French press coffee - what am I doing wrong?

Waesfjord

Hi all,

Wondering if someone could oblige and advise what I may be doing wrong, as have recently acquired a good grinder (Mazzer Mini E), however the planned espresso machine is on hold for a few months.

My first beans purchase was from coffee mojo, beans below.

http://www.coffeemojo.ie/coffee/single+origin/sumatra+gegarang+organic.html
http://www.coffeemojo.ie/coffee/single+origin/la+cascada.html

I started with the 6.5-7g/100ml, 4minute brew time , with grinder set very coarse.

Coffee brewed was not very flavoursome at all, quite disappointing, just a strong bland coffee flavour. Same results on both filters, also after fiddling around with the grind setting, all other settings more or less the same. Are the beans I picked possibly not too suited to filter, too strong flavoured, or more likely something I'm not doing correctly.
The beans were freshly roasted, so that wasn't the problem anyway.

Would appreciate some advice as love coffee, just used to buying it rather than making it at home myself!!

PPC

What brewers do you have? 4 minutes sounds like a long time, you should look for about 2.5 minutes for a Hario V60.
Check out http://brewmethods.com for some more info on the brewers.

Jezek

brian1976 wrote: »

Hi all,

Wondering if someone could oblige and advise what I may be doing wrong, as have recently acquired a good grinder (Mazzer Mini E), however the planned espresso machine is on hold for a few months.

My first beans purchase was from coffee mojo, beans below.

http://www.coffeemojo.ie/coffee/single+origin/sumatra+gegarang+organic.html
http://www.coffeemojo.ie/coffee/single+origin/la+cascada.html

I started with the 6.5-7g/100ml, 4minute brew time , with grinder set very coarse.

Coffee brewed was not very flavoursome at all, quite disappointing, just a strong bland coffee flavour. Same results on both filters, also after fiddling around with the grind setting, all other settings more or less the same. Are the beans I picked possibly not too suited to filter, too strong flavoured, or more likely something I'm not doing correctly.
The beans were freshly roasted, so that wasn't the problem anyway.

Would appreciate some advice as love coffee, just used to buying it rather than making it at home myself!!

We need a lot more info! What's your method??

When were the beans roasted? They need to rest for a few days before using, 4-5 days at least.

How coarse are you grinding? I think a lot of people overshoot coarseness - you really don't need to go all that coarse. Try adjusting the grind. I think sand texture is a good rough goal to work towards.

Also you're using a bit too much coffee. Try 60g/L, that's a better general ratio .

Waesfjord

Thanks for replies.

Sorry, for some reason I typed filter coffee, I meant to type french press:rolleyes:.
Must be baby brain - have my 4week old son in my hands as I type, suffering from caffeine deprivation!!

Method in detail is I'd boil water,allow to come off boil for a minute, then add the water and ground coffee to cafetiere. Would give a quick mix. then another 20s mix after a minute (to break bloom and allow coffee grinds to disperse evenly, then leave settle for another 3mins before plunge and pour.

The grind coarseness would probably have been both coarser and finer than sand.

Is there any reason that a single original coffe rather than blend is more/less suited to press.

Jezek

brian1976 wrote: »

Thanks for replies.

Sorry, for some reason I typed filter coffee, I meant to type french press:rolleyes:.
Must be baby brain - have my 4week old son in my hands as I type, suffering from caffeine deprivation!!

Method in detail is I'd boil water,allow to come off boil for a minute, then add the water and ground coffee to cafetiere. Would give a quick mix. then another 20s mix after a minute (to break bloom and allow coffee grinds to disperse evenly, then leave settle for another 3mins before plunge and pour.

The grind coarseness would probably have been both coarser and finer than sand.

Is there any reason that a single original coffe rather than blend is more/less suited to press.

Don't worry about the coffee itself. Single origins are great, and I know for a fact coffeemojo is good stuff.

Your grind sounds very uneven. A lot of grinders grind badly at the very coarse setting.

Ideally grind should be all one size ( or near enough). Try grinding finer (like I said, aim maybe for salt) and try again.

Waesfjord

Jezek wrote: »

Your grind sounds very uneven. A lot of grinders grind badly at the very coarse setting.
.

I meant to say in earlier post that the finer and coarser grinds were for separate brews, not the same brew, my statement was misleading earlier.

I'll aim for the 'sand' grind size next time, also the 60g/L coffee quantity, hopefully that will improve things. Thanks for the feedback folks.

Jezek

brian1976 wrote: »

I meant to say in earlier post that the finer and coarser grinds were for separate brews, not the same brew, my statement was misleading earlier.

I'll aim for the 'sand' grind size next time, also the 60g/L coffee quantity, hopefully that will improve things. Thanks for the feedback folks.

Do you live near any good coffeeshops? You could always go in to your local shop and try their french press, ask about their techniques and even get a little sample of their coffee grind if you ask nice enough. Then you can try to match that with your own grinder.

Waesfjord

Jezek wrote: »

Do you live near any good coffeeshops? You could always go in to your local shop and try their french press, ask about their techniques and even get a little sample of their coffee grind if you ask nice enough. Then you can try to match that with your own grinder.

Living in Clonee (D15). Don't get into town too often with kids unfortunately. Maybe over Xmas, might try that in one of the decent coffee shops in the city centre, thanks.