{"title":"How to Use a French Press","canonicalUrl":"https://www.showmestepbystep.com/cooking/how-to-use-a-french-press","category":{"slug":"cooking","name":"Cooking"},"creator":{"name":"Daddy Got Coffee","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7x43fFlwbBykF1r04T_wQ","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HncIIDjTBls"},"tldr":"Get clean French press coffee with no grit. The right coffee-to-water ratio, why to grind finer not coarser, and a slow-plunge method that works.","totalDurationSeconds":639,"difficulty":"easy","tools":[],"materials":[],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Step 1: Work Out Your Ratio","text":"Use one part coffee to 14 or 15 parts water. The 1:16 ratio you find online is for filter coffee, and immersion brewing needs a bit more coffee than that."},{"number":2,"title":"Step 2: Weigh the Coffee","text":"For a 650ml press that works out to 40 to 45 grams of coffee. A cheap kitchen scale with a built-in timer is the single best consistency upgrade here."},{"number":3,"title":"Step 3: Use a Burr Grinder If You Can","text":"Grind with a burr grinder if you can. A spinning blade pulverises some beans into dust and leaves others coarse, and that dust is where the grit comes from."},{"number":4,"title":"Step 4: Grind Medium-Fine","text":"Grind finer than the coarse setting everyone recommends. A finer grind extracts more efficiently, and the dusty fines are a byproduct of the grinder rather than the grind size."},{"number":5,"title":"Step 5: Add the Grounds and Start the Timer","text":"Tip the ground coffee into the empty press and start your timer as the water goes in."},{"number":6,"title":"Step 6: Fill Halfway","text":"Fill the press about halfway with hot water to wet all the grounds."},{"number":7,"title":"Step 7: Give It a Good Stir","text":"Give the slurry a good stir. This breaks up dry pockets and makes the extraction more even."},{"number":8,"title":"Step 8: Top Up and Wait Four Minutes","text":"Top the press up to full and leave it for four to five minutes. Immersion brewing self-limits, so a little extra time will not over-extract it."},{"number":9,"title":"Step 9: Plunge Very Slowly","text":"Press the plunger down very slowly. A fast plunge stirs up fines and forces them through the mesh, which is what puts grit in the cup."},{"number":10,"title":"Step 10: Add a Paper Filter for a Cleaner Cup","text":"For a genuinely clean cup, lay a paper coffee filter over the mesh screen before you plunge. A flat circular filter is easiest to seat."},{"number":11,"title":"Step 11: Decant Before Serving","text":"Pour the finished coffee into a serving jug before it goes into cups. That evens out the strength from top to bottom and leaves the last gritty drops behind."}],"recipe":{"servings":"Makes 650ml, about two large cups","prepMinutes":3,"cookMinutes":5,"cuisine":null,"ingredients":[{"name":"whole coffee beans","notes":"medium-fine grind, roughly 1:14 to water","amount":"45 g"},{"name":"hot water","notes":"just off the boil","amount":"650 ml"}]},"lastUpdated":"2026-08-31T16:41:43.644Z","published":"2026-08-31T16:41:38.799Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit ShowMeStepByStep with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure."}