I used to do the following with my french press:
- not boiling water (I usually let it boil and add a bit of cold water to it)
- 2 level measuringscoops (ca. 14 grams) of coffee
- stir right after pouring the water into it
- let it sit for 2-3 minutes
- no need to press down, as the coffee just falls down after stirring
That was before I tasted coffee from the clover, and before I got a french press coffee served by someone of the LSOC at Bern (forgot the name, sorry). She used quite a different method, they had an interesting half-automatic french press machin: press a button, coffee grounds spill into the french press, water pours into it and your set. Then:
- a quick stir
- a very short extraction time (maybe half a minute?)
- instantly press down the filter afterwards
edit: and a correction: press filter down, pull it up, wait a few seconds and press it fully down again.
The coffee was quite clover-alike with this method, must I say! At least, in comparison to the 3 minuten brewing time I usually use. Less body less oomph, more distinguished and specific aromas from the bean.
I just tried it again with this method at home, using an about two weeks old monsooned malabar - and the result was great. You get less of the oomph-that's-coffee-taste and more of the oha-the-malabar-is-quite-earthy one ...
I would have thought that it should have tasted underextracted, but heck, it did taste really good.
Whaddaya think?