Coarse grind, 4 minutes, one slow press. That's the whole trick, and most bad plunger coffee comes from getting one of those three wrong. A French press (plunger, if you grew up here) makes a full-bodied, unfussy cup with nothing but ground coffee, hot water and patience. No filters to buy, no power point needed.
We reckon it's the most forgiving brewer there is, which is exactly why it's worth doing properly.
What you need
- A plunger (any size; the recipe scales)
- Coarse-ground coffee. Order our beans in the Plunger grind and this step's done for you
- A kettle
- A spoon, and a timer (your phone's fine)
The ratio: how much coffee for a plunger?
Use roughly a 1:17 ratio of coffee to water by weight; our coffee calculator does the maths for any size. For a standard 3-cup plunger, that's about three heaped tablespoons if you haven't got scales.
No scales at camp? Two rounded tablespoons of grounds per mug of water gets you close. Plunger coffee is happy to be approximate. It won't punish you the way espresso does.
How to brew it, step by step
- Boil the kettle, then give it 30 seconds off the heat to settle to around 93°C. Pour at a rolling boil and you drag harsh, bitter notes straight out of the grounds.
- Add your coarse grounds to the empty plunger.
- Pour in just enough water to wet all the grounds, give it a stir, and wait 30 seconds. This is the bloom: the grounds puff up and release trapped gas. Skip it and you'll taste it.
- Pour in the rest of the water, right to the top. Pop the lid on with the plunger pulled all the way up. Don't press yet.
- Wait 4 minutes. Actually wait; this is where the flavour happens.
- Press down slow and steady. If it fights you, your grind's too fine; if it drops with no resistance, too coarse. Aim for gentle, even pressure over 20 seconds.
- Pour the lot out straight away, even if you're not drinking it all. Coffee left sitting on the grounds keeps brewing and turns bitter.
The clean-cup upgrade (the no-plunge method)
Want the clearest possible cup with next to no silt? Skip the plunge altogether. It's worth the extra few minutes on a slow morning. Use the same ratio as above; the difference here is all in the technique, not the dose.
Steep for 4 minutes, then break the crust on top with a gentle stir and skim off the foam and floating grounds with a couple of spoons. Now leave it another five to eight minutes (yes, really) so the fines sink, then pour slowly without ever pushing the plunger down, leaving the sludge behind at the bottom. You get a remarkably clean, sediment-free cup. We keep the classic 4-minute press for a weekday hurry and save this one for weekends.
Where it goes wrong
Grit in the cup. Almost always a grind that's too fine, or pressing too hard and forcing fines through the mesh. Go coarser and ease off the plunge. Our Plunger grind is cut for exactly this.
Bitter and harsh. Two usual suspects: boiling water, or over-steeping. Give the kettle that 30-second rest and pour the pot out on time.
Weak and watery. You're under-dosing. People chronically use too little coffee. Trust the ratio; it'll feel like more than you expect.
A cold second cup. Glass plungers dump heat fast. Warm it with a rinse of hot water first, or decant into a pre-warmed thermos if you're brewing for a crowd.
When to reach for a drip bag instead
A plunger's brilliant at home when you've got two spare minutes and a bench to work on. It's less brilliant when you're standing in a caravan park at 6am with one hand. That's the gap our drip coffee bags fill: same specialty beans, none of the cleanup. Plenty of people keep a plunger for weekends and a box of drip bags for everything else. Not sure which to order? Our drip coffee bags vs plunger guide compares the two side by side.
Want to brew a different way? The full range of grinds and the rest of our brew guides have you covered.
Roasted to order in NSW, ready when you are
Drip bags for anywhere, beans for home. Same coffee, your call.
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Not sure which beans to buy? Our coffee beans buying guide covers roast, origin and the right grind for your brewer.
Quick answers
How much coffee do I put in a French press?
Roughly a 1:17 ratio of coffee to water by weight; our coffee calculator does the maths for any size. For a standard 3-cup plunger, that's about three heaped tablespoons if you're going by eye.
How long should plunger coffee steep?
Give it 4 minutes from when you finish pouring. Less and it's weak; much more and it turns bitter. Press and pour straight after.
Why is my plunger coffee gritty?
Your grind's too fine, or you're pressing too hard. Use a proper coarse grind and press slowly and evenly. Fines slip through the mesh when you force it.
What grind is best for a plunger?
Coarse, like raw sugar rather than powder. Order our beans in the Plunger grind and it's cut right for the mesh straight away.
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