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Here are some common mistakes that most people make when using the French press.
- Avoid Old Age Beans: Do not use old age beans: They result in a low standard coffee.
- Avoid Pre-Grounds: Same as old-age beans, Pre-grounds also result in sub-standard coffee.
- Avoid Coffee Ground Blends: Avoid coffee ground blends; they’ll not lead to good taste. Use single-origin coffee beans.
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- Avoid Light Roasted Beans: Lightly roasted coffee will not give you perfect extraction. Use dark roasted coffee beans.
- Follow Axact Preparation: Wrong preparation lead to other mistakes
- Avoid Using The Wrong Water to Coffee Ratio: It is the basis for the French press. Choose the exact water to coffee ratio.
- Not Grinding The Beans Properly: Both fine and extra coarse will spoil your coffee.
- Wrong Water Temperature: 205°F is the exact water temperature. Follow this level.
- Adding water Wrongly: Choose the exact time and exact temperature when pouring water.
- False Steeping Time: 4 minutes is the perfect time for French press steeping. Your mistake can be either bitter or mild in your coffee.
- Leaving The Coffee in The French Press After Pressing: This mistake can bitter or stale your coffee.
- Leaving your utensils unwashed after refreshing: This is an unhealthy habit and may spoil your future beverage.
When new coffee enthusiasts think about the French press, they always ask, “how to make French press coffee with ground coffee?” and “how to make the best french press coffee?”
And I think these questions are justified. Because every coffee lover wants to brew a good coffee using the French press. And although the French press is a seemingly simple brewing method, it also has some complications, such as: “how much coffee in a French press?”, “French press coffee to water ratio,” “French press brew time,” “how long to steep French press?” and much more.
People make a lot of mistakes because they don’t have complete information about the French press. Let me tell you what mistakes people make using the French press.
1 Avoid Old Age Beans
Most people do not know how old their coffee beans are? How long have the beans stored? Even though everything is written on the coffee packs, the accuracy of these things depends on the brand that produces the coffee. So when buying coffee, choose a brand that is true to its claims and perfect and honest in its performance.
2. Avoid Pre-Grounds
Pre-ground coffee beans often spoil the quality of your coffee. This is because one of the conditions of coffee brewing is that the beans should be used within a month after roasting and used immediately after grinding. When you buy pre-ground coffee beans, you don’t know whether the brand selling the beans ground them months ago or years ago.
Although both are wrong, it should have been ground a minute before coffee brewing, and this is not possible for the brand but for you. So I say buy “whole” coffee beans and grind them at home with a burr grinder.
3. Avoid Coffee Ground Blends
Coffee blends often contain large amounts of a bad coffee mix, so they spoil your coffee. It is best for you to use the single-origin coffee beans while brewing French Press coffee: so that if they do not suit your taste, you can use coffee beans originated in another area. In coffee blends, you can’t use coffee beans produced from different areas.
4. Avoid Light Roasted Beans
Lightly roasted coffee beans are actually perfect for a hot brew. French press or cold brewed methods do not work well, resulting in a dull and low-potency drink. Dark roast is best suited for the French press because of its good effect.
5. Follow Exact Preparation
When you don’t prepare properly in the first step, all your next steps go wrong.
Solution: The solution is to start brewing by completing your preparation before you start brewing French press.
Keep your timer in a place where you can see it while brewing so that there is no mistake due to lack of time during brewing.
Grind and measure as many grounds as you need just before brewing and keep them in a separate pot so that there is no mistake in measuring enough grounds during brewing.
Separate as much water as you need for the recipe. And since water is poured twice in the French press recipe, keep the water in two separate pots.
While preheating the French press, preheat the plunger and the cups to be served so that you get fresh and hot coffee.
6. Avoid Using The Wrong Water to Coffee Ratio
So try all the ratios from 1:10 to 1:15 that fit and choose it forever.
The water to coffee ratio is of great importance in the French press. Many people make the mistake of blaming the French press when the coffee doesn’t taste good to them. Dude, this isn’t the fault of the French press; it’s the fault of the French press users.
Let me tell you how people make a mistake in the water to coffee ratio.
When people read articles about it, each article has a separate ratio. These ratios start at 1:10 and go up to 1:15.
There is no roll-off thumb. Every human being has his own taste.
You should check all these ratios alternately. Then choose the ratio that suits you.
7. Not Grinding the Beans Properly
Both extra coarse and finely ground tend to muck up your French press coffee.
There are two ways to know whether your grounds are fine or extra coarse:
If the plunger is hard to press, it means the grounds are fine. And if the plunger touches the bottom immediately, it means the grounds are too coarse.
Solution: Grind coffee beans at home with a burr grinder. Use a metal sieve for even size.
8. Wrong Water Temperature
Avoid boiling water; it scorches the coffee grounds; on the other hand, tepid water can’t extract fully.
You have to reach the perfect water temperature for the French press, which is 205 ° F. The method is to boil the water and let it rest for thirty seconds. To avoid mistakes, boil water in two separate pots so that there is no mistake in the quantity and temperature of the water.
9. Adding Water Wrongly
Don’t pour all the water in your French press at once. Rather, it has to be divided into two pots and poured twice separately. Add water for the first time and give a break of 30 seconds so that the beans are blooming, then add water for the second time.
10. False Steeping Time
The perfect steeping time for the French press is 4 minutes. If you want to drink strong or weak coffee, you can do it for more or less thirty seconds, but not more.
11. Leaving the Coffee in The French Press After Pressing
When you leave coffee grounds lying in your French press, they continue brewing, but they taste bad. Therefore decant your coffee immediately after brewing.
12. Leaving your utensils unwashed after refreshing
Some people have a habit of leaving utensils dirty after brewing coffee. Then those coffee brewing tools remain dirty until the next brewing. Never make this mistake as it will ruin your health as well as your next drink.
Some Other French Press Hacks
Brewing coffee by using a French press is one of the oldest methods in the world.
This is a very simple and low-cost method that produces very high-quality coffee. Plus, it’s the basis of a few top coffee recipes. Below are a few recipes you can enjoy with the help of French Press.
The Nitro Cold-brew Coffee With French Press
Nitro cold brew coffee gained popularity in recent days. It has more attraction in its bubbly texture, frothy shape, and smooth mouthfeel. The Nitro coffee recipe requires some technical efforts, but the following steps may help you a lot in preparation.
- First, make your cold brew recipe using a french press.
- Follow all the instructions I have mentioned above.
- When you have to get ready for cold brew concentrate, pour it in a beer keg.
- Tight the keg lid and charge it with nitrogen, and shake it.
- Your nitro cold brew is ready.
- Serve it with a stout faucet and enjoy.
The Iced coffee With French Press:
- Make Your French Press recipe following the French Press instructions, which I have mentioned in this french press brewing guide.
- Avoid mistakes while using the French press.
- Pour your coffee on ice and enjoy.
- You can add milk, cream, and other ingredients for better taste.
