Every coffee brewer has its pros and cons, which I would like to touch on. Your Dream Coffee is all about brewing the best coffee possible, the way you want it.
In this article, I’ll go over the pros and cons of a French press. I’ll start with the pros below and move on to the cons from there.
These pros and cons will help you better understand if this coffee brewer is something that might interest you.
I’ll go over everything there is to know about this coffee brewer. Are you ready to learn everything about it? Grab some coffee, and let’s get into it.
The pros and cons of a French press
Down below, I’ve listed the pros and cons of the French press. You can take a quick glance before I go in-depth about each of them.
At the end of this article, I’ll give you my thoughts on the coffee brewer and whether or not I recommend buying this coffee brewer, based on the pros and cons mentioned in this article.
- Ease of brewing
- Easy to master
- Easy and quick cleaning
- Coarse grind size
- Inexpensive
- Versatile
- Coffee sludge
- Easy to over-extract
- Taste can vary
The pros of French press coffee
I think the French press is one of the best coffee brewers out there. You get to brew such amazing coffee with it, which is why I wanted to write this article.
I want to go over the six pros I have of the coffee maker. After I’ve told you about the pros, the cons will follow. Let’s get into it:
Pro 1: Ease of brewing
Brewing coffee with the French press is easy. The only steps in brewing the coffee are grinding coffee beans, boiling water, and immersing them in the beaker.
The brewing time is between four and six minutes, depending on the amount of coffee brewed at once. If you are brewing one cup of coffee with the French press, four minutes of brewing time is more than enough.
A more considerable amount of coffee brewed can take up to six minutes, but the wait will be worth it.
You can even try different recipes, like this one from James Hoffmann, which will yield a different tasting cup of coffee.
Pro 2: Easy to master
The time to learn to brew coffee with the French press is relatively low. You can quickly learn to brew coffee with it in a day, but only if this means making multiple cups of coffee in a day.
Are you just starting with home brewing coffee? You might have to give this technique a few more tries before nailing it. It took me a few takes to get the brewing of French press coffee right too.
If you want to start brewing coffee at home using this technique, you can check out my beginner’s guide to French press coffee.
When following the correct coffee to water ratio, the only thing that can go wrong is grinding your coffee beans the wrong way. The best grind size of the coffee beans is a coarse grind size, but more on this later.
Pro 3: Easy and quick to clean
Another pro on this list is the ease of cleaning. Because a French press has just a few components, you can clean it very fast and efficiently.
The parts that you need to clean thoroughly are the beaker and the plunger. Depending on the version you own, you might want to clean the outer shell every once in a while too.
I use the Bialetti French press with a stainless steel outer shell with a high sheen. This outside shell can look dirty when cleaning the different parts because of the dried-up water splashes.
So I also suggest cleaning the outsides of the beaker and base, as this will only take a few more seconds out of your day.
If you’d like to learn more about cleaning your coffee brewer, you can check it out down below as I wrote a great article about 4 ways to clean a French press in 60 seconds or less.
Pro 4: Coarse coffee grind size
Because the coffee is best brewed using a coarse coffee grind size, the amount of time grinding the coffee beans is almost inexistent.
For example, when grinding coffee beans for pour over coffee, you have to grind for up to two minutes until you can start brewing that cup of coffee.
The coarse grind size is ground in less than 60 seconds, which comes in handy when you’re in a hurry in the morning or when you’ve got other stuff to get quickly. The coarse coffee grind size looks like this:
This is when using a manual coffee grinder at home. If you have an electric coffee grinder at home, you’ll be even faster than that. Amazing, isn’t it?
If you want to learn more about the best grind size to use, you can find more information in this article.
Pro 5: Inexpensive coffee brewer
Depending on the coffee brewer’s size, you can buy a good quality French press for less than $30 in most stores.
It comes in multiple sizes, so you get to choose between these as well. Do you regularly have people coming over? Or do you have a big family, and you’d like to make coffee for them at once?
Your best bet is buying an 8 cups (1.89 l) version, which will brew a lot of coffee at once.
The prices can differ, depending on the size and materials used in the making. I use a great coffee brewer, which I absolutely love. But there is also this French press version that is even less expensive.
The great part is that a French press doesn’t have to be the most expensive to work. If you’re still searching for one of your own, you can check out the links I’ve listed above.
Pro 6: Use it as a cold brew maker
Imagine, you know you’ve got a couple of hot days coming in, and you want to brew some cold brew coffee ahead of time. You can use this brewer to brew some cold brew coffee.
You can press down with it right after the cold brew has steeped long enough because of the coffee plunger.
You no longer need to be using a sieve and different-sized containers to store and steep your cold brew coffee in! Plus, you get to use this coffee brewer regularly to brew that amazing cup of coffee.
If you’re interested in learning to brew cold brew with a French press, you can get more information here.
The cons of French press coffee
Of course, this wouldn’t be a complete article without the pros of the French press. I don’t have many cons compared to the pros. However, I do have them, so let’s get into it:
Con 1: Coffee sludge
Coffee sludge that’s left in your coffee while brewing coffee with the French press is one of the main problems with this technique. Because you are steeping ground coffee with water, you are left with some small particles without a good quality filter.
These coffee particles are called coffee sludge. The sludge is mostly found in the last bit of coffee while drinking it. I usually stop drinking before hitting this coffee sludge galore.
However, the coffee particles are what make the coffee so unique. So it isn’t a bad thing whatsoever. Some people like to drink a more filtered coffee, with a cleaner taste like pour over coffee.
Con 2: Chances of over-extraction
Because you are steeping coffee with water, there is a real chance of over-extraction your coffee.
For example, when making pour over coffee, the water will always run through the coffee filter. You can come back minutes later to check in on it and see a delicious coffee waiting for you.
When using the French press to brew that coffee with, forgetting about it or leaving the coffee to steep for way too long will leave a weird taste behind.
You want to be on top of your brewing time while using the French press; this way; you get to enjoy that coffee over and over again.
Con 3: The taste of coffee can vary
The taste of the coffee can vary, depending on different factors like:
- Not using enough coffee beans
- Using too much coffee beans
- Adding too much water
- Having too high a water temperature
- Over and- under extracting the coffee
As you can see, many factors can influence the taste of your coffee, however; most of these factors disappear when you’ve brewed a few cups of coffee.
The taste of your coffee will be equal when you’re using the same coffee beans, the same amount of coffee beans, and the amount of water is the same as well.
This is why I always recommend using a scale to weigh out the coffee beans and the water.
You can eliminate the water temperature difference by leaving your water kettle on your kitchen counter for 30 seconds each time before pouring the water on top of your ground coffee.
If you’d like to get a little more specific with the water brewing temperature, you might want to look into getting a thermometer. You’ll never have to brew with a water temperature that isn’t perfect.
Conclusion
The French press is one of the best coffee brewers you can use, as there aren’t many cons to this coffee brewer.
It makes amazing coffee, which you and many other people will enjoy. The coffee brewer’s biggest downside is the amount of sludge that it leaves behind in your cup.
This is a problem that most people take for granted, as they get amazing coffee in return. Just don’t forget to leave a bit of coffee in your cup, all right?
I’d love to see you back on my blog soon, as I’ll be sharing even more useful information about coffees brewers, great coffee recipes, and so much more!
Do you think this is a must-have coffee brewer? Let me know by leaving a comment down below. If you have any other questions regarding coffee, you can also contact me directly by pressing the “Contact Me” button at the top!
