The stainless steel coffee press. Chasing our roots back to France and Europe for some fine tasting coffee made in a coffee press. In this instance a stainless steel coffee press. This is a post about coffee makers, but the kind that don’t require any electricity or real mechanical intervention. Well okay, I suppose we do require a little bit of electricity from the kettle that will boil our water but I’m sure you get my general meaning. I’ve written elsewhere about the stainless steel French press and it is called that if you recall because folks assume or believe that it was invented by the French. So in common parlance it has come to be known as a French press or coffee plunger, cafetiere or cafetiere a piston in French.
Options in the stainless steel coffee press
The stainless steel coffee press comes in a wide variety of sizes. From the small coffee cup press or French press mug to the larger Bodum 32 ounce Arabica French press coffee maker. Bodum it seems has become ubiquitous with the stainless steel coffee press and coffee presses generally. Much like Hoover has almost become synonymous with vacuum cleaners. But there are other great brands of the stainless steel coffee maker such as the Frieling French press coffee pot as well as La Cafetiere stainless steel coffee press too.
The handy thing about a stainless steel coffee maker is that it is usually thermal in design so it keeps your coffee warm. This is nice, but I’ll be honest with you, I have found that my French press coffee gets bitter and unpleasant if I leave it in the French press pot for more than around 10 minutes, so you might want to bear this mind. The reason for this is because the ground coffee is staying immersed in the hot water for too long and the hot water is starting to leach out more of the coffee’s unpleasant bitter characteristics.
Why use a stainless steel coffee press?
However, having said that, if you really want to unearth all of a coffee bean’s subtle aromas and flavors then you need to try it in a French press. This is the best way in my opinion to discover a coffee’s true characteristics. This is also how many coffee connoisseurs test different batches of coffee. In the drip coffee maker like a Zojirushi coffee maker for example, paper filters trap many of the coffee’s natural oils that impart the distinctive and subtle flavors in that coffee. And I love my drip coffee machine, but whenever I’m trying a new coffee I usually try it in one of my Bodum coffee makers to get that full flavor profile so I can speak to the coffee’s true characteristics more honestly and fully.
In conclusion, I have to say that I hope every coffee home has stainless steel coffee presses for those occasions when you just want to fully appreciate a new coffee you’ve never had before. Of course, if you’re European you probably drink your coffee mostly from a coffee press pot anyway, so for you, thin is old news. For those of us starting or expanding on our coffee journey, a stainless steel coffee press is a must have.