French press fans?

When I used a canister grinder with the whirley blade, I stored the plastic top in the freezer. A frozen lid reduced the problem of overheating the beans while giving them a spin.
 
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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I have bodum french press and no-name french press, as long as the grind is right, I can't taste and see any difference between the two, the bodum looks much prettier though
 
+3 on the Aeropress. It makes a nice ritual to set the pot, grind the coffee, press the coffee and drink a real nice cup of coffee. I'm going to check out the GSI press; I'm currently using a blade grinder and it would be nice to get some more consistent results (although the coffee is alway above average).
 
Another french press fan here. Have been using mine for the last 8-9 years. Esav hit the nail on the head when he said to go slow while plunging. Keeps most of the grounds underneath the screen. No better coffee than fresh-ground french press coffee. :)

AJ
 
I have just started my french press journey with a jetboil and the "java" kit. I really like not having to make a whole pot of coffee while out and about :thumbsup:. My camping coffee fix is now a lot more compact. Can you guys point me in a direction for a small grinder?
 
RE: coffee grinders. I use an old Zassenhaus 169DG. It's getting tired, but I haven't found one I like better. I haven't looked for about 2 years. There may be something better out there now.
 
JOSH111 said:
I have just started my french press journey with a jetboil and the "java" kit. I really like not having to make a whole pot of coffee while out and about :thumbsup:. My camping coffee fix is now a lot more compact. Can you guys point me in a direction for a small grinder?
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For camping, you need a manual powered. I don't know that it gets much better than this one, it's kind of a standard around the world and has been for years. It will grind just about any profile you want:

http://baldmountaincoffee.com/page/BMCC/PROD/Hand_Coffee_Mills/00002456

Robert
 
I use the Melitta drip coffee maker- simple, easy and cheap.

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Mitch
 
Praxis said:
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.
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My first job as a teen was in a coffee shop. Got hooked on the french presses soon after that. Coarse grind will help from getting grounds in your teeth on that last sip, but should not affect the flavor one way or another. The advantage (some say) of the french press is that there is no paper filter involved, which strips oils from the brewed coffee and potentially detracts from the flavor. Can't add anything on the burr grinder, would be interesting to try.

Where in England did you get good coffee? When I was there it was all nescafe and perc! Tasted like burnt toast. They were lucky they had good beer or I would have said something!
 
i like the planetary design press. stainless steel, no glass. people take this camping and beat them around... just need the hot water from whatever method works best :>

http://www.liquidplanet.com/estore/product.php?productid=237&cat=1&page=2

that said, the jetboil java kit is looking interesting as a lighterweight solution and/or just for making the hot water at least, i'm not sure i like the quality of their press as much, but again, one has to suffer *a little* while camping ;)


Bladite
 
Wish I would have seen this thread when it was started.

So... earlier this year I finally broke down and bought a french press , after hearing so many raves about them.
I have been buying beans and grinding them myself for some years now but was using a Krupps coffee maker , it did a good job , but kept on hearing about this french press phenomenon !
Anyways I tried it maybe ten times and found it was not all it was cracked up to be , I tried different grinds , tried different beans to no avail. I followed the F.P. directions explicitly every time but it just didnt taste good ! I used bottled water as well , you know how tap water can make good coffee taste like crap..

So whats the secret ? I soon went back to my Krupps which made a far tastier cup of joe I thought than my F.P.

Lately though I've been drinking Starbucks Via , if you folks havent tried it yet , it's pretty darn good , the Italian Roast is really good.

Anways , give me some hints ! :D I know something this popular has to be good but I just cant seem to get it right.

Thanks in advance.

Tostig
 
It's possible to manually pulse some whirly-type grinders so that the coffee doesn't get scorched.
 
Tostig said:
Wish I would have seen this thread when it was started.

So... earlier this year I finally broke down and bought a french press , after hearing so many raves about them.
I have been buying beans and grinding them myself for some years now but was using a Krupps coffee maker , it did a good job , but kept on hearing about this french press phenomenon !
Anyways I tried it maybe ten times and found it was not all it was cracked up to be , I tried different grinds , tried different beans to no avail. I followed the F.P. directions explicitly every time but it just didnt taste good ! I used bottled water as well , you know how tap water can make good coffee taste like crap..

So whats the secret ? I soon went back to my Krupps which made a far tastier cup of joe I thought than my F.P.

Lately though I've been drinking Starbucks Via , if you folks havent tried it yet , it's pretty darn good , the Italian Roast is really good.

Anways , give me some hints ! :D I know something this popular has to be good but I just cant seem to get it right.

Thanks in advance.

Tostig
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well, dunno :)

i have filtered water pitcher - i think it's a brita, but they all work about the same. carbon filter does a good job of making tap taste pretty darn good, and it takes out some nasties.

water is boiled via an electric kettle - 1500W takes no time at all, and it's good for all kinds of things other than coffee/tea, eh? so, now we have clean tasting hot water... the temperature is key for some people, but just boiled works great for me.

while the water is boiling (6 cups worth in this case), i dial my coffee grinder to make 6 cups worth of burred beans at coursest grind, and dump that into the press (which magically holds 6 cups of water). ding! water is ready.

pour in water, put press top on. wait 4-5 minutes. press. pour. enjoy.

not a grain of coffee is wasted - it's all equally exposed to the hot water (unlike a drip pot). you can control the steep time (unlike a drip pot), amount of coffee per given volume of water, grind (if you want)...

with a drip pot, you can vary the amount of water (to a point), and the amount of coffee, but suffer with exposure to water...

fiddle with it, see what you get.

read this: http://www.planetarydesign.us/media/Coffeeology101.pdf
and: http://www.planetarydesign.us/pages.html?pageaction=faqs


Bladite
 
braillediver said:
I use the Melitta drip coffee maker- simple, easy and cheap.

p743.jpg



Mitch
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Same here. I have a good french press and use it on special occasions. But the manual drip does produce a very nice cup of coffee. We went through several coffee makers, always promising a better cup and we never like it. I think the act of just grinding up the coffee at the time of use is a big key. I like the french press coffee better, but the drip lets you make a bigger pot and ours attaches directly to a thermos type decanter.
 
Thanks for the responses folks.

My girlfriend just tried to french press for me and im waiting for the cup to cool ( ive sorta became addicted to cold coffee !)

Tostig
 
kgd said:
Same here. I have a good french press and use it on special occasions. But the manual drip does produce a very nice cup of coffee. We went through several coffee makers, always promising a better cup and we never like it. I think the act of just grinding up the coffee at the time of use is a big key. I like the french press coffee better, but the drip lets you make a bigger pot and ours attaches directly to a thermos type decanter.
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i had a dinky 4-cup brewer for "large cup of coffee" at a go... sometimes i'd even reuse the grounds once (heresy!) because it was easy to do (lazy!)

the new french press i have is 48 oz, and it's pretty straight forward to get 6 cups now in one go, and its an insulated carafe too.

at "work" we have a huge 64 oz direct brew into a pump decanter system; make a STRONG and kinda harsh cup of coffee. the press is lovely and mellow and gets the job done.

the press is a nice little ritual compared to brewing for me... and it does tea as well. we like tea too :>


Bladite
 
Has anyone tried the Keurig? Very simple and easy (though with correspondingly less "involvement"). Good to great cup of coffee depending on what you use with many of the benefits mentioned by the Aerobie (might have to try that one).

Best coffee I had before this was a strange thing (vacuum kettle?) that Starbucks used to sell that had an electric base that you set the pot on and then put another bowl shaped thing on top with the coffe in it. It worked off pressure differentials- the heated water was forced up the tube into the top chamber until all the water was in the top. Then the heater turned off and the water (now coffee) was sucked back into the pot on the bottom through a strainer. The base also would switch on and off to keep the coffee hot but not overheat or burn it. Easy to use, fun to watch and made a great cup of coffee. For some reason the handles kept breaking off the pots, so they discontinued them.
 
MVF said:
Has anyone tried the Keurig? Very simple and easy (though with correspondingly less "involvement"). Good to great cup of coffee depending on what you use with many of the benefits mentioned by the Aerobie (might have to try that one).

Best coffee I had before this was a strange thing (vacuum kettle?) that Starbucks used to sell that had an electric base that you set the pot on and then put another bowl shaped thing on top with the coffe in it. It worked off pressure differentials- the heated water was forced up the tube into the top chamber until all the water was in the top. Then the heater turned off and the water (now coffee) was sucked back into the pot on the bottom through a strainer. The base also would switch on and off to keep the coffee hot but not overheat or burn it. Easy to use, fun to watch and made a great cup of coffee. For some reason the handles kept breaking off the pots, so they discontinued them.
Click to expand...

i've tried most of the pod systems, including the espresso ones. they're not bad depending on model, and how expensive the pods are. the best one we had at one job site was a $$$$ machine, with small dense espresso pods, convenient, but a lot of waste (plastic pods). made an acceptable espresso, short of using your own quality grounds, and using a traditional drawing process.

those cheaper setups, with the little tiny dixie cup "shots"... open one up sometime and look/smell the coffee... some of them are pretty nasty, and make an equally nasty cup of coffee - but it's convenient, so people put up with it, but i worry about landfill issues. the ones that have the paper "pucks" are probably a bit better, and i believe you can compost those - worms LOVE coffee grounds. note to you BIG composters: if you goto your large coffee cafe and ask, they often will bag the grounds, and happily give you 25-100 lbs for free - like starbucks - some places they have a waiting list ;)

the Aerobie (makers of those flying rings too) looks sharp, and it's on my list for a good espresso maker - make sure to use espresso grounds. the only downside is that it requires the paper filters. if they had a perma [gold] metal filter, i'd jump right on it.

this is also interesting: http://www.toddycafe.com/ - cold brewed coffee. you make your "extract" in advance, and a typical nalgene bottle can hold a TON of it. dilute, drink, enjoy - i've been pondering one for ages; esp as i like cold black coffee - would be awesome for camping trips, nothing to brew :) just a concentrate you make yourself from choice of coffees. does tea too iirc. only downside: you have to buy filters.

i got really spoiled wit my little drip system with a permanent gold metal micro fine filter. nothing to buy but coffee; and sometimes water filters - but you don't even need those if you like your tap water taste (and buying a new machine every so often due to chlorine/minerals sometimes) - some folx do that descaling thing, but it's not perfect either.

the french presses are lovely due to the nearly permanent filter. i imagine it'll wear out someday, and i'm planning on buying a spare part or two, but the rest is all stainless body, and there's very little mechanical stress for the system. nothing to descale.

when you get REALLY sick, one invests $$$ in better grinders, espresso machines, ROASTERS, and custom blend your own coffee from [imported;fair trade] uncooked beans :> i haven't gone that far. yet.


Bladite
 
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