What To Look For When Shopping For A French Press Coffee Pot

French press coffee is known to produce full-bodied, bold cups of joe with minimal effort. By steeping hot water and coffee grounds in a carafe, then using a sieve plunger to extract the brew, the science behind this coffee-making method is said to maintain the beans' natural oils — making for optimal mouthfeel and taste. With all the brands and different styles available, shopping for a French press can be overwhelming. To make the choice easier, we spoke to Andrea Allen, 2020 U.S. Barista Champ, 2021 World Barista Runner-Up, and co-founder of Onyx Coffee Lab, a specialty coffee roastery and cafe with eight locations across Arkansas. "My advice is to think about durability and also to make sure that the materials it's made from meet what you expect," the coffee expert told us. "Some are glass and some are made from other materials." 

When selecting a French press for your kitchen, you'll want to start with identifying the best size for your morning coffee needs, from single-serve to larger containers, as well as the material of the carafe. Whether it's made of lower cost plastic, glass, stainless steel, or ceramic, the best French press for you will come down to the sturdiness, desired look, how long you'd like to keep your coffee hot, and the container's holding capacity. Overall, you can't go wrong with glass and stainless steel — since both have proven to exhibit the highest quality, heat-proofing, and durability. 

"French press brew methods are relatively straight forward — just the glass container and the mesh screen," Allen explains. Whatever the material of the carafe, most quality French press' stainless steel sieves are designed to reduce ground coffee from ending up in the brew, and the best store-bought ground coffees for the French press should be coarse enough. Glass French presses are infamous for breaking, so if you have a small kitchen or notoriously knock things over, go for a sturdier stainless steel carafe. However, if watching your coffee brew is important to you, opt for a larger French press made of heatproof Borosilicate glass. 

Like glass, ceramic carafes are pretty (and susceptible to breaking). Glass and ceramic French presses retain heat at the desired brewing temperature of 195 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit for long enough to brew and serve great coffee, but won't maintain high temperatures for nearly as long as stainless steel ones often made with insulated walls, which keep coffee hot for hours. While heat retention is a key positive for stainless steel French presses, for a better cup of coffee some coffee experts recommend decanting your French press coffee by transferring it to a separate insulated container since strained grounds can make coffee bitter if it sits too long at high heat. Once you find the right French press for your needs, though, you can experiment with different brewing qualities.