Martha
Stewart's
French Press Tips
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Simple
steps to making the
most flavourful coffee
with
your French press.
(from Martha Stewart's New
York Times
syndicated
column Jan.
14, 1999)
Pictured
right: Bodum French
Press.
Photographer, Gudrun Kost.
Location: Out
To Lunch Catering
|
Dear
Martha: What is the best way to make coffee using a french press? - N.Hong,
San Francisco, Calif.
MARTHA STEWART: Many coffee lovers swear by the french press, an infusion-style
coffee pot with a metal plunge filter.
It
has some distinct advantages over other brewing methods: The
slow brewing process
yields a rich, full-bodied coffee which is not left on a warming plate
(as with automatic
-drip machines) or boiled (as with percolators). This means that there
is no risk of the
burned bitter tastes that these methods sometimes produce.
And a press is inexpensive and easy to use, as long as some basic guidelines
are followed...
Most important, the coffee beans should be very coarsely ground; too fine
a grind can
result in a muddy brew - or worse, a clogged plunger, which can cause
the hot liquid to
shoot out of the pot as you plunge.
If
you buy ground coffee, specify that you will be using a press;
if you buy whole beans,
grind them for a few seconds fewer than you would for automatic drip.
Everyone's
tastes are different, so you will want to experiment with measurements
and brewing
times to find the strength you prefer.
But
here are the basics:
1.
First remove
the plunger unit from the glass pot.
2. For each
four-ounce cup of coffee, measure one
tablespoon of
ground coffee into the glass pot and
four ounces of cold water
into a saucepan or teakettle.
3.
Moisten the coffee with a tiny bit of cold water and stir. Bring
the rest of the cold water to a boil,
then remove from the heat for
a few seconds,
and pour the water over the grounds,
stopping at
least one inch from the top of the pot. |
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You'll
get the best flavour by stirring the brewing
coffee continuously with a long handled spoon
(preferably plastic, since metal can damage the
glass), for about four minutes. Then fit the
plunger into the top of the pot, and slowly plunge
to filter the coffee. When the plunger is all the
wayat the bottom, pour and serve the coffee.
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Above:
French
Press bodums. Click photo for larger image.
Photographer, Gudrun Kost. Location: Out
To Lunch Catering.
The
one drawback of using a French press is that the coffee cools off
quickly. You can keep it warm by transferring it to a thermal carafe,
or by making a quilted "coffee
cosy" to fit around the pot.
-
Martha Stewart
Pictured
right: The
Decent Coffee Cosy
Photographer, Gudrun Kost. Location: Out
To Lunch Catering. Click
photo for larger image.
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