We haven’t spoken much about the stainless steel French press on this blog. And that’s my bad. I haven’t written about the French press enough. But if I can offer an excuse, it is because enjoying your coffee through a French press is not as popular as perhaps it should be. At least not in North America. Most of us here are more about convenience, cappuccino machines and coffee makers. Enjoying coffee via a coffee press is perhaps not quite as convenient as making a quick cup with your Senseo coffee maker and coffee pods or perhaps even with Nescafe coffee machine.
The process of the stainless steel French press
The process doesn’t take as long, but the clean up afterwards is a bit more labor intensive. So for those of you who might not know what a stainless steel French press coffee is, allow me a quick explanation. A coffee press is tall cylindrical glass beaker, or in this case a stainless steel one which has a lid that contains a plunger attached to a steel rod.
This plunger has a circular permanent mesh coffee filter that fits horizontally and snugly in the inside of the coffee press. When the coffee is ready, usually after about 4 minutes of brewing the coffee in the coffee press, the plunger is pushed down and it separates the coffee grounds from the liquid coffee above. A very easy and simple system.
Enjoying coffee from a French press, press pot, coffee plunger or cafetiere a piston as its aliases go, is the truest and most accurate way to enjoy coffee. None of the coffee oils end up trapped in a paper filter and thus you experience the full coffee flavor profile of the coffee beans you are enjoying. A coffee cup press should be enjoyed by every serious coffee drinker at least once in their lives.
A stainless stell French press is obviously a fine choice for the coffee connoisseur or generally any one who enjoys coffee from a coffee press. I’m a big fan of the stainless steel variety because it is more durable. A glass French press can and according to Murphy, will break every so often and so it can get expensive to replace. A stainless steel press doesn’t have this problem. Another option with this type of French press is that it can come double walled and insulated. For me, this is neither a plus nor minus. You’ll find that French press coffee is best drunk within about 10 minutes of brewing. Otherwise, because the grounds stay in the coffee pot, the coffee will turn bitter after this time. Therefore it is best to brew only as much coffee in your stainless steel coffee pot as you and your guests will drink soon thereafter.
Choices for your stainless steel French press
There are a few choices available if you are looking into buying a stainless steel French press. My personal preference is for the Frieling stainless steel French press and if you entertain guests frequently or have a large family, the Frieling stainless steel 35 ounce French press is a great choice. The Frieling coffee pots are very elegantly designed with a nice highly polished steel exterior that looks very attractive, they also come in 18/10 gauge stainless steel which is a nice thick durable steel for kitchen products.
Bodum stainless steel French press is another fine choice. Their presses are usually brushed steel so they offer a more muted look and come in both thermal and regular versions. Most of their French presses have plastic handles and this is another reason I prefer the Frieling press. Similarly priced and offering similar sizes as Frieling this is also a solid choice. And as many of you know, Bodum has become almost synonymous with French press.
Lastly, but not necessarily my third choice, I’d put La Cafetiere French press at around the same choice level as Bodum, same as with the Thermos Nissan coffee press. It just depends on your personal preference. The Thermos Nissan is a thermos style while the La Cafetiere is more your classic style of coffee pot like my favorite Frieling stainless steel French press. And of course there is also the stainless steel travel French press for a personal beverage when you’re on the road. But we’ll save that discussion on that particular stainless steel French press for another day.