Make Coffee Using the French Press

 Ah, the French Press. More properly called Cafétiére, (thank you twocvbloke for the info!!) For some it is nothing more than an enigma that only the biggest coffee connoisseurs can use, but its not! The French Press makes, in my opinion, one of the best cups of coffee imaginable! The only reason I say one is because I haven't had the privilege of using the vac-pot or siphon pot. The focus of this instructable makes such a great tasting brew because:
1) The user has complete control of brewing temps, and lengths, as well as some of the finer details
2) The mesh filters in the press itself allows much more of the oils in the coffee bean to get into the actual drink, whereas drip coffee filters absorb most of the oils.
Here is a decent read on the press, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_press

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Edit #1 Feb. 24 '10 -- Step 5 added about clean up, and additional information about whipping creamer added to step 4

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So what makes me feel I am qualified to make this instructable? Well, I have never worked in a coffee shop, although I would love too, but I love coffee and have actually basically researched how to do this for weeks. I have brewed countless numbers of cups this way, so naturally I have found the just right mixture of temperatures, brew times, and bean amounts to perfectly suit my taste. This whole instructable is based on my preferences, but can easily be tweaked to meet anyone's preference. Any comments or questions would be greatly appreciated and answered ASAP.
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So with out further ado, I present my instructable on how to "Make coffee using the French Press"

Step 1 Materials

 This is what you will need: 
     1. A French Press; There are many good places to get them, obviously Starbucks would be a good place, although they will cost more there.
     2. Coffee; WHOLE BEAN ONLY!!!! Yes it is important enough that it deserves to be in all caps. When you grind a bean, it starts losing flavors and oils instantly, and since that is part of what makes press coffee so good you obviously want it in the actual drink, the pre-ground tends to have less oils which means less flavor.
     3. Coffee Grinder; If you chose to ignore the all caps portion of my last ingredient then you don't need it
     4.Pyrex measuring cup; Its sort of self explanatory, see picture if you don't understand.
     5.Fork; seems odd now, but you will get it later.
     6. Coffee mug
     7. Jar or Bag; this is just to store the beans in, any air tight container will work.
     8. Half and Half or any other type of creamer
     9. Timer of some sort; not pictured.
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This seems like a lot of materials and ingredients but they are all completely necessary. 

Comments

[mpino]

Most people tend to say that French Pressed coffee should steep for exactly 4 minutes. Also, you should really use a burr grinder to get the perfect grind! And... to be extra picky, use a great coffee from a quality roaster, such as Counter Cultuer, Gimmie!, Intelligencia, etc. Then the coffee won't need milk. Good coffee is never bitter.

[twocvbloke]

What you call a "French Press" is properly called a Cafétiére (erm, not sure about the accents over the E's, but it looks french enough!!!), just a little education from a Brit who uses them too.... :)

[arhodes18]

thank you for the info! I will put an update in right now!

[charlesxdark]

Can't wait to try this out!!

[lemonie]

That's comprehensive, good coffee requires good technique.

L

[arhodes18]

 it surely does!