To make French press coffee, add coarse-ground coffee to the pot at about 60g per litre of water, pour in water just off the boil, wait four minutes, break the crust with a spoon, then press gently and pour straight away. That is the whole method. Everything else in this guide is about doing those steps slightly better.
The French press is the most forgiving brewer in the kitchen. No paper filter, no pouring technique, no machine to descale. Coffee and water sit together, then a mesh screen separates them. It rewards a coarse grind, a timer and a bit of patience, and it punishes almost nothing else.
The short version
- 60g of coffee per litre of water. For a standard 1 litre press, that is 60g; for a small 350ml press, about 20g.
- Coarse grind. We sell a French Press grind on every coffee for exactly this reason.
- Water just off the boil, about 30 seconds after the kettle clicks.
- Four minutes, break the crust, press gently, pour it all out.
What ratio should you use for a French press?
Start at 60g of coffee per litre of water. That gives a cup with proper body and sweetness without tipping into muddy. It is our recommended starting point, and you can move it either way once you know what you like.
| Press size | Water | Coffee |
|---|---|---|
| 3-cup (350ml) | 300ml | 18–20g |
| 4-cup (500ml) | 450ml | 27–30g |
| 8-cup (1 litre) | 900ml | 54–60g |
Notice the water is a little less than the press's rated size. The grounds take up room, and you want space at the top for the crust and the filter. Fill to the brim and you will be wiping coffee off the bench.
No scales? A heaped tablespoon of coarse coffee is around 6–7g, so a 1 litre press wants roughly nine of them. That is more than most people use. If your French press coffee has always been thin and a bit sour, this is why.
What grind do you need for a French press?
Coarse. Think breadcrumbs or rough sea salt, not sand. Coarse grounds sink cleanly, extract at a sensible pace over four minutes, and stay behind the mesh when you press. Fine grounds slip through the screen, make the cup silty, and keep extracting in the cup until the last mouthful is bitter.
If you have a grinder, set it near the coarse end and adjust one step at a time. If you do not, choose the French Press grind when you order. It is one of the six grinds available on every FARCOFF coffee, and it is ground for this brewer, not a compromise between it and something else. Pre-ground coffee from a supermarket is usually a fine-to-medium grind meant for filter machines, which is one reason so many people think French press coffee is naturally muddy.
What water temperature is best for a French press?
Just off the boil. Boil the kettle, wait about 30 seconds, then pour. That lands somewhere around 92–96°C, which is where most coffee extracts well. Pouring at a rolling boil is not a disaster with a coarse grind, but a short pause tends to give a rounder, sweeter cup.
Warm the press first if you can. A cold glass or steel pot pulls heat out of the water the moment it lands, and a four-minute steep in cooling water gives you a flatter cup. Swirl some hot water around the empty press, tip it out, then start.
How long should French press coffee steep?
Four minutes is the starting point. It is long enough to extract a coarse grind fully and short enough to stay clean. From there:
- Cup tastes sharp, thin or sour: steep a little longer, or grind a touch finer.
- Cup tastes dry, harsh or bitter: steep a little shorter, or grind a touch coarser.
Change one thing at a time. Keep the dose and water the same while you test, or you will not know which change fixed it.
How do you make French press coffee, step by step?
- Warm the press. Hot water in, swirl, tip out.
- Add the coffee. Weigh it in. Level the bed with a light shake.
- Pour the water. All of it, in one go, in a steady circle so every ground gets wet. Start a four-minute timer as you begin pouring.
- Wait. Do not stir yet. A crust of grounds will form on top. This is normal and useful.
- Break the crust at four minutes. Take a spoon and push the crust down through the surface once or twice. Most of the grounds will sink. Skim off the foam and any floating bits with the spoon and discard them. This is the step most people skip, and it is the one that turns a decent cup into a clean one.
- Rest the lid on top and wait another minute or two. Let the remaining grounds settle.
- Press gently. Slowly, with even pressure, until the mesh sits just above the bed. If it fights you, the grind is too fine. Do not lean on it.
- Pour everything out. Into cups, or into a jug or thermos. Coffee left sitting on the grounds keeps extracting and turns bitter in minutes.
Total time from kettle to cup is about seven minutes. That is a reasonable price for not having to think about it.
Why break the crust?
When hot water meets ground coffee, gas escapes and carries the lighter grounds to the surface. They float there as a crust, along with foam and the fine particles that would otherwise cloud the cup. Breaking the crust after the steep releases the trapped gas, lets the heavy grounds drop, and gives you the chance to skim the fines off the top before they go through the mesh.
Skip it and you get more silt in the cup and a mesh that has to force a thick raft of grounds down through the coffee. Do it and the plunge is easy and the cup is noticeably cleaner. It costs ten seconds.
Common French press mistakes
Too little coffee. The most common fault. Weigh it.
Grind too fine. Muddy cup, hard press, bitter finish. Go coarser or buy the French Press grind.
Leaving the coffee in the press. Steeping does not stop when you plunge. Pour it all out straight away.
Pressing hard. Force pushes fine grounds through the mesh. Slow and gentle.
Stale coffee. A French press shows off good coffee and cannot hide tired coffee. Look for a roasted-on date. Every FARCOFF bag has one, plus a batch number, and our coffee reaches its peak flavour up to four weeks after roasting.
How do you clean a French press?
Properly, and every time. Coffee oils build up on the mesh and the glass, and a week's worth of them tastes rancid.
- Tip the spent grounds into the bin or compost, not the sink. Coarse grounds and plumbing do not get along.
- Rinse the pot and the filter assembly with hot water.
- Once a week, unscrew the filter assembly, separate the mesh screens and wash every piece with warm soapy water. Rinse well; dish soap residue is its own kind of off flavour.
- Let it dry with the filter out.
A clean press is half the reason café-quality French press coffee tastes the way it does.
Which coffee is best for a French press?
Immersion brewing gives a full-bodied cup with plenty of sweetness, which suits coffees with layered flavour. All of our coffees suit espresso, pour over and filter equally well, and the same goes for a French press. Two starting points:
- Sweet & Complex at /products/blend-3-sweet-complex, a medium-roast blend of Brazil and Rwanda with brown sugar, green apple, blueberry, chocolate and subtle spice. In a French press the sweetness leads and the fruit follows. Order the 250g bag in the French Press grind and it arrives ready to go.
- Brazil at /products/single-origin-brazil, sweet chocolate and hazelnut, medium roast, and about as easy a French press cup as you will find.
Both are freshly roasted in St Peters, Sydney, and shipped anywhere in Australia.
Try it with FARCOFF
If you would rather taste the range than guess, Around the World is three 250g bags of Colombia, Brazil and Ethiopia in whichever grind you choose. Pick French Press, brew each one at 60g per litre for four minutes, and see which origin your kitchen argues for. Coffee for people with things to do, and a press that does most of the work.
Freshly roasted. Roast date on every bag.