Attn coffee drinkers who follow me.
With my roomie gone work at home we’re kinda considering a grinder + French press combo, but where do you even start?
Anybody got a favourite of either of those?
I use an insulated French press and a Capresso burr grinder, but the latter is ridiculously expensive and we only have it because my sweetheart is in the fancy coffee industry. The French Press is like this, except that mine has an ‘Intel Inside’ case badge from when I was building my computer on it. The only problems I’ve ever had with French presses mechanically are that on some models the knob on the top of the plunger comes off (Mom and dad have a pretty metal insulated bodum one that I made a new knob for out of game modeling epoxy) and that if you regularly empty the standard glass-and-metal ones by flinging the contents out into the yarden you might eventually hold the metal only and fling the glass interior out into the yarden with the grounds, smashing it.
(this is why my parents no longer use glass French presses. :P).
Really, the grinder probably makes more difference to your brew than the press. And if she’s been drinking drip, any press+grinder (even standard grinder, rather than burr) will be an improvement (imnsho) – the French press method makes coffee with a lot more body, and you know your water is hot enough when you make it that way. Normal drip coffee makers have heating elements that slowly fail over time, so after a few years the water really isn’t hot enough to extract a good brew.
If she has specific models she wants to compare, I can run ‘em by E and see if he has any insider knowledge. :)
My wife got me a http://www.zassenhaus.com/ grinder – which she’d done lots of research on and which is apparently very highly rated. I find it produces a nice even grind, which is the thing that is important…
I just use a bog standard French Press from Bodum which isn’t exotic or exciting, but you don’t really need exotic or exciting. The cheap second hand one I have at work produces very nice coffee :)
