Make A Better Cup Of French Press Coffee With One Hack

Using a French press is a great way to get your morning joe going (not to mention this gadget is useful for a variety of other kitchen tasks). Just pour boiling water over the ground coffee, wait for a while, and plunge. What could be easier? However, if you've ever wanted to make your French press coffee even more robust, there's one easy way to do it that doesn't require a fancy gadget. It requires nothing but a little bit of patience.

The step widely known as blooming can easily elevate the flavor of coffee. To make your coffee bloom when you're using a French press, add just enough water to cover the grounds and let it sit and bubble up for 30-40 seconds — this is where the patience comes in –  before adding the rest of the water. The dry coffee will bloom when it's hit by the hot water.

There's science behind blooming that's key to understanding why this step and the extra time it takes is more than worthwhile. Roasted coffee beans contain carbon dioxide, and pouring hot water over them allows the gas to escape. If you don't allow the coffee to bloom, the gas can give it a sour taste and the wonderful coffee smell and great flavor you're after will not be so easily released.

If you've ever noticed the bubbles and foam that form when you first pour water onto the coffee grounds, you've seen carbon dioxide in action as the coffee releases the potentially bad-tasting gas. Coffee will release carbon dioxide as it ages, too, so if you're using coffee that is a bit stale, you'll likely see fewer bubbles and less foam during blooming.

The temperature of the water you pour into a French press can also affect the coffee's flavor and its ability to bloom. The ideal water temperature for brewing is between 195 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Don't have a fancy kettle that shows the temperature? No worries. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, so just let the water cool slightly for 30 seconds — yes, more patience is needed here — to bring it down to the proper temperature.

It may take just a bit of extra time, but you'll soon learn that letting your coffee bloom could be a game-changer for your morning routine and may make your coffee at home taste even better than the stuff at the coffee shop. While you're at it, train yourself to visually recognize the correct size of grounds for your brewing method — French press-bound grounds should look like sea salt. Your favorite barista may start to wonder where you went.