Blooming the grounds for a French press

[Shel_B]

Recently I purchased some Common Grounds brand beans and then went to their website to see what else they offered. I found the above suggestion for brewing French press coffee.

Many here, I'm sure, are familiar with the concept of blooming the grounds when using the French press process, but this is the first time I've seen such a long blooming time mentioned. Adding to that is the additional steeping time, making a suggested total of eight minutes in the press pot.

More commonly, a total brewing time of four minutes is mentioned with a reason given that longer times will (may) result in a more bitter brew. I tried the above timing and was disappointed with the results, experiencing a bitterness that was unacceptable.

Have you ever tried such a long brewing time? What was your result? How do you brew your French press coffee? I generally give my brew a 30-second bloom and a four minute total time, which I will continue to do.

 

[Rand]

I pour in almost boiling water (195f-205f)
just enough to saturate and a little more..
wait 30s.. stir.. then add rest of water.
I use a much bigger grind size and usually steep 5-6m.


The bitterness varies on how coarse you grind your beans.

If you grind boulders their directions would work better than if you are using drip size coffee grinding.

Another note: Since I only brew 20oz of coffee in the morning and the brew time is short (3m).. I grind fine-er than normal for drip.
Cone filters are slightly more effective than basket for short brewing times and small pots out of a full size coffee maker IMO.

 

[SHOZ]

I use cone filters for one cup and it drains though very fast. I let half drain down then add the other half and swish the filter to get all the grounds down at the bottom.

With my French Press I usually let steep 5-8 minutes.

Both I grind dark roast very fine.

 

[benjy]

a local upper class restaurant using a press is the ONLY place i enjoy the coffee when i am out. cant understand why making good stout coffee is so hard! a commercial Keurig could brew to taste if they used a decent pod!!

 

[Aredeeem]

I do a four minute total, same as you. My wife laughs at me and drops in a pod. My set up looks like a mini meth lab with whole beans, hand grinder, sugar cubes, half and half, etc. I couldn’t do an eight minute brew on top of that!

 

[SHOZ]

I've been getting the glass french presses off Amazon for around $15. Seems I break one or two a year. Menards has a good deal on glass 34 oz presses now.

$5 each after rebate and sale price.

Bistro @Home French Press Coffee Maker

A French press is a small-batch coffee maker known for making well-rounded java. Coffee aficionados love using this brewing method that doesn't scald the beans and allows for maximum flavor extraction. No other coffee-brewing method works quite the same way as the French press, making it a...

www.menards.com

 

[john_pifer]

Best French press result I’ve had has been James Hoffman’s Ultimate French Press Technique.

That said, I prefer pourover as a brew method because it’s more efficient at getting a good extraction, and also tends to emphasize the acidity (especially through the Hario V60 dripper) in the more lightly-roasted coffees I prefer.

 

[y_p_w]

Best French press result I’ve had has been James Hoffman’s Ultimate French Press Technique.

That said, I prefer pourover as a brew method because it’s more efficient at getting a good extraction, and also tends to emphasize the acidity (especially through the Hario V60 dripper) in the more lightly-roasted coffees I prefer.

My preference isn't really a pour over per se. It's using one container with coffee and hot water, then pouring that into a bare filter. It's not so much pouring over the grounds but filtering a mixture.

As far as a French press goes, I've forgotten about it (sometimes for a half hour) and it was still drinkable. Maybe more coffee flavor but also more bitter.

I bought a lot of equipment at Peet's Coffee. Their recommendation for French press was 2 tablespoons per 6 oz hot water, bloom time of 1 minute, stir, then a total exposure time of 3 minutes to reduce "overextraction". A lot of their recommendations were about avoiding overextraction. Still - I've seen where they had samples of some coffee and they made it in a French press that had been sitting there for a while. But it it was where the coffee was already pressed down although I'm sure there's still extraction going on through screen.

 

[blueglide88]

I've been getting the glass french presses off Amazon for around $15. Seems I break one or two a year. Menards has a good deal on glass 34 oz presses now.

$5 each after rebate and sale price.

Bistro @Home French Press Coffee Maker

A French press is a small-batch coffee maker known for making well-rounded java. Coffee aficionados love using this brewing method that doesn't scald the beans and allows for maximum flavor extraction. No other coffee-brewing method works quite the same way as the French press, making it a...

www.menards.com

I used to break them too until I bought a stainless steel press from Amazon

 

[vavavroom]

Most of the time I'm a Philistine as far as brewing coffee goes. I toss the grinds in a cup. Boiling water goes in the cup. I stir a bit and allow the grinds to settle at the bottom of the cup for a few minutes. Slurp. A terrible practice, I have been assured.

 

[john_pifer]

Most of the time I'm a Philistine as far as brewing coffee goes. I toss the grinds in a cup. Boiling water goes in the cup. I stir a bit and allow the grinds to settle at the bottom of the cup for a few minutes. Slurp. A terrible practice, I have been assured.

That’s actually how coffee “cupping” is done.

What is Coffee Cupping?

There are endless flavour notes to coffee. You can practise observing these through a coffee tasting technique called coffee cupping. Read more!

www.baristainstitute.com