Immersion
French press coffee recipe
A French press is the simplest brewer on CupTune: coffee and hot water sit together in a glass or steel jug, and a mesh plunger holds the grounds down at the end.
- Coffee
- 30 g
- Water
- 500 g
- Temp
- 94 °C
- Time
- 5:00
This recipe makes 500 g from 30 g, enough for two mugs, and suits people who want a full, heavy cup and do not mind a little silt at the bottom. It asks for almost nothing in technique. The only places to go wrong are the grind, the plunge and what you do with the coffee after you press. For a bigger or smaller press, the French press ratio table gives the grams from one cup to a litre.
The spec
| Part | Amount |
|---|---|
| Coffee | 30 g, coarse |
| Water | 500 g at 94 °C (1:16.7) |
| Steep | 220 s untouched |
| Plunge | 40 s |
| Total time | 5:00 |
You need
- A French press that holds at least 600 ml, so the water does not reach the rim.
- A scale, a timer and a kettle.
- A spoon for the crust and, ideally, a second spoon for skimming.
- A pre-warmed serving jug or thermos for decanting.
Ratio 1:16.7 · Grind: coarse · grind chart
Starting ranges come from your grinder maker’s own guide. Burrs, beans and calibration vary, so treat them as where to begin.
Steps
- 0:00, Add all 500 g water.
Add 30 g of coarse grounds, then pour all 500 g of water in about 20 seconds, saturating everything.
- 0:20, Steep undisturbed.
Put the lid on without pressing and leave it alone until 4:00.
- 4:00, Break crust and skim.
Stir the floating crust gently, then lift off the foam and loose grounds with a spoon. This takes 20 seconds.
- 4:20, Plunge slowly and serve.
Push the plunger down slowly over 40 seconds, then decant straight away.
My notes for this recipe
Why these numbers
Coarse grind. A mesh filter lets fine particles through, so the grind is your main control over sediment. Coarse grounds leave fewer fines to escape. This choice is authored, and the grind chart shows the planning range for this method.
1:16.7. Thirty grams to 500 g is a ratio that is easy to scale in your head: halve it for one mug. It is authored, not a standard.
220 s of undisturbed steeping. Together with the 20 s fill and 20 s skim, this lands the plunge at 4:20 and the serve at 5:00. Leaving the crust alone for most of the steep keeps the sequence simple.
94 °C. Slightly below a rolling boil, authored.
What changes the cup: sediment, plunge speed and decanting
The French press differs from paper-filter methods in one way that matters: the filter is metal mesh. It keeps the coffee's oils and small particles in the drink, which gives body and also silt.
- Sludge at the bottom of the mug. Grind coarser, skim more carefully, and stop pouring before the last mouthful. A slow plunge also stirs up less debris than a fast one.
- Plunger fights you. Grounds are too fine and are packing against the mesh. Coarsen the grind. Pushing harder does not help and can splash hot coffee.
- Plunger drops with no resistance. The grounds are too coarse, or the mesh has worn. Go finer by a small step.
- Cup becomes bitter if left standing. The coffee keeps extracting while it sits on the grounds. Decant all of it into a second vessel as soon as you finish plunging.
- Weak, hollow cup. Check that the water covered every grain at the start; dry pockets under the lid do nothing.
Evidence and limits
The 1:16.7 ratio, 94 °C water and five-minute sequence are CupTune-authored starting preferences. They are not a universal standard or a measured promise about sediment, strength or flavour. CupTune has not measured fines passing through any mesh, so the troubleshooting above is rule-of-thumb guidance, not data. Different presses use different mesh gauges and plunger fit, which changes how much sediment you see at the same grind.
Questions
Why skim the crust?
Removing the foam and floating grounds takes some loose material out before you plunge. It also leaves the surface calmer, so the plunge is smoother.
Can I leave the coffee in the press?
You can, but extraction continues while it touches the grounds. Pour it out for the best chance of a consistent second cup.
What if I only want one mug?
Use 15 g of coffee and 250 g of water. The steep stays at 220 s, but a smaller volume cools faster, so pre-warm the press.