French press coffee ratio, method and tips for a cleaner cup

Why we love the French press

The French press, or cafetière, is an immersion brewer: ground coffee sits in hot water for a few minutes and is then separated by a metal mesh filter. There's no pouring technique to master and no flow rate to manage, unlike a V60.

Because the mesh lets coffee oils through, the cup has more body and texture than paper-filtered coffee. It's ideal for medium roasts with chocolate and caramel notes, and for pouring several cups at once over a long after-dinner chat.

The French press coffee ratio, and what you'll need

• A clean French press.
• Whole bean coffee and a grinder that can do an even, coarse grind.
• Water at 92–96 °C (about 198–205 °F), freshly boiled and left for around 30 seconds.
• A scale and a timer.
• A spoon for stirring.

A good starting ratio is 1:15: 1 gram of coffee for every 15 grams of water. For a mid-size press, that's 30 g of coffee to about 450 g of water. Like it stronger? Go to 1:13 or 1:14. Prefer it lighter? Try 1:16 or 1:17.

Presses come in different sizes, and you don't have to fill yours to the top. Making a single cup in a big press? Keep the ratio and scale down, say 15 g of coffee to 225 g of water. What shapes the flavor is the relationship between coffee and water, not the size of the jug. Measuring by weight also means you can repeat a cup you loved.

How to use a French press, step by step

1. Warm the press with a splash of hot water, then pour it out, so your coffee doesn't cool too fast.
2. Grind coarse, roughly like coarse sea salt or chunky breadcrumbs.
3. Add the coffee and pour in all the water at once, making sure every ground gets wet.
4. Steep for about 4 minutes with the lid on and the plunger up.
5. Break the crust on top with a gentle stir, then skim off the foam and floating bits with a spoon.
6. Press slowly, without forcing it. If it fights back hard, your grind is too fine.
7. Pour it all out right away. Coffee left sitting on the grounds keeps extracting and turns bitter.

How to avoid sludge and bitterness

The French press has a reputation for gritty, bitter cups. Almost every time, there's a simple fix:

• Sludge in your cup: use an even, coarse grind, press gently, and leave the last bit of coffee in the press, which is where the fines collect.
• Bitterness: usually a grind that's too fine, a steep that's too long, or coffee left in the press after plunging.
• Thin or sour: grind a touch finer or steep 30 seconds longer.
• Stale, rancid notes: clean the mesh and plunger properly. Old oils trapped in the filter will spoil any coffee.

One more trick: let your poured cup rest for a couple of minutes. The finest particles sink, and the last sip comes out far cleaner.

The best coffee for a French press

The press shines with medium roasts and coffees that lean sweet and round. Whole beans ground just before brewing make an even bigger difference here than with most methods, because the coffee spends several minutes in contact with the water. To keep yours fresh, see how to store coffee beans.

And if you're wondering why the press suits a long, lazy sobremesa so well, the answer is in our piece on coffee rituals in South America: it's about pouring for everyone and keeping the conversation going.