A writer for CoffeeGeek held a tasting event with beans from Ritual Coffee in San Francisco’s Mission District to get the dirt on and posted techniques for the more adventurous French presser:
The “stir and scoop method” [is] where an additional 2 grams of coffee are added to the typical 7-gram dose of grounds (per “cup”). The grinds are agitated and the plunger is ignored until the very end; a saucer is used in its place throughout the steeping time, and two spoons are used to scoop off the grinds before the plunger is finally applied and pressed, and the brew is poured.
Users say it tastes better, makes it easier to plunge the press, and cuts down on errant grounds in your cup. That’s been my experience. Here’s a video demo. Stir and scoop portion begins at 03:40.
[photo by Karen Hamilton]
Update: See CoffeeGeek’s corrections in the comments below.
I started skipping the french press and just brewing it in a pot, stirring twice (once when hot water was added and once before pouring) and then sending it through a strainer. Much easier to clean than a French Press. This just seems like a more complex version of the same thing.
Hi guys. A couple of things about this posting are inaccurate.
- the event in question was in, and the photos were taken in Vancouver, BC. CoffeeGeek.com organized a tasting event in Vancouver of coffees from Ritual Coffee.
- the technique described is not one done by Ritual. It’s one done by CoffeeGeek, a modification of a press technique developed by a former World Barista Champion, Tim Wendelboe.
- The two photos used in this BBG piece are the property of Karen Hamilton, reprinted on CG with permission – she noted that the author of this BBG piece didn’t ask her for reprint permission. A courtesy email to her would have been nice.
To respond to some of the comments to #1; this technique is not much different than a full cupping (coffee evaluation) technique, which uses a similar steeping time. The main difference is the scoop of about 30-50% of the grinds (that’s about all you can catch) at the end of the brew. I wouldn’t call it decadent. The Clover, with some places using 45g for a 12oz cup, that’s decadent.
#2, that’s an interesting style, going to try it and do some taste comparisons!
#3, Jim Hoffmann’s video shows exactly the method developed by Tim Wendelboe; it’s different from mine in that there’s no grinds scoop, but instead a ‘breaking of the crust’ (a la coffee cupping), followed by a removal of the skim or remaining foam.
Hmmm, interesting. However, I don’t get any grounds in mine with a sloooow press and then slow pour.
This seems like a lot of trouble when you can get an Aeropress. (There are like 6 threads here I could have made this comment on…)
I’ve been brewing coffee basically like this for a few months now, and the flavor difference is definitely noticeable. Also, it’s kinda fun to do.
As a side bonus, ending up with less grit in the cup helps reassure people leery of french press coffee because they don’t like “sand in their cup” and so forth.
I learned the technique from this video, which has the advantage of being half as long as the one linked above and edited to have a nice soundtrack:
http://www.jimseven.com/2008/11/13/french-press-technique/
This technique seems a little wasteful. The increased volume of grounds coupled with the shorter brew time and lack of stirring suggests to me that a good deal of the grounds aren’t really getting their oils extracted, but rather just floating on the surface. I guess with the steam-catching saucer, you’re getting a little bit of percolation action going on, but then it seems like you’re losing a lot of that moisture when you scoop off the grounds without pressing them.
I guess “decadent” is a more diplomatic term than wasteful. All the same, I’ll probably still give this technique a shot.