How to Make Cafetiere Coffee

You’ve bought your freshly ground coffee from Two Chimps (fantastic decision, by the way). Now you need to know how to REALLY enjoy it.

A lot of our customers, probably yourself included, love a freshly brewed cup of coffee from a cafetiere each morning, but what makes this particular brewing device so popular?

Let’s start at the beginning (it’s usually a good place…).

What is a cafetiere?

So, a cafetiere is a coffee brewing device – a snazzy piece of equipment you can use to make coffee from fresh coffee grounds. A cafetiere is great if you prefer a heavier-bodied coffee, and it consists of a heatproof jug, a plunger and a mesh strainer. Also known as a French press, we bet every home has one of these hiding in a cupboard!

Why use a cafetiere?

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 do I make coffee in a cafetiere?

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 referred to as 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.

To get a little techy, we would recommend a starting ratio of 1 part coffee to 20 parts water (or 20ml of water for each gram of coffee). If this is too strong or too weak for you, change the ratio as needed. As long as you enjoy it, make it however you wish!

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.

To make cafetiere coffee, you will need:

• A kettle
• A cafetiere
• Your favourite mug
• 25g of scrummy (Two Chimps) coffee, ground for a cafetiere (by us, or at home if you have a device)
• 500ml of filtered water if possible. From the tap is fine if not.

Got everything? Ready, Set, Bananas!

Pop the kettle on.

If you need to, grind some tasty beans. These need to be ground like the texture of caster sugar.

Rinse the cafetiere with warm water and discard.

Let the kettle cool for 30-60s once it has boiled.

In the meantime, add your ground coffee to the cafetiere.

Pour all of your water in, trying to wet all the grounds while doing so. Keep the heat in by adding the lid.

After two minutes, stir the coffee to break up the crust.

After a further 2 minutes, plunge the cafetiere.

After 2 more minutes, pour.

And there you have it, that’s our guide to making cafetiere coffee. All that’s left to do now is a little dance and enjoy your freshly brewed coffee!

Looking for a coffee to work perfectly in your cafetiere?

Light and fruity or medium roasts are our preferred styles for a cafetiere 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.

So with that in mind, let our coffee wizard guide you on your quest towards great coffee.

Want some more brew guides?

Brew the BEST filter coffee

How to make stovetop coffee

Cold brew – it’s so easy!

Want to learn more about brewing coffee for fun? Check out our coffee courses!