Coffee - French press or coffee maker?
Camy here! My husband loooooooooves his coffee, and this weekend he did an experiment.He normally uses his espresso maker to make himself lattes, but sometimes in the afternoon, he doesn’t want to fire up the machine and instead, he’s been using a French press to make plain coffee.
However, he’s been unhappy with how his coffee tastes. He’s not using the same beans he uses for his espresso—he actually roasts his own espresso beans, believe it or not. Apparently, coffee beans are different than espresso beans, so instead of using his espresso beans to make coffee, he bought some coffee beans.
He wondered if it was the way he was making his coffee, so he brought out his single cup coffee maker from Brookstone and made a cup side by side with a cup of coffee in his French press.
Verdict: the coffee actually did taste different, but they both didn’t taste very good. He says it’s because the beans are old, and I had to argue for a few minutes to convince him that life is too short to waste on bad coffee!
He finally threw out the beans, thanks to some proactive nagging on my part.
About the French press versus coffee maker—even though it was the beans’ fault, he also thinks that the coffee maker does not produce as good a cup as the French press. Mostly because he can control how long he steeps the grains in a French press, whereas he can’t control that in the coffee maker.
He also read that when the hot water hits the coffee grains in a coffee maker, it’s actually a few degrees lower temperature than ideal. The water is supposed to be 208 or 205, but in a coffee maker, it’s often at about 200 instead. Which supposedly contributes to an “inferior” cup.
Me? I can’t tell the difference.
How about you? Do you care about a French press cup or one from a coffee maker?
Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Her novels Single Sashimi and Deadly Intent are out now. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every week and ponders frivolous things. Sign up for her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly giveaways!
12 Comments:
At November 25, 2009 12:08 PM,
milissaaustinjenkins said…
CAMY
FRENCH PRESS 100%!!
I USE BOTH BUT WILL USE THE FRENCH PRESS WHEN I AM HOME ALONE AND NEEDING A FULL POT OF COFFEE!! A FRENCH PRESS CAN MAKE MAXWELL HOUSE TASTE GOURMET!! MY HUSBAND IS A TRUCK DRIVER AND ALL HE DRINKS IS COFFEE!!! I CANT DRINK THAT MUCH YOU WOULD HAVE TO TIE ME DOWN HE CAN DRINK ESPRESSO AND TAKE A NAP!! LOL HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
MILISSA
At November 25, 2009 3:14 PM,
Camy Tang said…
LOL Milissa, my husband can also drink espresso and then go to sleep!!
Camy
At November 25, 2009 4:07 PM,
Lyn Cote said…
My dh and I are coffee lovers. We had a Toastmaster drip maker for about 12 years. It was marvelous. It took a half hour to make a pot but you could put in 4 Tb of freshly ground coffee and get a whole pot of flavor. It died and the next Toastmaster was AWFUL.
We're using a Braun now and like it pretty well.
I never thought of trying a French Press but I will THINK about it.
Happy Thanksgiving all!
At November 25, 2009 5:06 PM,
Camy Tang said…
Lyn, everyone who has commented on my blog and facebook about this raves about the French press if you're a coffee lover. They say you can really taste a difference b/c the water in the French press is right off the boil (208 degrees) and it makes a better tasting cup of coffee. Me? I can't really say because I don't drink enough coffee, but if you do, you might really like the French press!
Camy
At November 25, 2009 9:04 PM,
Stephanie Newton said…
I have a French press, but I like the pot better. I'm an anomaly, I think. BUT, I have to have fresh roasted beans. The stuff at the grocery store is YUCK! It also helps to use filtered water.
Fun blog :)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Steph
At November 25, 2009 9:08 PM,
Camy Tang said…
Steph, my dad actually likes his coffeemaker better. I think he just doesn't taste the difference between the two, and the coffeemaker is easier.
BUT both him and my husband agree that fresh roasted beans makes a huge difference! My husband roasts his own beans every 10-14 days.
Camy
At December 10, 2009 8:45 PM,
Cecelia Dowdy said…
Good grief! I love coffee! It's the way I start each day, but, to tell you the truth, I'm a plain old Folgers or Maxwell House kind of gal using a regular American coffeemaker that you purchase at Kmart! I've never analyzed the French press thingy...I've had expresso a few times, but found it to be too strong.
Oh, has your hubby tried the New Orleans coffee? I can't remember what it's called, but it's in a yellow canister with brown (or black) letters. This coffee is usually made very strong, and they sometimes serve it half coffee - half steamed milk. You drink it while eating those powdery, yummy beignets!
Both coffee and beignets taste wonderful! :-)
At December 10, 2009 8:51 PM,
Camy Tang said…
Cecelia, I'll ask him about New Orleans coffee! Mmmmm a beignet sounds yummy right now too!
At December 10, 2009 10:42 PM,
Christina said…
My husband loves using the french press. He's a coffee snob!
At December 11, 2009 1:35 AM,
Camy Tang said…
Christina, your hubby and mine would get along just fine!
At June 5, 2011 6:27 AM,
Sazji said…
Definitely French press, or for espresso, an Italian mocca (until the day I feel profligate enough to spend money on a home espresso machine).
With a French press, you have a lot more control over how long the coffee steeps, and it steeps evenly. And of course as you mentioned, you also have control over the temperature. Some good drip makers might be good, but to me, having control over that stuff is a bit like knitting my own socks; I can do it the way I want to. So I can identify with your husband for roasting his own beans, though here I can't get good enough beans to make it worth the smoke!
At June 13, 2011 7:01 PM,
Camy Tang said…
Sazji, that's too bad! But I can understand that--Captain Caffeine did a lot of research before finding the place where he buys his green coffee and espresso beans--Maria's, I think it's called. It's in Oakland, CA. They are apparently very reputable and have good quality.
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