A French press is often treated like Jason Segal's character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He's actually the one you want, but people tend to flock blindly to the flashy, temperamental types like coffee-siphon-somethings or Russell Brands. The French press is definitely a potential coffee happily-ever-after, but as with all things coffee, it ain't rocket science... but it is science! Let's delve a little deeper into how the French press works, and how you can make the best cup of coffee using this tool.
The French press, also called the cafetiere or coffee press, is a cylinder-shaped beaker (usually glass, but often plastic or steel) with a plunger. The piston of the plunger is made of mesh, allowing liquid to flow through it but not the larger coffee grounds.
With some coffee-brewing methods, the amount of brewed coffee you're trying to make and the grind size of your beans will affect how quickly the water will flow through the coffee—and how long your total brew time will be. This is true for drip brewing, pourover, and even espresso.
But brew yield, grind size, and brew time are not always inextricably linked. You can use a French press to make a lot or a little bit of coffee, you can grind your coffee however you want, and you can stop the brew in 10 seconds or in 10 days. None of these variables affects the others. This doesn't mean that the resulting brew will taste great no matter what, but this bit of freedom means you can approach a French press a bit differently. In fact, maybe you should really call it a "Freedom press!" Oh, nevermind.
