8 Steps for making the best cup of coffee with your French press

1. Grind your Häzz coffee coarse, too fine, and you won’t be able to push the plunger of your French press down.
2. Use about 8g (1 heaped tablespoon) of coffee per 100ml of water. A 6 cup French press makes 6 espresso size coffees
3. Boil your water from but then let it cool down to between 90and 95 degrees celsius. If you don’t have a thermometer, just open the lid of your electric kettle after it boils and wait about 3 minutes. If your water is too hot, your coffee will be bitter.
4. Heat up the cups, glass jar and the plunger with hot water.
5. Pour the water onto the side of the Frech press, touching the glass first and not directly onto your freshly ground coffee. If your beans are fresh, you should see some gases escaping and a cream forming.
6. Quickly stir the water and coffee together so that the grounds come in contact with the water.
7. After 2 minutes, stir to make sure you don’t have coffee gathering at the top (which will make it difficult to press) and then insert the plunger and slowly press down to the bottom.
8. Pour quickly as the little bit of contact with the coffee at the bottom can still lead to some bitterness. Enjoy!

Shop our French Press coffee makers

Marisa from Häzz spent the morning with us recently, educating and spoiling us with fabulous coffee. She shared some interesting facts with us about coffee origins and tips to making the best coffee! Häzz is by far my favourite coffee bean. The first time I tasted it, was at the Gourmet Coffee roastery in Cape Town about 3 years ago. Back then I still drank sugar with my tea and coffee. I was offered a cappuccino and before I added sugar the barista advised that I should not add sugar yet – but taste first. To date – I have never tasted a smoother, richer coffee with a subtle, sweet, hazelnut aroma. I still don’t take any sugar!

Did you know…

• All coffee beans are harvested in the “Bean Belt”
• The Coffee bean is the seed of the coffee plant fruit, called a cherry.
• The best coffee beans are grown in countries of higher altitudes between 800 and 2200m above sea level.

• Robusta coffees contain twice as much caffeine than Arabica, affecting the taste of coffee. Generally speaking, a Robusta will taste more bitter, woody and leathery.
• The caffeine content also plays a role in pest control. Robusta beans are known for being much more resistant to pests and insects because of the increased amount of caffeine which acts like a natural deterrent. The lower levels of caffeine in Arabica beans make them more susceptible to insect damage and require a lot more care and maintenance. These factors result in higher prices.
• Coffee beans don’t like heat. The best temperature to brew coffee is between 91 deg and 96 deg – the closer to 96 degrees the better! Boiling water burns the beans and give is an acidic taste.
• The Aeropress is a great travel companion for good tasting coffee wherever you are.

Shop our coffee cafe’ here