The Best Type Of Coffee For Full Flavor In Your French Press
When it comes to home coffee brewing methods, few are more direct than the French press. To use it, you simply fill the affordable vessel with grounds, top them with hot water, wait a few minutes, push the plunger down, and voilà: a thick and flavorful batch of coffee emerges. But, as it always goes with coffee-making, you should keep an eye on the small details to ensure that you extract the best flavor. This means using fresh beans, getting the brewing time just right, and grinding the beans to a coarser size to allow the press to effectively filter. But the type of coffee roast you use matters, too.
After all, the beans are the cornerstone of coffee preparation. Just like certain coffees are better suited for making espresso or using a filter method, there's a style that aligns especially well with the French press. When using this device, darker coffees are best. Since the press has metal coils and no paper filter, it'll leave more oils and grounds behind in the brewer. Longer roasted coffees — such as dark and bold roasts — have more of this flavorful oil, meaning plenty will stick around to yield the tastier, full-bodied brew that the French press is known for.
Use darker-roasted coffees in a French press
Making dark roast coffee involves several stages and the beans have many different origins. This means that there's a wide selection to choose from. A coffee at the darkest end of the scale will be the most bitter and robust, so avoid French roasts if such a quality is a deterrent. For more bittersweet notes, a full city roast coffee perfectly straddles the medium roast boundary. And dark roasts such as continental and high roasted coffee — both lighter than espresso — also make ideal French press candidates.
Selecting the coffee's origin is more complicated, as there are many different terroirs that impact coffee globally. Typically, you'll want a bit less acidity and more smoothness and sugar. Due to their oftentimes volcanic origins, Latin American coffees' mineral qualities make for a delicious cup when brewed in a French press. Pinpointing the ideal bean always depends on personal preference, too. For added guidance, purchase coffee at an esteemed local roaster and chat with the barista for suggestions. And it doesn't hurt to read the flavor description on the bag; it'll deliver a good idea of what the beans will taste like.