I currently use a pretty nice Ninja coffee maker but I’m trying to simplify my coffee experience and found using a pour over coffee maker to be somewhat therapeutic. It may sound weird but I felt more connected to the coffee.
So I think I’m down to deciding between a borosilicate carafe pour over with a 304 stainless steel filter and an insulated French press (also 304). I have never used a French press and I like the idea of having the insulation on either, but then I second guess myself and think “Can’t you just make more coffee if you need more or pour more hot water? Why do you need to keep it hot?”
What are your thoughts about it?
Pour-overs and French press are my two go-to methods to make coffee at home. They’re both lovely methods, but if you’ve never used a French press, at least make sure you try coffee from a French press (if you haven’t ever tried it).
You’re going to get a pretty different cup even using the same coffee with a paper-filtered pour-over vs a French press with its steel mesh, which lets through a lot more of the oils from your beans. I do quite like both brews, and honestly the biggest factor when choosing a method in the morning is do I want one cup (in which case I use my V60) or two (where I opt for French press).
I can’t speak for insulated anything because even when making a full (uninsulated) French press I drink all my coffee before it gets cold :P
If you feel a good connection with the pour over process, you should just stick with that. That kind of visceral satisfaction is precious in life, and when you encounter it you should respect it and sanctify it. And hold onto it.
If left in the french press, the coffee will continue to interact with the grounds even when they’re pressed down. This is not great in my opinion but others might not feel strongly about it. To prevent this, the coffee should be transferred to a separate server to eliminate contact with the grounds completely. A french press doubling as a thermos wouldn’t work for me for this reason.
A v60/kalita style pour over is a bit more versatile (compared to say a chemex or the french press) because you can brew straight to a cup/thermos/server depending on how much coffee you need and whether you need to keep it hot for longer. It’s also quick to clean if you decide you need more coffee than you originally thought.
Other things to consider:
Some people find french presses annoying to clean.
The filter mesh in a french press is usually bit finicky and will let grounds past it in some scenarios (quite often, might depend on build quality though). The edges can also start to fray over time which makes this worse.
A pour over requires your undivided attention for the whole duration of the brew which can be a plus if it, as you say, feels therapeutic but a minus whe you’re in a hurry.
A pour over has a lot more paraphernalia (timer scales, gooseneck kettles) which a lot of people will recommend getting. These are not must-haves for adequate brewing but if you have a budget in mind maybe take these into account too.
Did you have links to specific products?
The main reason to use insulated over glass is to maintain temperature during brewing. Once the brew time is complete you pretty much want to get the coffee away from the grounds to avoid over extraction. That means transferring to cups, mugs, insulated vessel, etc.
Personally, I’m still using glass. Looking to experiment with an insulated carafe down the line, but not yet.
Both are inexpensive (and if on a really tight budget, can almost certainly be found second hand), why not try both? From my perspective pour-overs always taste a little “brighter” or more tart/acidic, while French press tends to taste stronger or more coffee-e, if that makes any sense. That said my favorite method is still an old fashioned percolator, so maybe I have odd tastes.
I’m partial to pour over myself. I think French Press is overrated, although I haven’t tried it recently and recently learned that the best way is to not plunge, but instead just pour it through the screen.
Pour over pro - can use a less expensive grinder Pour over con - better if you have a gooseneck kettle
French press pro - don’t need a gooseneck kettle French press con - you need an expensive grinder to grind that course, otherwise you’ll get a mouth full of fines.
As a homemade cold brew enthusiast, yeah, the amount of work it takes to get the fines out of coffee ground with a cheap grinder is horrendous.
If you really want to go simple, the aeropress is amazing. I’m not sure how much therapy it can provide however 😎 I don’t think the French press will give you the same experience, so go with the carafe.
Yup, was going to say the exact same thing. Aeropress for simplicity, or pour over for the experience. A French press will be inferior to both in the ways I mentioned; It’ll be less simple than an aeropress, and won’t be as good as a pour over.
The aeropress extracts completely different from both, I may append. It is the only option where you can actually taste some of the flavors of better beans if grinded freshly.
It also resembles the brewing steps using a portafilter machine.
I used all methods each for a few years. Obv. I settled on a portafilter machine because everything else is inferior by far - anyhow my experience:
The french press is the option to pour multiple coffes to different people. Everything else will taste worse over time - regardless of insulation. Glass: Cold fast. Insulated: Overextracted. Glass kept warm: burned.
A pour over is awesome for a single coffee. Haven’t tried them with stainless steel filter. But this should even improve the taste.
The aeropress is awesome. I use it with an stainless steel filter as well. The taste is way better then the other two. You can make multiple cups pretty fast, since you only need 30-60 seconds if the coffee is already grinded and the water hot.
I’m going to be weird and try pour over method on my drip machine lol
That’s curious not weird!!
Having a cup pour over is nice because it can trap the heat in your mug. Your machine most likely needs its proprietary can to let it drip drip drip.
Yeah, I wear seeing the 8 cup basket pour over devices and was thinking I could do that with my current drip machine for fun … my main concern will getting the water measurements as I can’t easily weigh the machine.
I was confused, what strength exercise a boroscilate pour over is, until I realised this wasn’t about fitness, but about coffe
I feel like a pour over tastes more “sharp” and the press gives a more “round” taste. I suppose you could say “bright” and “dark”, but either way these are poor metaphors. I prefer a press, but I wouldn’t want to leave coffee in the press for too long. For connection to the coffee it seems like making a lot and keeping it in a thermos is not as good as making 1 cup and drinking it immediately.
Everybody has to find the coffee and coffee method that’s right for them, so if you like pour over, stick with that. It never hurts to try new things, but I wouldn’t lay out a lot of cash for something different if you already know what you like. Do you know someone with a quality press maybe?
There’s a glass model of the Clever Dripper to consider, too.
I like my pour over with steel filter more; it seems to have less bitterness than the press.
