French Press

The French Press is a simple but elegant design which was first patented by Attilio Calimani, who was an Italian by nationality. It would appear, however, that the original French Press was invented in France around one hundred and fifty years ago.

The device goes by various names in different countries. Most people in the UK may refer to the pot as a cafetière, which is simple the French word for coffee pot. The French refer to it as a Cafetière à Piston, which you may deduce is translated in English as a coffee pot with a piston or plunger.

The technique the French Press uses is among the most basic of any coffee maker. The device is simple a cylindrical pot, with a handle attached, a lid, with the lid containing a small hole in it's centre for the filter. The filter rests at the bottom of the pot, and is attached with a full length stem which rises out of the lid. The top of the filter stem has a round handle to raise the filter and plunge it at will.

The drink is prepared by inserting some large granules of coffee and hot water into the water, stir it and let it rest. Then when the coffee appears ready you plunge the filter from the top of pot to the bottom, trapping the majority of larger sediments.

The drink produced by the French Press will contain more oils and sediments than coffee created by some other techniques. The coffee will tend to be strong in flavour and thick in texture. The drawback to the French Press is it's lack of filtering ability. Meaning it may contribute more to heart disease potentials than other filtering techniques like paper filters. The increase of sediments can also produce a bitter after taste.