A Nice Cuppa

As I sit sipping my French-pressed mug of coffee, I wonder: why do so few own this incredibly wonderful device? The electric coffee maker is snappy, to be sure. But the French press has simplicity and transparency that even the ultra-user-friendly pod-making coffee machines don’t offer. It consists of a small glass carafe with a little metal handle and a mesh filter attached to the aforementioned “press.” It is one of the least technologically advanced and most evidently ingenious inventions on Earth.

Making French press coffee requires finesse and a certain degree of perfectionism. After all, it’s got the word “French” in its title. But it also requires a mere four and a half minutes of your morning. The equipment you need is most likely on your countertop, because you already use a spoon and mug to drink coffee, and hopefully you have a teapot. The only thing that may be lacking is a coffee press, in which case I urge you to to navigate to amazon.com and buy the smallest coffee press you can find. Unless you live in a house full of adventurous coffee drinkers who are at your pre-caffeinated whim each morning. Then you can go whole hog for the 12-cup beast.

If this is your first foray into home coffee making, bravo! Operating a French press won’t make you look like a character in the Jetsons like those pod-machines do, but it will make you feel like a real live coffee drinker. And you can safely do it bleary-eyed after a late night.

Experienced or novice buzz-seeker, you will most likely need to buy new coffee for French pressing. A French press’s mesh filter is much less fine than a paper one, so be sure to get the coarsest grind available at the store. This will ensure as little grit as possible in your cup (though caffeine afficionados and hipster Luddites will tell you a smidge of grit is the way to true coffee nirvana).

Now, coffee and maker in hand, hop to it! Heat up about 2 cups of water. Measure out two scoops (that would be tablespoons, roughly, but the French press usually comes with an appropriate scoop) and pour into the bottom of the press. When the water boils, pour over the grounds and stir with a plastic spoon. Metal will scrape the glass, as you will read several times on the box or experience firsthand. Let sit for four minutes. Place the press on top of the water and slowly press down. Pour into a mug and sip thoughtfully, deeply, and carefully about just who you are right now. You are cool, calm, and superior to everyone who has driven to Starbucks this morning.

The best part about French press coffee is that it leaves so much room for experimentation. Those two scoops and four minutes will soon become your secret ratio of coffee to time. If you press Frenchly every morning, you will come to know what flavor you prefer and how to make it. You will shun those who have buttons on their coffee makers. And you will be well on your way to preaching the gospel of French press to your friends and co-workers. That is, if you haven’t been roped into making coffee in a carafe the size of your little sister by then.