Lounge of Tomorrow - The perfect cup of coffee...

I am so very very very very sorry for not writing to this sooner. I caught myself in a spiral of getting myself back on the right footing after 5 glorious days off doing - well, doing whatever the hell it was I pleased. But now that I'm back to reality, I'm going to expound upon a few points.

French Press (or basically anything without a paper filter) will equal the most complex tasting coffee for the palate. Any time you have coffee passing through a paper filter, you're losing oils, and potentially adding paper fibers if the filter hasn't been rinsed properly, which is somewhat difficult to do for a smaller coffee maker, such as a Mr. Coffee. French Presses or "Press Pots" as they're sometimes referred to at Peet's, are relatively inexpensive, easy to maintain, and you can have a great cup of coffee within 3 minutes with a little care and perhaps some practice.

Here's how to brew coffee with a French Press using layman's terms and not the technical stuff that I could refer to it at (and if anyone were to practice it with technicality would just stress themselves out before getting that wonderful cup of coffee):

Materials:
French Press/Press Pot
Hot water (Enough to fill the Press Pot to about an inch from the top, or wherever the "band" is)
Coarsely ground coffee
Another container the size of the press pot or bigger is awfully handy, unless you want to make more water.

However you do it, get some water to boiling. Or super f*cking hot. Fill the FP (sans plunger) with said water. The idea behind this is to warm the vessel with which you will brew your coffee. Brewing coffee in a cold vessel will result in flavor loss. I didn't believe it until I tried it at work, and it's totally true.

After a few seconds or so, pour that water into another container for continued use. Scoop the appropriate amount of grounds into the press pot (we'll discuss this later) and re-add the water from the other container (which will have likely cooled to the appropriate coffee making temperature - just about 20-degrees off boiling) until it's about 1/3 to 1/2 full. Swish the coffee around by gently twirling the cup or take a spoon and stir. Allow the coffee to "bloom" for a moment, and fill the water until you reach the top of the band, or whatever your French press deems "full."

The whole process at the point of the water being poured onto the grounds is 3 minutes. Don't let it go longer. That's just right.

French presses are available in many sizes; 3-cup (which is about 1 small/med american cup) 8-cup (about 2 med sized cups) and 12 cup (3-4 med cup) sizes are very common. They're easy to clean, and while my description above looks lengthy, the process is very quick and easy.
About every other time I use my little 3-cup model, I disassemble it and wash it more thoroughly. Each part is easy to replace, though won't likely need it.

Some people just aren't into the idea of the french press, and I understand. There are a number of other kinds of
coffee makers, even some that don't use paper filters, such as the percolator. (I'm a big fan of Bialetti's really fricking cute percs). BTD suggested purocaf. It might be a good idea once in a while, though perhaps slightly impractical for the casual coffee drinker. Giving it a good scrub once in a while, and decalcifying the pot and the non-paper part of the filter might also do the trick.

Peet's recommends using filtered water. As pure as you can get it. Personally, I never saw a problem using tap, though now with my palate refined, I do notice a difference.

Also, there's the issue of "How much coffee do I put in?" Peet's suggested amount of coffee per 6 oz of water is 2 tablespoons. HoLy Sh*T, you say? Yeah, I say that, too, every time I think about it. Honestly, it's a bit much for me at home, though for some reason it tastes just fine at work. I'm not sure why. I cut back slightly from that, and tend to make it 3 for every 12 oz of water. Don't tell them I said that.

Part of what happens with the coffee is personal preference, and I find that my tastes evolve with time, and sometimes I might be more into one thing, and then my palate drifts. When I first started working for Peet's I really liked the earthy, berry goodness of our Kenyan coffee... Mmm... I still like it, but lately, I've been very into some of our Indo-pacifics for their woodsiness, and the Latin-Americans - Smooth, rich, just really freaking MMMpfh! Let me regain my composure...

MBC, I know you live near a Peet's (right?) so what I'm going to suggest is that you purchase your coffee in smaller amounts if you find yourself
with coffee hanging around for more than a week (maybe a week for pre-ground coffee, and a week and a half to two weeks for whole-bean). Peet's does not suggest freezing. This is better than having beans sitting around outside for over a couple of weeks, but in general, freezing does remove some of the flavors of coffee. I would only recommend freezing if you don't have the opportunity to buy your coffee freshly roasted, or it's some super rare coffee that you don't want to run through in a timely fashion. Coffee is best kept for short periods of time after roasting in an air-tight container, especially once ground. Whole beans can withstand a LOT more, and can even handle some air.

Don't touch your beans! Don't even touch the inside of the bag in which you get your coffee. Even the cleanest hands will have oils, etc that will break down the flavor of the coffee. This doesn't mean don latex, but just use some caution while scooping. I'd recommend a coffee scoop instead of a regular spoon, to help prevent a lot of spillage.

Ideally, you'll be taking home whole beans and grinding them yourself, to ensure maximum freshness. What I recommend is having the store grind your beans a few times so you can really see what the coffee should look like, and then buy yourself a spice/coffee grinder (many companies make them, and they're relatively inexpensive), and just experiment.

Cleaning your grinder can be done in a few different ways, and just send me a tell if you need info on that. I recommend using a separate grinder for spices and coffees (for reasons I hope are as obvious as they seem).

Coffees - from Fine to Coarse:

Turkish (1) -- Perc/Espresso (3-4) - Cone (5) -- Basket (7) ------ French (12-13)

Before you know it, you'll have the amounts down to just eyeballing it, and really, that's they way to go with it. Becoming comfortable is paramount (IMHO).

Anyhow, I know that was complicated, but I hope it helps some.

PM me if you have any other kinds of questions. Please, please, please don't hesitate to use the french press. It's a thing of beauty, and really, you get the greatest coffee from it. Full and complex on the palate! Even the most simple coffees (like an Arabian Mocha Java) will come alive when you have all the elements in place.

Maybe I should bring all my coffee tools and do a LoT coffee demo live! ;)