French Press is great and easy, except when the coffee is gone and it is time to clean up. The grounds are just annoying to remove. Does anyone have advice about a way to streamline clean up?

At this point, I am thinking about creating a receptacle that would sit at the bottom of the carafe to collect the grounds so you could easily remove all of them at once.

Is this something that already exists? That you would use? How much would you pay for it if it existed?

Thanks for responding with your thoughts!

Check The It's American Press, as I recall the name. James Hoffman reviewed it and provided his opinion of its salability.

Even resolving the clean-up challenges probably isn't enough to entice me back to unfiltered, immersion brewing. Clever Dripper solved that and the fines problem for me years ago. Add a mesh basket of your choice if you prefer that flavor profile.

Mitchoffee wrote:French Press is great and easy, except when the coffee is gone and it is time to clean up. The grounds are just annoying to remove. Does anyone have advice about a way to streamline clean up?

At this point, I am thinking about creating a receptacle that would sit at the bottom of the carafe to collect the grounds so you could easily remove all of them at once.

Is this something that already exists? That you would use? How much would you pay for it if it existed?

Thanks for responding with your thoughts!

try the "french pull"

I give it a good shake over the compost bin (or trash if compost isn't handy) to get out the worst of it, and then rinse the rest down the drain. Never found it to be particularly time consuming.

I always thought the "French Pull" looked like a big mess or worse yet severe burns waiting to happen. No thanks.

Nate42 wrote:I give it a good shake over the compost bin (or trash if compost isn't handy) to get out the worst of it, and then rinse the rest down the drain. Never found it to be particularly time consuming

I always thought the "French Pull" looked like a big mess or worse yet severe burns waiting to happen. No thanks.

I actually do what I call a "no-press" french press. basically like the cupping method of brewing where you let the grinds sink to the bottom then decant it out. Hoffmann has a good video for this

you could probably do a similar method for the reverse. i guess a "no-pull" french pull.

1. put the filter in and press down
2. add coffee/water
3. do a quick stir
4. brew for 4 min or so
5. do another stir (this will stop the brew and most grinds will sink)
6. try and skim the surface for floaters (might be hard with the rod in the way)
7. wait 5 min for all coffee to settle
8. decant into mug (slowly pour)
9. when cool decant the excess liquid into the sink
10. now pull the filter out over the garbage
11. rinse the rest and your down

this would solve the burn hazard you point out since you let it cool and if you pull it over the garbage then the mess goes to the right place.

If your filter is reusable you will always have to clean it. Therefore you will always have to deal with the spent grounds.

I just drain the grounds, dump, and scoop out the remainder with a spoon. Wash rinse and dry and I'm done.

There was a form fitting device that was called "The French Kiss" I think. It was a silicone "cup" with magnets imbedded in the top perimeter. When you pressed the plunger in the grounds were compressed into this device and when you pulled the plunger assembly out of the vessel the device was held onto the bottom of the press screen by magnetism.

With the Espro Press, after the pouring of the last cup completes, I keep the press in the pour position and "pump' out most of the remaining liquid by alternately pulling then pushing the plunger which, because of the design of the Espro, pumps out most of the remaining liquid. I then use a paper towel to wipe the grounds out right into the waste receptacle.

But generally, every form of enjoyment seems to have some sort of cleanup afterwards. It's not always pleasant, but that doesn't stop us from enjoying.

I rarely make French press anymore for the same reason, the clean up. It's not epic but it's kind of a pain.

The French pull isn't really that much better as far as clean up. The American press -- I haven't tried that, maybe it makes nice coffee, but it isn't really French press, is it? It's going to have a different character. The steep and decant method works pretty well for avoiding having to clean the screen. In fact, then you don't even need a press. You can use any container. A vacuum bottle is nice as it will hold the temperature nearly constant. Or not if you leave the top off. But you still have a wet slurry to contend with.

Nothing is as easy to clean as an Aeropress. Why not just get one of those and put all your French presses in the back of the cupboard?

It's a labor of luv. Got used to it 40 years ago.

Mitchoffee wrote:French Press is great and easy, except when the coffee is gone and it is time to clean up. The grounds are just annoying to remove. Does anyone have advice about a way to streamline clean up?

At this point, I am thinking about creating a receptacle that would sit at the bottom of the carafe to collect the grounds so you could easily remove all of them at once.

Is this something that already exists? That you would use? How much would you pay for it if it existed?

Thanks for responding with your thoughts!