
Plus, the smaller surface area doesn’t work as well with the French press brewing method, resulting in a weak, unsatisfying drink. The longer you wait between grinding and brewing, the more flavor is lost. While you’ll never completely get rid of finely ground coffee beans with the French press, a fresh coarse grind minimizes them and results in a texture closer to silky. This means you’ll end up with a gritty cup of coffee when you finish brewing. First, it will usually be too finely ground for the mesh filter attached to the French press’ plunger. Nick Cho, Co-Founder of Wrecking Ball Coffee RoastersĪny well-versed barista will advise you to steer clear of pre-ground coffee for two reasons. Take note of your grind size so you can make adjustments later: grind a little finer next time if your brew was weak, a bit coarser if you’re tasting a lot of unpleasant, dish-raggy, over-extracted flavors.

The larger surface area of coarse ground coffee beans will result in more of the brighter flavors being extracted from the coffee, reducing bitterness in favor of a sweeter taste. Simply put, grind your coffee beans on a medium-coarse setting, though you should experiment to see which setting tastes the best to you. Dealing with the Daily Grind – What’s the Best Coffee Grind for French Press? This is why they are favored by Third Wave coffee lovers. This roast also provides a lighter, more nuanced flavor than the bolder dark roasts. While light roast beans, like these, are better for cold brew, medium-roast coffee beans can often be a great choice for French Press. It’s not a hard and fast rule, of course.

The slow extraction process brings out your beans’ smoky, rich character, and results in a sweeter tasting cup of coffee. Dark roasted coffee beans are normally quite bitter when used in other brewing methods, but when you use a French press, bitterness is reduced which brings out the best of the coffee’s flavor ( 1). It also tamps down any acidic notes it might carry. Traditionally, French press coffee is brewed using a dark roast, because the longer roast time brings out the flavorful oils in the beans.
