French Press

The classic French Press, known for its clean favor and deep body, be wary of the sludge

Although it’s one of the easiest methods to make coffee for more than one cup, French Press is no longer the best route to an immersive cup of coffee.

What?!?!

French Press is an immersion method, and time-worn tradition holds that it makes the biggest, sweetest cup. You can see why: It steeps in medium coarse grind (fewer fines). But the advent of the Clever Dripper made chemists get their hardware and software out. They found the latter made a more immersive cup, without leftover sediment.

All said, note the broad number of barista approaches and heed only one geeky part of this technique: Pour ALL the water at once and don't argue with science. When water is absorbed by the grind, H2O molecules are given an equal chance to absorb the solids. If you are blooming grind, waiting, and following with a second pour, you are not getting all the water absorbed equally.

Blooming is overrated. Just sayin'.

Baseline French Press Recipe

Coffee: 50g (1.75oz)
Grind: [fine] 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 [coarse]
Water: 800g (28oz) @ 200F
Because of heat transfer, boil twice the amount of water to pre-heat the French Press. 30 seconds is plenty. Dump the water.
Add the grind.
Add all the hot water.
Stir slowly about 7 times. Ample agitation.
Put the plunger in place.
Wait 4 minutes.
Plunge to the bottom. Serve.

There is some heat transfer, but minimal if you pre-heat. There is sediment with the time-worn, glass Tasse presses, and screens eventually wear on the edges and leak even more. But like everything, even classic instruments are usurped by others. There are re-engineered presses now that keep the unused coffee warm without constant contact to the sump at the bottom. And of course, the Clever Dripper.