Hunter Gatherer 21C
The Cafetière: In Defence of the Plunger Pot
I am a huge fan of the Cafetière or French Press; I managed to find a metal one, and it travelled with me all over the world for fresh, decent coffee anyplace, anytime.
Nobody can quite agree who invented it. The earliest claim is a French patent from 1852, filed by two gentlemen named Mayer and Delforge, describing a rod-and-mesh arrangement that let roughly as much coffee past the filter as it held back. The design that actually functioned was patented in 1929 by an Italian, Attilio Calimani, and later refined by another Italian, Faliero Bondanini, who in 1958 had his version manufactured at a French clarinet factory.
It sold in Britain as La Cafetière and in France as the Chambord. The Danish firm Bodum later acquired the design and installed one in approximately every kitchen in Europe.
So the French press is an Italian invention, built in France by people who ordinarily made woodwind instruments, and sold to the world by Scandinavians. The name is the least accurate thing about it!
Why bother
It is full-immersion brewing, which means the grounds sit in the water rather than having water hurried past them. The filter is metal rather than paper, so the coffee oils survive the journey and you get a heavier, rounder cup with more body and none of that faint wet-cardboard note.
It requires no direct electricity, no pods, no descaling cycle and no firmware updates. It costs about fifteen pounds, and its only real failure mode is dropping it on a tiled floor. It is also forgiving in a way pour-over isn’t. A filter cone will punish you for a clumsy pour; the cafetière sits there for four minutes doing the work while you find your other sock.
How to do it properly
Grind it coarse, like coarse sea salt. Use about 70g of coffee per litre of water, which is roughly 30g for a small three-cup pot.
Boil the kettle, then let it stand for thirty seconds. Rinse the pot with hot water and tip it out. Grounds in, water on, start the timer.
At four minutes, a crust will have formed on the surface. Stir it gently with a spoon so it sinks, then use two spoons to skim off the foam and floating debris. This step removes most of the grit, and almost nobody does it; I don’t always, but I notice it does make a difference.
Press and pour slowly.
A lovely analogue device.
