# Longer brewing time in French Press/Cafetière, and possible finer grinds expectations



## Boucaneer (Feb 11, 2017)

Hi, I'm new here and learning to brew coffee in my Bodum Columbia 1 litre double walked stainless steel cafetiere, I'm recovering from a brain injury so it shall keep me occupied whilst at home recovering in London.

I would like to try the longer brewing times once my grinder arrives for me to experiment with grind sizes.

may I ask please, what is to be expected with the longer 10-20 minuet brewing/steep times?

I have searched the posts but am unable to locate an article or information about the longer brew times taste wise, although I did find the longer brew times mentioned by some great postings.

In in the meantime, I am still awaiting my Hario Skereton grinder to arrive and the bearing upgrade supplied by Orphanexpesso from America.

I bought the hand grinder because of the possibility for adding the upgraded bearing to perform more consistent course grinds for the French Press, but after some reading I am seeing that it may be better to use finer grinds in the French Press with more careful pouring technique.

Any thoughts and experience with tastes on longer brewing times with a French Press would be greatly appreciated as I'm pretty new to the hobby of coffee making.

Also so any thoughts or experienced on tastes and differences using finer grinds would be interesting to read and learn by.

Thank you,

kind regards,

Alex.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

@MWJB , longer steep, sweeter brew. Shorter steep = weak under extracted coffee. Perhaps if people are using uber dark roast for FP then this was an advantage.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

https://markwjburness.wordpress.com/2015/04/18/low-silt-french-press-method-for-when-you-have-a-little-time-to-spare/


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## Boucaneer (Feb 11, 2017)

Fantastic, thank you Mr Boots for the information and link to the video.

I was was wondering about the floating oil and the reason why some people tend to tip the first bit of coffee away, this has now answered my question about that.

Well ll it shall be interesting experimenting with times and grinds for taste differences.

Thanks again.


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## Jon (Dec 3, 2010)

Boucaneer said:


> Hi, I'm new here and learning to brew coffee in my Bodum Columbia 1 litre double walked stainless steel cafetiere, I'm recovering from a brain injury so it shall keep me occupied whilst at home recovering in London.


Nothing useful to add here apart from 'hope you get well soon'!


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## Boucaneer (Feb 11, 2017)

Jon said:


> Nothing useful to add here apart from 'hope you get well soon'!


Cheers Jon, yes, I find playing with the Columbia French Press and a few Bialetti's very therapeutic whilst recovering in East London. I dream about opening a coffee garden in the tropics in Asia. Lol

So that dream helps inspire me. : )

Cheers.


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## Boucaneer (Feb 11, 2017)

Dear MWJB, Mr Boots, Jon and others,

I can confirm that longer extraction can taste a little better sometimes.

I bought a cheap pack of coffee from a corner shop I was passing as I had ran out of coffee.

Image of Jacobs Kronung coffee below.

http://i.imgur.com/njmpeHF.jpg

I made a litre of coffee using ten tbsp of coffee to the litre in a preheated Bodum Columbia S/S French Press.

I brewed for 6 mins, removed the crust with a spoon and sampled a little in a half pint beer jug/glass using the No plunge and pour technique and it tasted ok. I set an alarm for another ten mins and returned.

At a 16 minute brew time I found the taste fuller and better still. I reset the alarm for another 10 mins and waited to return.

At 26 mins I found the taste a little bitter although maybe a fuller flavour, not as tasty as the 16 min brew time. I reset the alarm for another 10 mins,

At 36 mins the taste was much deeper but a bitter aftertaste, the worse of all the tastings experienced in this test.

in my opinion the 16 minute brew time resolved the tastiest brew with the cheap coffee.

It it was a good heat retaining test for the Bodum Comumbia too.

I will carry on with tests of times and different coffees in the future, I hope to roast and grind beans next month too.

Thank you.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Might help of you weight the dose of coffee you are going to use , as opposed to teaspoons . You will get alot more repeatability between different coffees


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

For pre-ground, off the shelf, coffee I'd aim for about 50-55g/L.

A litre in a Bodum Colombia might take 2 hours to drop to my preferred drinking temp (55c-ish), 36min is just scratching the surface 

Don't stop at the first signs of bitterness, it is normal to find peaks of good flavour separated by troughs of poorer flavour in coffee extraction. The first drop in preference does not necessarily mean you have hit a brick wall.


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## Boucaneer (Feb 11, 2017)

MWJB said:


> For pre-ground, off the shelf, coffee I'd aim for about 50-55g/L.
> 
> A litre in a Bodum Colombia might take 2 hours to drop to my preferred drinking temp (55c-ish), 36min is just scratching the surface
> 
> Don't stop at the first signs of bitterness, it is normal to find peaks of good flavour separated by troughs of poorer flavour in coffee extraction. The first drop in preference does not necessarily mean you have hit a brick wall.


Thanks MWJB and Mr Boots.

That's Interesting, I thought that might of been a possibility about the peaks and troughs in less of a linier way and more unusual way, a bit similar to a sine wave, but then dismissed it. That's good to know, I will experiment a bit.

The taste wasn't bad at 26 minutes, so I shall carry on then to much further past the 36 and record times/tastes with different coffees.

Yes, I must buy a set of scales for weighing, and a thermometer.

I bought a good cheap timer a few days ago, and some nice second hand soup spoons and have ordered a JayTec BS604 100 ml measure test tube in 1 ml increments to see the average amount of brewed coffee shots from some Moka pots and to measure spirits and coffee mixed to make a good tasting cocktail in old pub half pint jug/glasses.

I dont think I'll ever call myself a barister, but a coffee cocktail bar keeper role appeals to me at the right location, palm trees essential. Lol

Thanks for the information, it's encouraging to know of the possibilities from your timing/experiments.

Cheers and thanks.


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