Coffee - French Press

[Harry Bloomfield]

I love my proper coffee. For years I have used a cheap, basic, electric coffee maker, the type where you fill a tank, then the heated water bubbles up to drip into a filter with the finely ground coffee, then into a jug, with the hotplate under it. It auto shuts itself off, after 20 minutes.

I make two coffees at a time, drinking one, the other keeps warm in the jug, on the hotplate. If I forget the second, and it gets a little cool, I sometimes boost it in the micro for a few seconds. Overdo it and it goes bitter.

I'm thinking to try a French Press, but I'm wondering how you keep the second cup warm, the 20 minutes, whilst drinking the first cup?

 

[blup]

Can you trust the French press?

Blup

 

[JonathanM]

Perhaps an insulated cafetière or an insulated mug. I don't know how well they work.

Cafetière coffee will taste quite different to your usual filter coffee.

 

[ETAF]

i went through various coffee makers over the years
and ended with a sage Barista express machine - brilliant - wished i had changed years ago
I had a flask that you poured water into a funnel, then moved to the stove top coffee maker , which was OK, but did not give me the volume i wanted
then onto
cuisinart grind and brew - which was great for 10years ....
now a sage - which we are all very very happy with - expensive but the best coffee i have had , and we do not bother with coffee if out , so have saved quite a bit of money , not buying shop coffee

i do have a couple of french press - which we take with us on holiday/hotels etc
And coffee is different from the machine - but better then nothing.

Now i buy the coffee bags when in hotels, much easier and really surprised how good they are .... dont use boiling water - let it cool a little

 

[Mottie]

I'm thinking to try a French Press, but I'm wondering how you keep the second cup warm, the 20 minutes, whilst drinking the first cup?

Buy a one-cup cafetière - I have one of those as well as other options. You can always make another fresh cup 20 minutes later.

 

[JonathanM]

Or maybe even buy two small cafetières so you don't need to wash the first one in between. They are so cheap.

You need to be careful with sizing. I have one rated as 3 cups but it's only 350 ml and really only makes one decent mug.

as well as other options

Which pod machine do you use? I had a Dolce Gusto until it broke.

 

[Bod ...]

i went through various coffee makers over the years
and ended with a sage Barista express machine - brilliant - wished i had changed years ago
I had a flask that you poured water into a funnel, then moved to the stove top coffee maker , which was OK, but did not give me the volume i wanted
then onto
cuisinart grind and brew - which was great for 10years ....
now a sage - which we are all very very happy with - expensive but the best coffee i have had , and we do not bother with coffee if out , so have saved quite a bit of money , not buying shop coffee

i do have a couple of french press - which we take with us on holiday/hotels etc
And coffee is different from the machine - but better then nothing.

Now i buy the coffee bags when in hotels, much easier and really surprised how good they are .... dont use boiling water - let it cool a little

That's interesting. I'm thinking of buying a Sage.

Around £600 is that roughly what you paid?

The last thing I want to do is folk out an arm & a leg and it's rubbish.

What sort of coffee do you use?

 

[Mottie]

Or maybe even buy two small cafetières so you don't need to wash the first one in between. They are so cheap.

You need to be careful with sizing. I have one rated as 3 cups but it's only 350 ml and really only makes one decent mug.



Which pod machine do you use? I had a Dolce Gusto until it broke.

I have this one in stainless steel. Bought it a good few years ago now.

My favourite coffee pods are the ones from….Lidl! £2.69 for a box of 20.

 

[ETAF]

That's interesting. I'm thinking of buying a Sage.

Around £600 is that roughly what you paid?

yes, I paid £525 in 2017 - purchased from lakeland as they have a 3 year warranty - also we all chipped in and purchased one for daughters wedding presie - on offer at £450

But now £600+

£599 offer at the moment

Sage The Barista Express Coffee Machine

The perfect bean to cup coffee maker for budding baristas & serious coffee lovers. Grinds, doses & extracts. Comes with our 3 year guarantee.

www.lakeland.co.uk

everyone who has a coffee is impressed with it - I drink black coffee, but family all drink white - and latte mainly - although BIL has cappuchino - works really well..

coffee - over the years have used loads of different brands - Lidl/Aldi beans - Then a local coffee shop who also sold the coffee they used roasted locally - but during lockdown not available - so went over to Roast and Post - quite expensive now , so we alternate with the Lidl 4/5 beans, only because of cost .... on a pension whih does not increase with inflation, needing to watch the money now with food and energy increases
Otherwise i would just use Roast and Post -

We also always use a couple of different coffee , just to keep things different and notice that helps not get to used to a flavour all the time.

We have the basic sage machine , https://www.sageappliances.com/uk/en/products/espresso/bes875.html
they do a few other types - with more electronics , options and dual boiler
They are Breville - if you look at youtube , you will see lots of videos on Breville

I also went on a barista course (present for birthday) - i learnt a lot on the course - specifically not to add the coffee first - But add to water for Black coffee and how to make the milk up

 

[Loofah]

We've got an insulated cafetiere which works really well keeping the coffee nice and hot . Good for a Saturday morning.
We also have a sage barista express for in the day. Great machine but you need to fiddle a bit before getting it just right. Ours was about £450 a couple of years ago in a black Friday deal. Keep the beans in the freezer and buy them from a local roastery

 

[blup]

People think of us a nation of tea drinkers but apparently we drink more coffee than anywhere else in Europe.

Blup

 

[Loofah]

(I still love a mug of tea at lunchtime )

 

[JonathanM]

I'm very much a tea person (probably eight mugs a day), with coffee very occasionally.

 

[ETAF]

People think of us a nation of tea drinkers but apparently we drink more coffee than anywhere else in Europe.

i dont drink tea at all , nor does my son - but everyone else in family does

so that surprises me, as i would put italy and france ahead - based on "per capita"

 

[Mottie]

People think of us a nation of tea drinkers but apparently we drink more coffee than anywhere else in Europe.

Blup

According to this, we're not even in the top ten.

Discover which European Countries Drink the Most Coffee

Europeans drink more coffee than anyone else—but which European country drinks the most? And how do they prefer to take it? Read on to find out.

n26.com