French Press Coffee brewing experiment by Doug Scott

Wow! Its a Sunday Morning, I’m staring at my clock across the room and its red numerals are showing 6:38. I glance out the window, expecting sunlight and its black, no light is shining into my bedroom. I asked myself, “What kinda time is that? Is this a morning time?” I look over at my bed partner, my rescued dog, Charlie Boy, whose thankful, happy face seems to be saying, “C’mon Doug, get your butt outta bed, and open that back door”.

I sit up, feeling the urge to pee, and then from out of my post-stroke, foggy memory comes the plan I had formulated last evening regarding the French Press cuppa Coffee I was to create this morning. With mental pictures of a savory, steaming, 24 ounce Yeti cup of French Press coffee bouncing through my brain, I spring from my bed, run to the bathroom, (well, fall out of bed, limp gingerly to the bathroom), take care of business, and walk/limp to the kitchen.

There, on the kitchen counter, arranged the night before, in the order of their being used, are the necessary tools for this morning’s French Press Coffee brewing experiment. I double check the equipment, and all is in readiness.

First comes my new Pour Over, electric water kettle. I have filled it the night before with 60 ounces of clean, filtered water. I set the thermostat to 205°. The kettle begins making some small, popping noises which tell me that in 2 minutes the water will be ready to pour. Not too bad for a water kettle to heat 76° water to 205° in less than 2 minutes. However, at 1200 watts, that kettle better do that, are back to Amazon it goes.

The second step involves my coffee beans, which were newly roasted by me, just this past week. They were expertly grown in the Mountains of Kenya, Africa, by a Farmer’s co-op dating back to the 1950’s. Then washed, dried, prepared and shipped to my coffee bean supplier, here in the USA, arriving in August, Sweet Maria’s. The coffee bean’s name is Nyeri Gatugi Peaberry, a very well known, and highly sought after type of coffee bean. I feel as if these beans were grown especially for my morning cup of French Press coffee, right here, half way around the world, in Cypress, Texas, America.

According to Sweet Marie’s, the “Nyeri Gatugi Peaberry bean is deeply sweet in both light and middle roasts, with layers of molasses and raw sugar intermixed with intense fruited top notes: pulpy orange juice, cranberry sauce, raspberry juice, tart blueberry.” For use in my French Press, the beans need to be roasted to a roast level of City to Full City, and, for my personal, coffee drinking pleasure, just past First Crack. To me, these beans were especially grown, and roasted, for use in my cup of French Press, Morning Joe.

Knowing it’s a proven fact that coffee beans once roasted, will retain their flavor while properly stored in their post roasted, full bean condition, but will begin to lose their caffeine strength, flavor and taste within minutes of being ground, I am now ready to grind my beans. I take the beans, place enough beans to create 8 tablespoons of freshly ground coffee in my grinder, and 45 seconds later, the smell of fresh ground coffee beans fills my nostrils. I then transfer 8 tablespoons of the freshly ground coffee to my pre-heated, French Press brewing cup.

While doing so, my mind wanders back to those days of using K-Cups filled with tiny amounts of very old, stale, and artificially flavored coffee, K-cupped in China. The coffee grinds were made from coffee that was probably ground months before being sealed in a K-cup. The cups were then shipped by boat to the USA, stored on warehouse shelves, and finally, after many months of waiting, they make their final journey to a reseller. I eventually got those tasteless cups of crap to my kitchen, and into my coffee cup. Some of the K-cups are still sitting in my kitchen cabinet, and as I look at them, I shake my head and say, “Never again.”

I eagerly return to the coffee brewing task set before me. Removing my new water kettle from its thermostatically controlled heating stand, I gently pour a few ounces of the 205° water over the newly made coffee grinds now residing at the bottom of my French Press cup. I will now wait for the grinds to “Bloom.” This wait period is about 60 seconds in length, maybe a little longer. The freshly ground beans are beginning to absorb the hot water and expand, creating a wet mound of coffee grinds floating on top of the water, called the “Bloom.”

While the Bloom is expanding into its shape, I bring the French Press cup up to my nose and inhale a sumptuous odor of the taste pleasing, caffeine filled experience that is to come. Placing the cup back on the counter, I take a wooden spoon and gently stir the mixture, and pour more 202° water into my French Press cup, bringing the mixture in the cup, up to its full, 34 oz. capacity.

I now need to wait for the hot, 34 ounces of water to do their “brewing thing” as the freshly ground coffee soaks in, and absorbs the water. This wait time is approximately 4-5 minutes.

However, my coffee brewing still has a few more tasks I need to complete to bring the newly brewed coffee to its final concluding, and glorious pour into my waiting, 24 ounce, Yeti cup. While waiting on the 4-5 minute brewing time, I create a frothed cup of heated, Vanilla Flavored Coconut Milk, open two small bags of Artificial Sweetener, and heat the Stainless Yeti cup, by placing it face down over my empty, but turned on toaster.

Finally, the timer on my kitchen oven makes a ding-ding sound notifying me that the brewing time for the coffee has now been completed. Taking my French Press cup, I gently begin pushing the plunger down into the cup, pressing all those very fresh, coffee grinds ahead of the plunger, to the bottom of the cup. Once pressed, and completed, I pour the coffee into my waiting, heated, Yeti cup. As I lick my lips in anticipation of what’s to come, I can smell the coffee’s rich aroma.

Three steps are now remaining to be accomplished. First I add the sweetener, and stir the coffee. Secondly, I add the frothed coconut milk, creating a Latte. And third, I add some squirts of Sugar-free, Torani Vanilla flavored Syrup. I now have a creamy, hot, 24 ounces of a French Press made, Skinny Vanilla Latte.

Carefully lifting my cup, now filled with its Vanilla Latte Coffee, I place my lips on the edge of the cup and gently sip from its contents, the dark brown, creamy, sweet, vanilla tanged, caffeine filled liquid. I allow the liquid to sit, for a moment on my tongue, as I savor its rich goodness and flavor, much like I once did with a good glass of a 2012, Lodi Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon.

With a resounding, lip-smacking “Ahhhhh!” I swallow the liquid, and know that in the last 15 minutes or so, I have created a coffee drinking Masterpiece. With my dog, Charlie Boy, at My heals, we leave the kitchen to move back to the solitude and morning quietness of our private bedroom. And it’s here, that for the next hour, I will drink, savor, and enjoy my 24 ounce, cup of coffee, as the result of my early morning endeavors, coming from my successful, French Press, coffee making experiment.

Oh, it’s Sunday morning! Thank you Lord for creating this wonderful coffee, and also for introducing me to FrenchPressCoffee.com. Amen!

Resources and links:

• Author: Doug Scott, Coffee Lover
• Photo by Nik MacMillan on Unsplash

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