Brewing Coffee

• Coffee Basics
• French Press
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the french press

Elizabeth Dakin who married a London-based tea and coffee merchant in 1841, thought that the iron used in traditional roasters “imparted noxious qualities” on the delicate flavours of the coffee, and so developed a coffee roaster made of gold, silver or platinum. Once roasted and ground the coffee is ready for brewing. The simplest method in the 19th century was to pour hot water into a pot with coffee grinds. The problem was separating the coffee grinds from the liquid coffee.

Elizabeth Dakin took a standard coffeepot and put a perforated cylinder - similar to a sieve - in the middle, into which she put a plunger on a screw thread. The plunger moved up or down inside the cylinder when the handle at the top was turned.

The coffee was placed in the cylinder and the hot water poured in. After a few minutes the screw was turned, moving the disc down, forcing water through the coffee to complete the brewing process and forcing the grounds to the bottom of the pot, so they could brew no longer. This arrangement not only kept the grinds out of the cup but also enhanced the flavour. While the screw thread mechanism has since been simplified into a simple rod, the concept remains the same today as the one Elizabeth pioneered.

The French Press as we know it is actually attributed to an Italian designer named Calimani; he took the French Press Coffee Maker a step further by using a glass jar with a spout, much like a laboratory beaker, and fashioned a plunger with a filter on the end to press the ground coffee to the bottom of the pot.

By the early 1900s, the press pot, called a "Cafeolette" starting becoming more popular and was showing up on grocery store shelves. In the 1930s, Melior introduced the first model with a stainless steel filter and a metal body, then soon they introduced a model reminiscent of Bodum's current day "Chambord" line. Why is it reminiscent? Because Bodum bought that design!

In fact, Bodum is probably more responsible for the common day occurrence of the press pot than any other company. In the seventies, they started introducing their whacked out colours in their plastic, metal and glass press pots. In the 1980s, fuelled by their profits, they bought lines like Chambord and brought out more classical-look press pots. The rest is, as they say, history.
One of the best methods of brewing coffee is the cheapest. You can pick up a Bodum Chambord French Press, the original and classic design, for £20 or less.

Using a French press is one of the simplest methods of brewing a fantastic cup of coffee. A French press is a glass cylinder that has a lid with a piston style rod attached to a circular screen.

Grind your coffee, put a few heaping scoops in the bottom (10g per 6oz water), pour nearly boiling water over the grounds, wait four minutes, press the plunger down to push the grounds down and enjoy some delicious coffee.

One of the primary benefits of making coffee in a French press over a standard drip pot is that more of the coffee oils end up in your cup instead of in the machine's filter. More oils means better taste! As a bonus, a carefully cleaned French press can also double as an excellent pot for loose leaf tea.