This may sound silly, but lately i've been pressing french pressed (already brewed) coffee through an aeropress to get rid of all the fines, and it's been turning out very tasty.

I like using the french press because it only needs half the amount of beans per cup that the aeropress does, so I save a significant amount of money that way.

I have a baratza maestro grinder which was only $75, and it creates an excessive amount of fines that are very noticeable when french pressing. I never noticed the fines until recently because I used to use the aeropress exclusively.

There is a bit of extra cleanup involved since i have to wash both the french press and the aeropress, but still, it only takes about two minutes to wash them both.

Just curious, has anyone else tried this? Are there any other solutions to remove all the fines from french pressed coffee?

You may want to grind a little finer. I have an older Solis-branded Maestro Plus that sees regular duty for both vacpot and FP (now modified to Pull, i guess...) and have noticed a significant decrease in the amount of fines. Granted, you'll never be completely free of fines unless you use the appropriate filter medium, but that's another story as well.

-s.

pour the coffee through a swiss gold filter. much easier.

Or get the totally sublime clever dripper

I actually saw those, but didn't think it would be better than the fine mesh that's already in the french press. The swiss gold filter catches fines as well?

If you're trying to get rid of fines that will pass through a Swiss Gold filter - you should be using a different method for preparing your coffee (ie not French Press).

I don't own a swiss gold filter or know anything about them. I was just asking if it filters fines in the same way that a paper filter does, or if it filters the coffee in the same way that the metal mesh in the french press does.

Thanks, i saw that, but was looking for an opinion from someone that has actually used it. Do they filter fines as good as a paper filter, or is the gold filter the same as the metal mesh already build into the french press?

Quote from Sweet Marias (the page linked to right above):

If you want to strike a balance between a paper filter coffee brew and a presspot, these permanent filters might be right for you. Coffee brewed with a SwissGold filter has a heavier body as more oils and particulate matter are suspended in the cup. Yet they they produce clean coffee that doesn't have "mud" at the bottom of the cup.