A French press is one of our favourite ways to make coffee because it produces delicious, bold, and full-flavored coffee with a great mouthfeel. What’s a great way to sabotage a delicious and decadent cup of French press coffee? Failure to clean your equipment! We’ll go over how — and why — you should thoroughly clean your French press after each use in the section below. Grab a cup of coffee from a clean brewer and let’s get started!
Why Clean My French Press?
Some brewing methods, particularly those that use paper filters, allow you to discard the filter while rinsing your equipment. Using a French press is an immersion brewing method, which means your coffee grounds are mixed directly with hot water and float freely inside your carafe.
Any grounds that get caught in the crevices of your carafe or on your filter plunger will end up in your next batch of coffee. These clogged grounds can produce bitter and unpalatable flavours, as well as a weaker cup of coffee overall. Carefully removing the grounds and any coffee residue will allow you to continue brewing strong, flavorful, and oh-so-delicious coffee.
It’s obvious that you need to clean your French press, but how do you do it? Let’s take it one step at a time.
How to Clean a French Press: Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Allow Your Carafe To Cool
The first and simplest step is to do nothing! It may be tempting to clean your French press immediately after brewing, but the glass and plunger are at their hottest right after the first batch is poured out. You can easily burn yourself on any piece of equipment that has come into contact with hot coffee.
Furthermore, we can speak from experience when we say that heated glass does not get along with cold water! Glass is brittle when subjected to rapid temperature changes, and your carafe is likely to crack or shatter if exposed to cold water immediately after brewing. Allow your equipment to cool to room temperature before washing it.
2. Remove Spent Coffee Grounds
Next, empty the coffee grounds from your carafe and rinse any stubborn grounds away in the sink. Large amounts of coffee grounds can quickly clog a sink, so we recommend dumping them in the garbage.
Make sure not to smack the French press against the side of the garbage can, which we know is very tempting! Your carafe may appear to be durable, but if not handled carefully, it can break and become useless.
Once the majority of the spent coffee grounds have been removed, rinse your carafe and plunger in the sink.
3. Dismantle The Plunger
All French presses have a detachable plunger, and they usually come in three or four pieces: a carafe top with a long metal shaft that extends down into the carafe; a thin metal mesh that filters the coffee grounds out of your finished product; a rigid metal plate that supports the mesh; and a rigid connecting piece that screws into the shaft attached to the top. Unscrew the shaft and remove the mesh filter from the plunger’s bottom parts.
4. Soapy Water Should Be Used To Clean All Parts.
Following that, thoroughly wash each part of the plunger, as well as the carafe itself, with soap and warm water
You’ll probably notice some grounds stuck between the plunger pieces, as well as some residue on the sides of your carafe and the metal mesh. Scrub these areas that come into contact with coffee and grounds thoroughly and thoroughly rinse — no one wants soap-flavored coffee!
5. Allow Pieces To Dry
You can use a dry dish towel or paper towel to dry the carafe and plunger pieces, or simply leave them out on a drying rack. We usually make this yet another “do nothing” step!
6. Put The Plunger Back Together.
You can reassemble the plunger once all of your pieces are dry. Begin by affixing the riding bottom piece that will receive the metal shaft to the counter. Finally, screw the shaft back on, securing all of the plunger pieces. The plunger can be returned to the carafe for easy storage.
Conclusion
You most likely already enjoy French press coffee, and if you’ve never cleaned your equipment properly, this guide should help you enjoy it even more! Clean equipment is essential for making flavorful and delicious coffee, so follow these steps after each use. Cheers!