WHAT IS THE FRENCH PRESS? The French Press (also known as a press pot or Melior, or a coffee press) is a simple way to make a rich delicious cup of coffee. It is a cylinder-shaped beaker with a plunger. The piston of the plunger is made of mesh, allowing liquid to flow through it but not the larger coffee grounds.The beauty of a French press is in its simplicity — grind your coffee, add water, and go. The French Press uses pressure to force coffee to the bottom of an elegant pot after brewing, capturing the concentrated flavors. This is coffee in its purest form. The results are deep; dark and full flavored.After all, coffee is not just coffee.START YOUR MORNINGS WITH A PERFECTLY BREWED CUP OF COFFEE - French press is one of the easiest, least expensive ways to make great coffee.1. Coarsly grind your coffee beans and add them to the carafe. Why? French presses fully immerse grinds in water which provides a lot more contact between the water and grounds than other brew methods.2. Heat your water. The ideal water temperature for brewing in a french press is around 200° F.3. Wet your coffee grinds in the carafe and let them sit for 30 seconds. This will allow the coffee to bloom, and give any carbon dioxide that’s in the grinds time to escape so it doesn’t sour your brewed coffee.3. Add the rest of the hot water to your carafe. After one minute, give the grinds a gentle stir to ensure all the grounds have been fully immersed in water - then place the lid on your french press with the plunger pulled all the way up.4. Brew to your desired taste. Most people recommend brewing the coffee for approximately 4 minutes, but feel free to adjust this time to your liking. DIfferent roasts require slightly longer or shorter steeping times.5. Plunge. Once you have brewed the coffee for the desired length of time, press the plunger down slowly to filter the grounds from the coffee.6. Pour and Enjoy!As with all methods of coffee brewing, you'll need to experiment and tweak the variables a bit, tasting your results before you settle on your ideal settings. The good news is that French press is very forgiving!BREW THE PERFECT CUP OF TEA - The French Press is most commonly used for brewing fresh coffee, but did you know it can also be used to brew tea? That's right, if you love tea, try using FreshTek's French Press Coffee Maker to steep tea leaves for a full and flavorful taste. Follow these simple steps for brewing tea with a French press: Ensure your French Press is thoroughly cleaned, paying close attention to removing coffee residues from the mesh plunger.Boil your water. Our recommended water temperatures are: White Tea: 175-185ºF (80-85ºC) ,Green Tea: 175-185ºF (80-85ºC), Oolong Tea: 175-185ºF (80-85ºC)Black Tea: 206ºF-210ºF (~100ºC)Herbal Tea: 206ºF-210ºF (~100ºC)Add your desired amount of dry tea leaves to the French press carafe. the amount of water needed for the cups of tea that are going to be poured as soon as the first steep of tea is completed.Pour the heated water into th carafe and steep the tea leaves for the strength of brew you desire. Our recommended steep times are:White Tea: 1-3 min.Green Tea: 2-3 min.Oolong Tea: 3-5 min.Black Tea: 3-5 min.Herbal Tea: 5-8 min.Carefully lower the plunger about halfway to the bottom of the carafe. Take care to use the plunger as a sieve and do not compress the leaves. Compressing the leaves may damage them which will result in bitter, subsequent steeps of the leaves.Pour off all the tea, either into cups, or into a separate carafe. Do not allow leaves to remain in any water in the French press so that you may use your tea leaves again
