes so that it has a temperature of 94-96 degrees when you apply it. It must not be boiling.
Initially, you may need to use a thermometer to find the temperature of the water.
However, you quickly learn how long it should last. The more often you use the piston, the faster you will find out how long it will take.
Therefore, it is only in the beginning that you need to pay extra attention to the temperature.
After that, you need to get the piston going.
You have to pour the coffee into the pot and pour the water over.
It must be the right amount of both things you use so that you get a good taste.
After that, you basically have the coffee that you can drink.
However, it is recommended that you use a stirrer to stir the jug.
It should be mixed well so that the water is thoroughly mixed with the coffee, so you have a wonderful experience with the drink.
There are many other tips that you can find on the significant internet when using a french press jug.
Let’s end with an important piece of advice that will make the french press last longer and that you get good coffee over and over again.
What coffee should I use for a French Press?
Coffee from the French press has a relatively long contact time between water and coffee grounds.
The result is a full-bodied coffee in which some of the things that a filter would hold back, for example, are retained.
You can, therefore, basically use all coffees that have been roasted for preparation outside the espresso world.
However, one should factor that already full-bodied coffee, such as a Sidamo, some Kenyans, or even Canephora varieties, are not fully suitable for it.
While a fruity Central American can develop undreamt-of volume in the French press.
But here, too, as always: talk to your local roaster and try out different varieties.
If you choose a more flavorful coffee, you should possibly reduce the water temperature a little. 88 to 90 degrees are sufficient.
The cleaning is essential
As with almost all other products, you must clean your french press after using it.
It will quickly become disgusting if you do not clean it and taste it the next time you use it.
Therefore, do not underestimate the importance of cleaning your french press jug.
It must be kept clean at all times.
Therefore, you should clean it every time you apply it to avoid illness and your french press jugs to become disgusting.
After using your jug 4-5 times, it is recommended that you clean it thoroughly.
You should disassemble it so you can clean it thoroughly.
This is important for your continued use of the piston jug.
Therefore, please do yourself a favour to keep it clean and neat. It can be seen and tasted.
We hope you can now make a decision easier after reading our french press test.
How coarse should I grind my coffee for the French Press?
The French Press has even managed to become a household name when it comes to grinding degrees.
If you specify the degree of grinding “for the French press” at the roaster you trust (or even in your local Starbucks), you will get a coarser ground coffee.
Anyone who grinds at home is familiar with the size of semolina, and that`s the size you should aim for.
In no case should you choose the size that is used for filter coffee or even espresso?
In this case, the coffee will be bitter.
A good indicator is the resistance the jug gives when it is pushed down.
If the stamp is difficult to press down, the grist is clearly too fine, but if it rushes downwards without resistance, it is too coarse.
Whether hand or electric mill does not matter.
Almost any grinder can handle coarse grist.
A common size for the French press is 1 litre or 8 cups.
Large models are 12 cups and 1.5 litres.
But there is also a small jug with 0.35 litres.
The latter is sometimes used in selected cafés for preparation and tasting at the table.
A good average value for 0.5 litres of water is 30 g of ground coffee. So 60 g per litre.
If you don’t have scales: around 10 g of coffee fit on a tablespoon.
Speaking of spoons: if possible, use plastic spoons, otherwise, scratches can occur in the glass.
If you are looking to get yourself a French press, I strongly recommend you check out Amazon, as they usually have much lower prices than your local shopping mall.
If you feel that maybe a French press is not the right fit for you, and you might be interested in an espresso machine, try to check out this article.
I took the liberty of adding a link to Amazon where you can find alot of different French presses + read some reviews, thereby hopefully helping you to see which one is the right one for you.
