Brew Guide: French Press

Words by Carolyne Lane
Photography by Fritz Buziek

noma kaffe
Brew Guide: French Press

Back in the early days of noma, we used to brew coffee using a French press, just like almost everybody else. For many, that French press is their daily driver. Most of us have one sitting in our cupboard at home.

Inspired by our hybrid brewing method, where we use a paper filter in our espresso porta-filters, we discovered that adding a paper filter to the French press could help brighten up the cup, as well, and clean it of the coffee residue and silt that we associate with the French press.

Noma Kaffe
Noma Kaffe

For this recipe you will need:ย 

  • A French press (we are using one that is 250ml in size)ย 
  • Paper filters: we like to cut the Cafec v60 Abaca help filters to size, as their coarser texture leads us to a smoother plunge (and brighter end result!). But you can also use the XL Aeropress filters, which require no preparation.ย 
  • 16g freshly ground coffee. We like to grind much finer than you would associate with French press (we want to extract everything!) On a Commandante grinder, this translates as 12-14 clicks. On an EK grinder, that would mean grinding at โ€œ11 oโ€™clock.โ€ย ย 
  • A spoon!ย 

ย 

Method

This recipe yields 1 cup of clean and bright filter coffee (using a 250ml cafetiรจre)ย 

  • Wet your filter and โ€œstick itโ€ to the French press.ย 
  • Boil your water and apply 250g to your cafetiรจre.ย 
  • Dump all of your coffee into the water, stir vigorously for 10-12 seconds.ย 
  • Apply plunger, donโ€™t press just yet!ย 
  • Wait 2 minutes.
  • Plunge gently (it should take you at least 1 minute to finish plunging).

The paper-coated plunger should keep all the silt and coffee grounds at bay so that you can enjoy a beautifully clean cup of coffee. If the brew you have yielded is weak, fine your grind size until you yield a coffee of the appropriate strength.ย 

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