A Brief History of the French Press

Having had a wakeful night last night I have decided to get a jump start to my day and make some coffee courtesy of Destination Cafe, using the French Press they have lent to me. As I was preparing the brew, it occurred to me that it might be interesting to write a little bit about the history of the French Press.

Accounts differ as to who actually invented the press. Some believe that a Frenchman invented the brewer in the late 1800s. At the time, the easiest way to make coffee was to boil some water and coffee together and allow the grounds to settle to the bottom of the pot. (Turkish coffee is still made in this manner.) One day, according to a web site called coffeecakes.com the Frenchman in question boiled the water but forgot to add the coffee. Being too lazy to boil another pot of water, he placed ground coffee in a jar and poured the boiling water over it.  Seeing that most of the coffee rose to the top of the jar, he fitted a fine mesh to the jar and pressed the coffee grounds to the bottom.  The coffee in question turned out to be a delicious drink and the French Press was created.

According to Wikipedia, the first modern French Press was patented by Italian designer Attilio Calimani in 1929, who designed a glass container with a spout, much like a laboratory beaker, and added a filter that was attached to a plunger and pressed the coffee grounds to the bottom. It later went through several design modifications by another Italian, Faliero Bondanini, who patented the French Press once again in 1958, when it began to be manufactured at a French clarinet factory.  Nowadays they come in a variety of models from small travel varieties to those made out of plastic, glass or metal.

The metal French Press I am using seems particularly effective at keeping the coffee hot. I have also noticed that the press's filtre seems to effectively trap the coffee grounds whether they are coarsely ground or not. (It is recommended by those in the know that coarsely-ground coffee be used at all times when using the French Press, in order to prevent the grounds from getting through the filtre and seeping into the beverage.)

It is also worth noting that the French Press can also be used to brew tea, although it is usually advisable to pour the tea into a teapot immediately after brewing, in order to avoid bitterness.