How To: Make Incredible Coffee At Home With A French Press

Tired of conventional tar coffee in the morning? Why not switch over to a traditional French press for tasty, fresh morning coffee?

The most important parts of this method is to ensure the coffee is ground coarse and not fine. Also, you'll notice I heat the water to around 200F which is below its boiling point of 212F. If you boil the water, it's too hot. I stir the coffee with a chopstick for reasons I don't quite understand other than a silver utensil could damage the pot. After the coffee brews for 4 minutes, you must depress the plunger using only the weight of your hand. If you force it down, it could make the coffee shoot out of the pot, or even worse, damage the pot and your hand! The result is a silky smooth cup of coffee that is beyond what you're used to from Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. The French Press we bought is a 12 cup, Bodum Chambord. You can find it at your local Bed, Bath & Beyond for $50. We went to our local Starbucks and picked up a couple of blends of coffee and asked them to grind them for us (specifying it's for a French Press).