French press

[johnny]

Just bought a me a nice littel one cup french press. .... Its soooo diddy

Anyway ..... it seems far far far too much hastle in dialing back the MC4 for a course grind, I cant be bothered to get the Gaggia grinder out, grind and then "dose" 9g of coffee ... and I am not using a hand grinder that early in the morning.

Apart from leaving more sludge in the bottom of the cup ... is there any reason I shouldnt use an espresso grind in the press ..... It seems to taste the same at that time of the morning, maybe a little stronger than usual ?

[Steve]

Hey Johny you be careful taking more Kitchen space

Finer grind normally equals, shorter extraction, and be careful of that sludge

[Neo]

yeah you might burn the grounds

[BazBean]

also the small particles get stuck between the sides and the plunger walls and make it really hard to plunge as they act like a brake ........ you then haveto push too hard and OOOOPPPPPSSSS ! it either squirts hot coffee up in the air or flys everywhere .
( it occurs to me that my life maybe an episode from some mothers doo have em!!!)

[Olings]

Did anyone say Aeropress?

It'll deal better with those fine grinds, but you'd have to be really quick pressing down with the plunger. But that would also apply to the french press.

Myself, I have two grinders. One set for my espresso machine and one for everything else. The second one is really not that big nor pricey and is worth the hassle if you ask me.


Ola

[CakeBoy]

( it occurs to me that my life maybe an episode from some mothers doo have em!!!)

Fair enough Frank



Edit: Typo

[johnny]

Did anyone say Aeropress?

do thay do 1 - 2 cup versions of them ? ...... and do they come with washable filters .. ie none of this paper stuff ?

My main argument against stuff in general is having to wash things up afterwrds ....a 1 cup french press cleans in seconds

[HughF]

Aeropress does use paper filters. Some have cut "gold" permanent filters to size and used those but I haven't.
Clean-up with the Aeropress is very quick, definitely quicker to do a thorough job with the AP than French Press.
Mind you, I have both methods plus an electric vacuum pot at home and I've currently moved over to a Bodum Kona drip flask with a permanent "gold" filter - a little sediment but less than a French Press but still good flavour and quicker to clean thoroughly (slower than the AP though).

Cheers,

Hugh

[Neo]

I say hario bloom or any other similar products. You wont find any sediments in your cup and that improves the taste quite a lot. The body may not be as good as french press but still lot better than paper filters since oil droplets are able to pass through the cloth a bit.

[espressomattic]

Bucket and seive method rocks.

[Olings]

Mostly I just chew whole beans and rinse my mouth with hot water.

Seriously though I think chewing a bean is a really good way to dertermine if your roast is too light or too dark or not. It can be a good help for the homeroaster if you don't have a colorette or an agtron machine. It might just be roaster-superstition but I'll be damned if it doesn't give a pointer in the right direction.


Ola

[Richard]

Seriously though I think chewing a bean is a really good way to dertermine if your roast is too light or too dark or not.

Are you talking about pulling a bean out whilst the roasting is going-on ?

[Olings]

No. I do it after dumping the beans. It's no accurate tool, mind you, but I think you'd be able to taste it after while. Specially if your roasting the same type of bean a lot.

[Richard]

No. I do it after dumping the beans.

Ah-Ok, I had this idea that you tasted the bean then maybe continued the roast.

As regards the 'french-press' V espresso, are you guys saying the espresso method produces coffee with no sludge and that sludge is the main precursor for 'off' tastes.

Oh-hell, I'm dreading a positive answer on this question because I can't possibly afford to buy a machine yet.

I have probably stayed with my french-press because of pals who have gone-out, purchased expensive machines and produced what I consider poor coffee by either buying grounds or beans from a supermarket chain, even worse, they have used the machine to illustrate they can produce tarry-black coffee that tastes nothing like the coffee I love.

Ok, I love my coffee with half/half cream/milk, even better is the full-fat milk from Jersey cows, this habit seemed to raise a few eyebrows from those 'coffee lovers' but then who were they to judge me considering their short-falls.

I love this forum, even though I'm sure I can improve on what I'm producing, I'm producing coffee that I like very much and can't be produced just by buying expensive kit.

So, is moving away from a french-press towards an espresso machine a positive move in terms of coffee-quality or is just a preference ?

Lay answers together with science would be very interesting.

[bruceb]

I can really heartily recommend the Aerobie Aeropress for roughly 1/100th the price of a good espresso machine. You may even find that the coffee made with it is so soft and pure tasting that you will want to reduce the amount of milk you take with it.