The Coffee Press

My world of coffee just got a hot shot of interest over the weekend. Last Friday was my 22nd birthday, and Karissa gave me a gift that will be changing my life: the Coffee Press. It's an 8-cup Bodum French coffee press from Starbucks (That link isn't the exact press, but it'll give you an idea). What this basically does is provide the coffee drinker with the freshest, most flavorful coffee possible. Saturday morning we tried the press for the first time, using coarsely-ground Starbucks Breakfast Blend, and it was one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had.

The press is an interesting piece of equipment. First of all, it's French, which is something I guess I have to give them credit for. If you want a group of people to go to for guilty, delicious pleasures, it's the French. Making coffee in this thing takes a considerable number of extra steps as opposed to hooking up with Mr. Coffee; but, of course it's worth it. You have to grind the beans right before you're ready to put them in the pot so that they are the freshest possible. Then you have to boil water in a separate kettle, and pour it into the press.

It's a little nerve-racking the first time around... it felt like I was defusing a bomb. One wrong move and the whole thing could go sour, or worse yet, I could get scalded by boiling coffee-water. After you set the water brew with the beans for a few minutes, you have to use the press, which is a weird plunger made of three different parts, to separate the water from the beans. Cleaning the plunger is the hardest part of the whole process, because you have to take it apart and handwash each piece. There's this weird metal base, a steel-wool type filter, and a metal top wrapped in a spring.

I know this sounds like a lot of work for just a cup of coffee, but I can assure you that it is 100% worth it. The actual setup and tear-down involved with the press is a lot of fun as well. But the coffee, my God... it's incredible.