French press fans?

SpookyPistolero

SpookyPistolero

Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
6,105
Howdy folks-

I just recently got myself an inexpensive french press and a cheap coffee grinder. Put it off for a long time for some reason! I've played around with it a couple of times and the quality of coffee it makes is just outstanding.

Like I said though, the grinder is cheap. No variable speed or 'coarseness' control, you just hold down the power switch till it's of a proper grind size. I only mention it in case it is the cause of a small issue: when I finish my cup o' joe, there's some black sludge at the bottom. I don't drink it and it's not a huge deal, but I'd assume its from an overly fine grind? It's hard to fix though because the majority of the grind is actually pretty coarse, it's just there is inevitably some small particles that pop up.

Anyone else notice this from their french press? Would it go away with a nicer grinder? Either way, I'm kinda hooked. Some good effin java.

innovative+coffee+drinking+event.jpg
 
The sludge is pretty normal. Yes, it's from finer particles that make it through the push down filter. You could potentially minimize them with a very good filter on a very expensive press, and also minimize them with a better grinder. That said, you will pretty much never eliminate the sludge completely and there's no really good reason to do so. Just let it settle and if it bothers you, don't drink the last teaspoon in your cup, same as turkish coffee.

The real advantage of a better (burr) grinder is that it will not scorch the beans during grinding, and will give you the opportunity to grind different beans differently. For example you might grind heavy oily roasts courser and lighter floral roasts a little finer. You don't have to do that at all, but I personally use essentially that system. No matter what, you want to make sure that you grind the beans course enough to not clog up the filter. Since water is an incompressible medium, clogging the filter will mean that no matter how hard you push, the press is not going to the bottom and the hot water will squirt into your eyeball, you'll stumble backwards and hit the launch button with your buttcheek and annihilate the world.

There's a lot of decent to good burr grinders out there, some reasonably priced. Cuisinart makes a half-way decent one, kitchenaid also I think, and there are some better Italian ones. Personally I've been just using a starbucks brand burr grinder that was made in Italy, and I've gotten great results with very good reliability.
 
French press likes a coarser grind, but I like Turkish coffee which is a powdery fine grind. So I powder it, and make it normally in my small French press, but when I push the plunger down, I do so gently. This keeps most of the grounds under the press, and as long as you pour slowly into the cup and drink gently from the cup and don't slosh it around, it stays in the bottom.

Generally, if I do get hit with some of the grounds from Turkish coffee, it isn't as bad as the larger particles of regular grind.
 
The beans and courseness of the grind make a huge difference.

I've recent become a Clover fan however. I just need 9,854.00 to afford my own. Yum. I love coffee.

I have a bodum double wall and two glass ones and they all work pretty well, but the double wall metal works the best.

The problem with cheaper grinders is that variation in consistency and that they heat up the beans (supposedly on the latter, neve had that problem.)

The ideal steep time is 4 minutes by the way... I think.
 
I never tried a French press, but I have an AEROPRESS. It works on the same principle, sort of. It doesn't let any sludge through.
 
If you are using a blade type grinder, they will always give inconsistent grinds. The way they "grind" coffee is to smash it to bits. This smashing give you large and small bits, and everything in between. All you are doing is whirling around your beans until they look to be the right grind size.

A cheap burr grinder isn't much better. The cheap ones come with crappy cast burrs that aren't sharp. So now you are really grinding coffee much like the old farmers used to do, just mashing between two surfaces.

A good burr grinder is worth the money. You get much less fines (that's the sludge) and a more consistent grind. The burrs are replaceable and usually made out of a good grade of tool steel so they last a long time. You will still get fines, but you will be surprised how few.

It isn't necessary to spend $350 - $500 anymore to get a good burr grinder. Good ones that will grind from espresso and its coarser brother Turkish all the way to Mr. Coffee size can be purchased for less than $150.

I use my Capresso Infinity at home, and when camping I usually grind ahead of time, vacuum bag and take it with me. But when on a trip staying in a hotel, I take my old whirly blade (and beans I roast) and it does just fine.

In the end though you will always have some fines that will create 'sludge', no matter what machine you use to grind or your method.

Robert
 
I love French press coffee. I'm drinking a mug as I type this. First tried it in England (of all places) about seven or eight years ago and never looked back. The flavor is so much better than filter coffee.

Midnight Flyer thanks for the burr grinder info. I've been thinking about investing in one, but didn't want to pay the high prices.
 
Thanks for the info guys! That all mirrors all the reading I've done on these things. I'm sipping a cup of the press coffee as we speak, mmmm. :D The sludge isn't really inhibiting me at all, it pretty much exclusively settles and I don't drink it. Just didn't know if there was a simple way to otherwise avoid it.

The nicer grinders sounds like a neat option, but I'm a couple of years away from luxuries of that nature sadly. Not that I'm hurtin' with the setup I've got here! Life is good. :thumbup:
 
Praxis said:
Midnight Flyer thanks for the burr grinder info. I've been thinking about investing in one, but didn't want to pay the high prices.
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Praxis - this is the one I have. I didn't realize they had come down in price:

http://www.amazon.com/Capresso-560-01-Infinity-Grinder-Black/dp/B0000AR7SY

I used to be too heavily involved in coffee. Coffee guys are worse than you can imagine about every nuance and detail of making the perfect cup of coffee. I still purchase greens and roast my own to the profile I like, but that's about it. The model above was considered a "baseline" model of for serious drinkers.

The good news is they were right. I have had mine happily grinding away every morning for about 4 years now, and a quick inspection of the grinds once and a while reveals the same perfectly consistent grind I expect.

Robert
 
Just curious, for the 'hardcore' press folks, is the quality of the press itself as critical as the grinder? I'd have to imagine the former is much more forgiving.
 
midnight flyer said:
Coffee guys are worse than you can imagine about every nuance and detail of making the perfect cup of coffee.
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Balzac wrote in 24-36 hour sessions fueled by approx. 2 gallons of coffee. He insisted on brewing his own, claiming no one made it strong enough. Died of Cirrhosis, and it wasn't booze but coffee that did him in.

Balzac.jpg
 
Piso Mojado said:
Balzac wrote in 24-36 hour sessions fueled by approx. 2 gallons of coffee. He insisted on brewing his own, claiming no one made it strong enough. Died of Cirrhosis, and it wasn't booze but coffee that did him in.
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Really? I've only ever read that coffee has a somewhat protective effect on the liver in that regard, to the extent that it even lessens the incidence of cirrhosis in alcoholics who drink coffee.
 
Grubbster said:
+1 on the aerobie aeropress.
http://www.aerobie.com/Products/aeropress_story.htm
Very similar to french press coffee without the sludge. It uses little filters to keep all grounds out of the brew. Still lets the coffee have quite a bit of body.
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+2 Bought a AeroPress last year and there has been no going back. Added a nice burr grinder and a water kettle for just off boil water. Went so well I added a AeroPress at the office.

The only downside is being spoiled for coffee. Going out for a coffee is usually a disappointing experience :(

Go get an AeroPress and welcome to the club :D
 
pageophile said:
+2 Bought a AeroPress last year and there has been no going back. Added a nice burr grinder and a water kettle for just off boil water. Went so well I added a AeroPress at the office.

The only downside is being spoiled for coffee. Going out for a coffee is usually a disappointing experience :(

Go get an AeroPress and welcome to the club :D
Click to expand...

Just looked that up, those are surprisingly inexpensive. The part about just adding the extra hot water (to make it americano versus expresso) is a little weird for some reason. Like diluted goodness.

PS- I'm sad that no one mentioned wanting to wake up next to a girl who could drink her coffee in such a manner... :D
 
SpookyPistolero said:
Just curious, for the 'hardcore' press folks, is the quality of the press itself as critical as the grinder? I'd have to imagine the former is much more forgiving.
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In my opinion, the quality of the grinder is loads more important than the press. So long as the press functions as it should, then its fine. No matter how good your press is, if the grind is terrible then the coffee just won't be as good.
 
As far as the quality of the press ...

My wife used to boil coffee, water, and milk together, and pour it all off through a cheesecloth strainer. After she left NYC, I had to stop by a bodega now and again to get her the strainers. :)

After I picked up a small French press and liked the coffee, I told her and my daughter about it and they find it's an easy way to get a good cup.
 
I can recommend the GSI burr grinder, it is a hand crank, and takes some gettin used to, but the cost diffrence is well worth it. if I was going to set up a kitchen, I'd build a motor mount for it, and use an elecric motor instead of the crank.
 
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