Slow-settle French press (no real plunge)
Steep, break the crust, skim, and wait. Gravity does the filtering for a cleaner cup.
⏱️ 15 minEasy
Starting recipe
30 g coffee + 450 g water at 94 °C (201 °F), steep 4 minutes, skim, settle about 5 more minutes (8–10 minutes total).
Grind: Coarse, like sea salt
You need
- 30 g fresh coffee, ground coarse (like sea salt)
- A French press (about 500 ml or bigger)
- A kettle
- A kitchen scale and a timer
- Two spoons (one to stir, one to skim)
Step by step
Heat water and grind
Boil water and let it rest about 30 seconds so it's near 94 °C. Grind 30 g of coffee coarse.
Add coffee and water
Put the grounds in the press, set it on the scale, tare, and pour in 450 g of water, wetting all the coffee. Start the timer. No need to stir.
Steep 4 minutes
Let it sit without the lid, or with the lid resting on top and the plunger up. A crust of grounds forms on top.
4:00Break the crust gently
Stir just the top layer with a spoon so the floating grounds drop down. Be gentle: you want them to sink, not swirl around.
Skim the foam
Use two spoons to lift off the foam and any bits still floating. They're bitter and gritty, so they go in the bin.
Wait while it settles
Leave it alone for about 5 minutes. The fine particles sink to the bottom on their own. This is the secret to a cleaner cup.
It will still be hot enough to drink. The grounds have done most of their work by now, so extra time doesn't make it much stronger.
5:00Press to the surface only
Put the lid on and lower the plunger just until it touches the coffee's surface. Don't push into the grounds. The mesh just acts as a strainer.
Pour slowly
Pour gently and steadily into your cups and stop before the last bit. Taste: sour means finer next time, bitter means coarser.
Common mistakes
- Plunging all the way down out of habit, which stirs the settled silt back up.
- Stirring hard when breaking the crust, so the grounds swirl instead of sinking.
- Getting impatient and skipping the settle time.
- Pouring the last bit with the silt.
Tastes off? Fix it
| If it… | Try this |
|---|---|
| Sour or thin | Grind a little finer, or let the first steep run a minute longer before breaking the crust. |
| Bitter or dry | Grind a little coarser and skim more carefully. |
| Weak | Use more coffee for the same water, for example 32 g. |
| Too strong | Use a bit less coffee for the same water, for example 28 g. |
| Still silty | Wait a couple more minutes before pouring, pour more slowly, and grind a touch coarser. |
Words you'll hear
- Steep
- Letting coffee sit in water to extract. In a French press this is the main event, usually about 4 minutes.
- Immersion
- A brew style where all the coffee sits in all the water at once, instead of water passing through it.
- Crust
- The layer of floating grounds and foam that forms on top while the coffee steeps.
- Breaking the crust
- Gently stirring the crust so the grounds get wet and sink. It releases a lovely smell, too.
- Fines
- Tiny powder-like bits from grinding. They slip through the mesh and make the cup muddy.
- Ratio
- Water weight divided by coffee weight. 1:15 means 30 g of coffee to 450 g of water.
- Extraction
- How much flavor the water pulls from the grounds. Under-extracted tastes sour and thin; over-extracted tastes bitter and dry.
- Decant
- Pouring all the coffee out of the press into cups or a carafe so it stops extracting.