Guides • Posted by Jordyn Williams • 24th October 2022
How To Make Cafetiere Coffee
The cafetiere. It’s your trusty coffee brewing device. Great for rich-tasting cups and fail-safe coffee success.
Need to know how to use a cafetiere? Here’s your one-stop guide!
What is a Cafetiere?
Let’s start at the beginning (it’s usually a good place…).
So, a cafetiere is a coffee brewing device – a snazzy piece of equipment you can use to make coffee from fresh coffee grounds. It consists of a heatproof jug, a plunger and a mesh strainer. You steep the coffee grounds and water in the jug and then press the plunger to separate the grounds from the coffee. Easy!
The cafetiere is an immersion device because you immerse the grounds and water. Compare this to an espresso machine, for instance, which sees you force hot water through the grounds using pressure. Also heard of a French press or press pot? A coffee plunger or cafetière à piston (oh la la!)? They’re all cafetieres – it’s the coffee brewing device with lots of names!
But it is pretty awesome, so we think it deserves them!
Fancy an easy-to-use coffee brew guide popping through your letterbox? For FREE?!
The question, coffee pals, is why not! Just take a look at some of these awesome French Press benefits…
Easy method – learning how to make cafetiere coffee is easy! We’re head over heels for its step-by-step approach.
Consistent and reliable – the immersion method is repeatable, meaning top coffee comes like clockwork!
Rich, people-pleasing taste – the gaps in the wire mesh let some of the natural oils and sediment pass into your cup. This treats you to a thicker texture and lovely rich flavour. Heaven? You bet!
Popular – there are millions of cafetiere fans worldwide
Great for serving friends – cafetieres can make six to eight cups of awesomeness, making it the device for serving friends and fam
Eco-friendly coffee – the entire cafetiere is reusable and leaves no filters or coffee pod waste behind. You can even add the spent grounds to your compost heap!
How To Make Cafetiere Coffee
Right, let’s get to it! Drum roll, please, because we’re finding out how to use a cafetiere!
Boil the kettle and leave it to cool for about a minute. If you use boiling water straight away, the coffee might over-extract and taste a tad bitter.
Rinse out the cafetiere jug with the boiled water. Discard the water.
Measure out the coffee and add it to the jug. We recommend about 7g per cup. Using a standard 8-cup cafetiere? Give 50g of fresh coffee a whirl. And please, please, please weigh out your coffee. Winging it isn’t the way to a next-level brew!
H20 time! Pour in 1000ml of water (if you used 50g coffee).
Grab a spoon and stir to make sure all the grounds are wet. Add the lid and wait for two minutes.
Stir again and wait for another 2 minutes.
Flex your muscles and press down the plunger! Wait for two more minutes to complete the extraction before serving and smilin’!
Best Coffee for Cafetiere
Coffee… it’s not one size fits all. We’re not talking about socks. No discredit to socks, though. Socks are cool.
There are a few things to think about when choosing the best coffee for cafetiere devices…
Freshness
Freshly roasted coffee is best! Hands down. Without a doubt. Here at Two Chimps, head roaster Andy roasts each week to ensure every bag is perfectly fresh and jam-packed with flavour!
Roast type
Light, dark or medium – they all make great cafetiere coffee. But our first choice? Gotta be a lighter roast. Light roast coffees are often the best coffee for cafetiere brewers because their acidity levels match the cafetiere style. Lighter roasts are bright and acidic, which makes them less suited to pressure methods. Why? Because pressure brewing highlights acidity. The immersion cafetiere relies on gravity (cheers, Newton!) and brings out acidity levels that are lovely and balanced.
Cafetiere Grind Size
Coffee grinding – definitely not a one-size-smelly-socks issue! Each coffee device takes a different grind size. Choose the right grind size, and you’re on your way to a stellar brew! If you want to make the best cafetiere coffee, you’ll need medium-coarse coffee grounds. They’ll look a bit like caster sugar in texture: not fine and dusty, but still coarse enough to let you see the individual grounds.
How Much Coffee in a Cafetiere?
Embrace your inner maths nut! You know there’s one in there…
Let’s dive into the numbers and measure out some coffee.
Wondering how much coffee in a cafetiere? You need a trusty ratio. The cafetiere coffee ratio is 1:20, which means you need 20ml of hot water for each gram of fresh coffee. Translate this to an 8-cup cafetiere, and you’ll want 50g coffee and 1000ml water. If you’re making coffee for one with a 3-cup, try 18g coffee and 350ml water.
Measuring with coffee scales is always best. It might sound like a faff, but just a few grams of coffee can make a mahooosive difference! Trust us! Fancy a general cafetiere coffee amount rule too? Can do…
1 tbsp freshly roasted coffee for each cup you want to make. 1 tbsp is roughly equal to 7g of coffee.
Should I Stir Coffee in a Cafetiere?
Please do! Stirring the coffee and water together in the cafetiere jug helps to submerge all the grounds. This is super-duper essential for an even brew. Stir with a spoon after pouring in the water, and again after the first two-minute wait.
Can Cafetieres go in the Dishwasher?
No one likes grime and fingerprints. Cafetieres included. Fail to keep that French Press fresh, and your coffee might start to taste muddy. So keep your coffee beautiful and wash your cafetiere after use – every use!
You can put most cafetieres in the dishwasher, but it’s probably best to check the details on the box first.
Whoop whoop! Now you know how to make coffee in a cafetiere! Get brewing and leave ‘em speechless with your A* brews!
Jordyn joined Two Chimps in September 2023 to start his career in coffee roasting. Since learning to roast the amazing coffee at Two Chimps, he is a firm believer in the stronger roast style and continues to enjoy testing out new coffees from different areas of the world.
What Jordyn does outside of the treehouse:
In his free time, Jordyn is a dad to a four-year-old girl who keeps him on his toes. When he’s not taking her out on her bike or colouring in Bluey paintings, he’s dreaming about the days when he can go golfing for some peace.
Jordyn says…
“I’m really glad I made the decision to join the Two Chimps troop and start my coffee roasting career. I love experimenting with different coffees and sharing them with our customers. I’m a firm believer of “you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy a coffee and that’s kind of the same thing”.”
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