Is there anything greater in the morning than a beautiful, hot, flavourful cup of coffee? You can warm your hands up, come round and wake up to the aroma of the beans as you sip on this divine, delicious drink.
If you are something of a coffee connoisseur like us, then you are most likely looking for new ways to enjoy a beautiful cup of joe. Luckily, we have a coffee brewing method for you that you may not have thought about before; the cafetière.
The cafetière brewing method is often considered one of the best as it provides the richest and most full bodied flavour. Other coffee brewing methods can expose the beans to a lot of pressure or heat when poured.
In comparison, the cafetière allows the coffee to brew naturally, for a much richer taste, a better mouthfeel and an all rounded, strong coffee flavour.
This method involves fully immersing the coffee throughout the brewing process, so a much larger coarse grind is needed for this method to work, but the results are divine!
So, how do you even make coffee with a cafetière ? With this guide, we will give you a step by step guide of how to make cafetiere coffee, and how this handy coffee brewing tool works!
What is a cafetière?
A cafetière is the original name for a French Press coffee. It typically looks like a large glass jug with a thick lid on the top. These are the typical, authentic cafetières.
However, you can purchase various stainless steel ones with multiple filters for the freshest coffee possible. Whilst their original name is cafetière, this is the European term for it, whereas us Americans call it French Press coffee.
The cafetière is simply a heatproof jug, designed with a press in the lid. Once the coffee is brewed, you can press to keep the grounds out of the coffee liquid, and make it easier to pour the steeped coffee into a cup, leaving the spent coffee beans behind.
This method extracts the richest flavour of the grounds, and separates them from the liquid to create the purest of coffees.
Where do cafetière come from?
Cafetière are actually French Presses. As you might have guessed, the cafetière is therefore derived from France. However, as all good things, there is some debate around who and where it was invented.
The biggest coffee aficionados, the Italians, argue that the cafetière was invented by them, but most records indicate that the cafetière was born in France as early as the 1850s.
These useful coffee brewing tools are still widely used today to make fresh, bold tasting cups of coffee. So, how can you try this coffee brewing method for yourself? Follow our guide below!
How to use a cafetière
To use a cafetière , first start with your coffee brewing jug. With your cafetière, you have to clean it before every use and after every use. This will ensure that you get the ultimate flavour out of your coffee grounds.
Once clean, boil the kettle, or heat up some water until boiling. Then, leave the water to cool a little for 1-2 minutes, as you do not want to burn the coffee grounds or damage them. Then, you will want to weigh out your coffee grounds.
You will need to use 1 tbsp. of grounds per cup that you want to make. For the best results, you will want to stick to the ratio of about 1 part coffee for every 15 parts water.
How much coffee grounds you use depends on how big the cafetière is, and how many cups of coffee you want to make. For example, for an 8 cup cafetière, you will need to use about 125ml of water per 1 tbsp. of coffee grounds, which is about 60 grams of coffee, or about 2 or 3 oz. of coffee grounds.
With your coffee grounds weighed out and measured, you can add them to the base of the cafetière jug. Then, you will want to fill half of the cafetière up with the hot (not boiling) water, and pour it over the coffee grounds.
Then, stop and stir to mix it in and ensure all coffee grounds are covered and wet, and completely submerged in the water. Then, top it up and fill it with the rest of the water.
Next, add the lid, but do not start plunging or french pressing just yet. First, set a timer for about 4 minutes. Once this time has passed, plunge slowly, pushing the handle down gently, at a slow pace and surely.
This will ensure that the grounds do not escape, or spurt out and go into your coffee. Once plunged, pour the mixture into a mug, and serve!
What is the point of a cafetière?
A cafetière is basically just a heatproof glass jug that has a strainer attached to the lid. Once the coffee beans are done brewing, you can plunge the strainer to the bottom, so that the used coffee grounds are not in the coffee, and you can have a perfectly brewed cup of coffee filled with rich, rounded flavour.
Unlike other brewing methods, the beans are not burned or pressurized, which often damages the flavour and integrity of the coffee beans, making a weaker, bitter tasting cup of coffee. Instead, you can really enjoy the intensity of the beans and the natural taste of the coffee beans with a cafetière.
