Brew Better · Home Café Lab notebook
French press, meet your morning
Also called a cafetière: a straightforward steep-and-plunge routine, with a useful starting ratio.
An original Home Café Lab illustration
One brewer, two familiar names
Whether you call it a French press or a cafetière, this guide follows Union’s immersion-brewing method. Gather the press and its plunger, coffee, hot water, a spoon, a timer, and a scale. Our editorial advice is to check your brewer’s stated capacity before scaling a recipe; leave room for the grounds and plunger rather than filling to the rim.
A recipe you can scale
Union specifies 55 g of coffee and 850 g of water, a medium-to-coarse grind, a 94°C (about 201°F) water target, and a four-minute steep. Its steps give a water range of 92–96°C (about 198–205°F). The calculator uses the exact mass ratio 850 ÷ 55, or about 1:15.45. At 20 g of coffee that works out to about 309 g of water. Smaller batches are a proportional starting point, not a separately tested recipe.
1. Warm, empty, and add coffee
Union starts by swirling hot water in the press to warm it, then discarding that water. Add the measured coffee. Place the press on a stable, heat-safe surface. Handle hot glass carefully and use the manufacturer’s safety instructions for your particular brewer.
2. Saturate and wait
Add the measured brewing water so all the grounds are wet. Following Union, put the plunger cap on without pressing it down and steep for four minutes. Keep the timer visible; the waiting period is part of the method, not a reason to press immediately.
3. Stir, plunge, and decant
Union’s sequence is to remove the plunger, stir three times, replace the plunger, and press carefully at a consistent pace. Decant the finished coffee for best results according to the source. Our safety advice: do not force a stuck plunger. Stop and consult the brewer’s instructions rather than applying more pressure to hot glass.
Why doesn’t the cup weigh as much as the water?
The calculator measures brewing input. Some water stays with the spent grounds, so a 309 g water input is not a promise of a 309 g drink. Our editorial advice is to plan around your own brewer’s usable capacity and record the amount you actually serve if that matters to your routine.
A practical next brew
Use the same coffee and ratio once more before changing equipment. Our editorial suggestion is to note strength, texture, and anything awkward about the routine. Change only the ratio or grind on your next attempt so you can tell what helped. We have not independently tested or scored this recipe.