Coffee is an indispensable day to day ritual for many of us, whether that’s picking up your order at your favourite cafe on the way to work or relaxing in the afternoon with a hot brew you’ve brewed yourself.
However actually as there’s a big difference between a McDonalds’ burger and a burger from a Michelin-starred restaurant, there’s a big difference in impacts between different coffee-making methods – as well as a big price difference.
On one end of the spectrum, you have instant coffee, which is cheap but primarily considered by even the least fussy coffee drinkers as pretty nasty. On the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got home espresso machines, grinders and scales – all of which can cost hundreds of dollars and require a reasonable level of skill to get good results out of. Or you can actually buy coffees, however then different baristas and cafes can have wildly different qualities of coffee. Buying coffee on a per day basis is an expensive habit, too.
One recipe of creating coffee that’s considered somewhat of a middle ground is the French press. Also called a French press coffee maker, push pot or coffee plunger, it’s a cheap, easy-to-use way to make coffee that produces a better result than a Mr. Coffee or a percolator, nevertheless coffee enthusiasts would say it pales in comparison to other methods such as pourover coffee or using a moka pot.
Thankfully, one expert has come up with a genius hack that turns the Cafetière into an instrument of black magic.
James Hoffman, a former World Barista Champion and co-owner of Square Mile Coffee Roasters in London, is one of the most popular coffee experts on social media. Back in 2016, Hoffmann uploaded a video to YouTube titled ‘The Ultimate Cafetière Technique’, which has since become his the majority of viewed video with over 2.3 million views.
In current months, the video has been recircling on Facebook, exposing a whole new audience to his modest yet groundbreaking way to make really excellent coffee with only a few simple tools and tricks. The secret? Patience – and a willingness to mess with your coffee a little bit.
Hoffmann’s procedure addresses the key criticism many people have about Cafetière coffees: that you tend to end up with grit or sludge at the bottom of your cup, which is quite unpleasant. Not only does his process virtually eliminate that problem, nevertheless it outcomes in a strong, smooth brew that’s eminently drinkable.
Sure, his process might be a little more time-consuming than the majority of French press coffee maker users might initially be comfortable with, nevertheless the simplicity and practicality of the technique mean that even the many novice coffee drinker can pull it off… Like myself.
I was initially skeptical that you could actually make a really good cup of joe with a French press, but it simply does. Even without weighing out my coffee grounds, using filtered waters and committing the cardinal sin of utilizing pre-ground coffee, Hoffmann’s brewing technique in truth steeps a big difference. Subsequently, I’ve used freshly ground coffee and filtered water, and the difference is miles better still.
Using my old Bodum press at home.
The one downside I found with Hoffman’s hack was that if you like to have your coffee with milk, waiting so long for the coffee to brew suggests that once you add your milk at the end, your coffee’s too cold. But this is entirely a issue of personal preference; irrelevant if you don’t take milk with your coffee and a problem that’s easily avoided if you gently heat your milk before adding it to your coffee.
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Is it as good as, say, an Aeropress coffee? No, not in truth. But the difference between this process and lots of other coffee-making methods is that French presses are cheap and easy to find anywhere. The majority of offices will have a Press pot or two, and you can pick up one from Amazon or IKEA for $10 or less.
Of course, a nicer press and having all the other accoutrements – a water filter, a set of scales, a coffee mill and so on – all add up in terms of cost. However even without those and some Aldi coffee (which is in reality pretty good), you can make quite a nice cup of joe.
Give it a go yourself – you’ll be surprised.
This article was first published here, and it was syndicated on our blog from Google News in our section about French Press Coffee.