The French Plunge

I love coffee, and have for a really long time now. In Idaho, I dragged my brother out of bed at 4:00 AM sometime in the fall of 1998 so that we would be the very first customers at the very first Starbucks in the state; we got a free gift pack for it. I used to drink whole carafes of coffee while I was doing homework in junior high and high school—really this was probably when the first signs of my addictive personality came to surface. I don’t drink it black anymore, and I’ve managed to curb my intake to just two cups in the morning. But what I’ve lost in quantity I’ve gained in quality: I’m kind of a purist about my coffee now—I steadfastly condone anything that that starts with a "frapp-" or that requires too many additions/modifications/special requests, and once, when a friend asked the person behind a counter at a deli where “French vanilla” coffee beans came from and that person said that they were crossbred with vanilla (they spray the beans with sugarshit, and I really doubt they were very good beans to begin with), I wasn’t easy letting it slide.

But being the coffee snot that I am, I’ve had several people ask me what the best way to prepare French press coffee is. I found the following in a recent Time Out NY issue, and… I don’t know. I like it. Maybe it will come in handy.

FRENCH PRESS COFFEE

Step 1. Boil a pot of water. You can use any water you would normally drink, though [the barista at Ninth Street Espresso in Chelsea Market] prefers filtered or spring to best express the flavors of the coffee. Once it’s boiled, allow the water to cool for a few moments. If you have a thermometer, aim for 200 degrees.

Step 2. Measure a heaping tablespoon of quality, coarsely ground coffee for every four ounces of water in your press. [I use less.] [Said barista] recommends grinding your own for freshness.

Step 3. Pour the hot water evenly over the grounds, just enough to saturate them. This process “blooms” the coffee, releasing flavor. Let is sit for a minute.

Step 4. Introduce the rest of the hot water into the press, swirling the pot gently to ensure that the water extracts all of the flavor of the grounds.

Step 5. Close the lid to retain heat. After three minutes, plunge at a slow and steady pace and pour.

Note: Isn’t the idea of “plunging” at a “slow and steady pace” sort of unsettling?