How to Make Better Coffee With a Cafetiere
The humble cafetiere is an under rated brewing method these days, overshadowed by newer brewing methods, namely the Aeropress. But, nothing quite produces cafetiere coffee like a cafetiere, so if this is the kind of coffee you like, and you want to make the best coffee possible, this post is for you.
Maybe you're like me, and you don't use the cafetiere a lot, but sometimes you just crave a good old fashioned cafetiere coffee. Or you may be like many Brits who still swear by their cafetiere.
Here is a guide to some of the best cafetieres available at the time of writing:
In either case, these quick & simple tips will help you to make the best tasting coffee possible with your cafetiere.
This cafetiere brew method comes from James Hoffmann.
I first became aware of this technique several years ago when I watched his video, that he called "The Ultimate French Press technique".
By the way, a few people have told me I'm the Northern James Hoffmann ;-), someone even told me I'm a younger James Hoffman, which is very kind to me but not to James, as I'm older than him! ;-).
I think it's just my level of immaturity that makes me come across as younger than I am...
But in any case, while I take that as a massive complement, it's one I can't quite agree with. James Hoffmann has probably forgotten more about coffee today, than I will ever know!
I tried it, and it was the best Cafetiere coffee I'd ever made, so whenever I brew this way now, I use his technique or a slight variation on it - and this is the technique I'm about to share with you.
1: 60 per 1000.
So this is the ratio, the amount of ground coffee vs hot water, and I'd start out with about 60g of ground coffee per litre of water, so if you're using 500ml of water, use 30 grams of coffee. Wow, I'm a genius...
This is something you can tweak as you go along, but 60g per L is a very good starting point.
3: Grind Slightly Finer
If you're grinding your own, which I highly recommend, just try going more towards a filter grind than a traditional cafetiere grind, and if you're buying pre-ground, go for a filter pre-ground.
The traditional cafetiere grind is very course, and although I wouldn't go towards espresso grind, if you take it towards a medium filter grind, you'll probably find a slightly more balanced coffee, and you may find you don't have to use quite as much ground coffee for each brew, too.
If you are interested in a grinder to go with your cafetiere have a look at this post:
The Best Electric Burr Grinders
3: A Brew of Two Halves
Instead of just one brew time, try splitting your brew time into two.
After the first brew time, stir, and then scoop off any of the floating grounds, and let it brew again, with the second brew lasting about 25% longer than the first brew.
James Hoffmann recommends a really long brew method, with the first brew taking four minutes, and the second taking around five. I'd recommend trying this, but if you want to go shorter on the brew time, that's absolutely fine, but try keeping the second brew slightly longer than the first.
So if you go for a total brew time of 5 mins, make the first brew time around 2 mins 15 seconds, and the second brew around 2 minutes 50 seconds, and yes I do realise those numbers add up to slightly more than 5 minutes, proving that I'm not actually a genius after all ;-)
4: Don't Take The Plunge
Wait, the whole point of a cafetiere or "French Press" is to plunge, right? Well, not really.
The point of plunging the filter is just to separate the grounds, plunging doesn't actually do anything, it's not part of the brewing process at all, and it disturbs the settled grounds, and is the main reason for coffee grounds in your mouth.
If you scooped the floating grounds from the top of the coffee at the end of the first brew time, at the end of the final brew time the coffee should be really clean, all the grounds have sunk to the bottom and settled.
So just push the plunger down so it's touching the top of the coffee (the liquid, not the grounds), so it acts as a strainer, and then very carefully pour in an attempt to leave the settled sediment at the bottom, and just pour lovely clean coffee.
5: Decant Your Coffee
If you're using a bigger, insulated cafetiere and making enough coffee to keep you going for a while, the issue is that the coffee grounds aren't separate from the coffee.
So if you leave the coffee in the cafetiere, it'll continue to extract, and get overly bitter, especially if the carafe has decent insulation and stays hot for a decent length of time.
If you're using all the coffee straight away, then no worries, but if not, I'd recommend pouring it into a separate well insulated carafe or flask.
For more information on travel mugs see:
And there we go, give that a try the next time you're using your cafetiere, hopefully you'll find it dramatically improves the quality of your coffee.
Although, of course the main upgrade in cup quality will come from upgrading your coffee beans :-). So if you've not tried our coffee yet, give it a try!