James Hoffmann revisits French press brewing - Page 2
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Shortly after I started making coffee (at the time with only a French press), I read James' blog post from 2010 (http://www.jimseven.com/2010/11/04/cupp ... nch-press/) and have been using versions of this ever since. Highly recommended.
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I was surprised at the focus on weighing precisely but no mention of water temperature.
Otherwise, it seems the main point of his technique is to avoid buying an Espro.
Otherwise, it seems the main point of his technique is to avoid buying an Espro.
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At the suggestion of of one of my coffee friends , have been doing 15-20 minute FP for a good while . Longer steep , more extraction . Water in from boil... 9 minutes is for light weights ......
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It's fun to read about peoples journey to better coffee, but there are sometimes things that leave me scratching my head.
The one from this thread is in regards to the 'foam' in a French press brew. If its called crema in an espresso and is essential to the extraordinary taste of an exceptional espresso shot, why is it something we want to scoop out prior to pouring a French press brew?
The one from this thread is in regards to the 'foam' in a French press brew. If its called crema in an espresso and is essential to the extraordinary taste of an exceptional espresso shot, why is it something we want to scoop out prior to pouring a French press brew?
- Marshall
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For the answer, you would have to go back to James's 2009 videoblog, "Crema is Rubbish." I don't think the video is available anymore, but his disdain for crema was much discussed at the time.
Marshall
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
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OK, makes sense now. The video was not there, but the links to various blogs/posts was.
- Jofari
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Thanks for sharing, Tom. I tried this out today and got a great result! I ended up pouring it through a paper filter because I don't like the french press silt. The cup was quite a bit sweeter than my brews have been recently. I'll have to experiment more, but I'm excited about this method.
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I tried this this morning. Not sure how significant an improvement it was, but at the very least the long steep didn't hurt anything and did leave minimal gunk in the cup. I thought it was maybe slightly better than the same coffee brewed yesterday, my coworker says I'm nuts and it was the same.
I've always used a "medium" grind, so the difference for me was the stirring and the long steep time.
I've always used a "medium" grind, so the difference for me was the stirring and the long steep time.
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For me, this thread is timely as it relates very directly to the one I started recently about the flavors of cupping style brews vs. dripped ones, a la V60/Kalita Wave. Most of my brews over the last week have been along the lines of what James is doing, sometimes, without as much time after breaking the crust as he does, sometimes with a paper filter, sometimes, not.
In my case, I'm finding that a Guatemalan coffee I have is delicious this way and undrinkable for me as a pourover. Some of this, surely, is that I'm doing something wrong with the latter. But since most Central American coffee is literally intolerable for me as a drip or pourover no matter who's brewing it or where, I'm inclined to think that there's something about the chemistry of immersion brewing that is more agreeable to my possibly supertaster palate than pourover coffee usually is. It's more complicated than that, but I point this out because for those of you, particularly the non-experts, who might find certain coffees that would seem like they should taste good to be inexplicably unpleasant most of the time and wonder why. Try James' method, the Brewers Cup winner one that's in the cowboy coffee thread, or some other immersion brew and see what happens. It might make a difference.
In my case, I'm finding that a Guatemalan coffee I have is delicious this way and undrinkable for me as a pourover. Some of this, surely, is that I'm doing something wrong with the latter. But since most Central American coffee is literally intolerable for me as a drip or pourover no matter who's brewing it or where, I'm inclined to think that there's something about the chemistry of immersion brewing that is more agreeable to my possibly supertaster palate than pourover coffee usually is. It's more complicated than that, but I point this out because for those of you, particularly the non-experts, who might find certain coffees that would seem like they should taste good to be inexplicably unpleasant most of the time and wonder why. Try James' method, the Brewers Cup winner one that's in the cowboy coffee thread, or some other immersion brew and see what happens. It might make a difference.
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I've been using the Hoffman FP method since I picked up his book a long while ago - I really like how consistent it is and have gotten pretty good results. I'm still not too sure where I should be setting my LIDO 3. I sway between 10 & 13 notches, generally.
I tried some more 'normal' FP brewing methods over the last week and still prefer the hoffman method for now.
I tried some more 'normal' FP brewing methods over the last week and still prefer the hoffman method for now.