I used to think people who drank French press coffee were fussy and pretentious. It seemed like so much extra work for what benefit? Just put grounds in a filter in your drip machine and go. But two things happened that changed my mind.
First, I watched the Food Network’s Alton Brown episode of his show “Good Eats” on coffee and I received a French press as a wedding present (from the gracious Rod Dreher and his wife, who Melanie and I met while visiting Texas when we were dating).
Alton showed how the right combination of beans and water and brewing method can produce a superior cup of coffee. And he also showed that the French press is anything but pretentious and fussy. In fact, it’s just a few simple steps. The bean and water ratios are the same whatever method you use: 6 ounces of water for 2 Tbsp. of ground coffee. I like plenty of coffee so I generally make 18 ounces of coffee at a time. I’ve even marked the fill line for the water on the side of my press for ease of measuring. Put the 18 oz of water into a kettle, boil, measure the beans into a grinder, grind them as the water finishes boiling, put them in the press, add the water, stir, let steep for three-and-a-half minutes, press and pour. Not rocket science and not much harder than the Mr. Coffee.
Of course, it helps that my sister-in-law works at Starbucks and she gets top-quality beans with her employee discount. Good beans make a big difference.
By the way, if you prefer the Keurig pod machines, I have one of those too, although I don’t use it much at home. We do have one at work and so I order my pods at a substantial discount off retail at Amazon.com. I prefer these Coffee People, Donut Shop K-Cups for Keurig Brewers (Pack of 50). Because I get them through the Subscribe & Save option with free shipping from our Prime membership, it only costs $18.70, which is 37 cents per pod. That’s pretty inexpensive for a large cup of coffee.
Photo by Lotzman Katzman - http://flic.kr/p/2usDRe
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Image Credit
- Coffeepots.jpg: Lotzman Katzman/Flickr | CC BY 2.0