French Press

Up until this weekend I had considered myself a coffee snob for a long time. Why? I refuse to drink cheap coffee. There is nothing worse than a weak cup of bitter, over extracted coffee, with beans that have not be well handled or properly grown. We all have our quirks, and not drinking some blended, cheap coffee is one of mine. Well, one of many quirks if you want to get down to it.
I have recently had some brief conversations on Facebook, about how good French press coffee really tastes. I was not discounting that; I just couldn’t help but to question how much of a difference it would be from my Krupp’s coffee maker. On Saturday morning, I was determined to find out. I got up (about 11 am, yes the life of a bachelor) and went over to a friend’s house who had said I could borrow hers to give it a test drive. Funny thing, she has owned hers for well over a year and has never used it. As you read about my experience, this is one of those things I am going to borrow and purposely not return. I am certain she will call me out on it though, but I’m going ride it on out until she does. Oh, and since she doesn’t read my blog, I won’t have to worry about her asking for it back just for spite.

For those of you unsure, a French press consists of a narrow glass carafe, which is equipped with a lid and a "plunger", made of metal, which fits tightly in the top of the carafe and has a fine wire mesh acting as a filter on the bottom. The coffee is brewed by placing the coarsely ground coffee in the bottom (approximately one rounded tablespoon of coffee per 4 oz of water), adding water, that is just short of boiling, leaving it to brew for at least four minutes, then pressing the plunger down slowly to trap the coffee grinds at the bottom of the carafe. Serve in your favorite mug and enjoy. It is important to make sure the coffee is ground coarsely, as this ensures that none of the coffee works it way through the wire mesh and into your mug.

Here is the exact one I used this weekend.

You might be thinking, what’s the big deal. Well, the coffee is thicker and extracts more of the rich flavor and essential oils that can often be left behind in your regular coffee filter. It was without a doubt by far the best cup of coffee I have ever enjoyed.

Now, excuse me while this snob goes and makes another cup.