How to Make French Press Coffee: 5 Fixes for Bitter Brew

How to Make French Press Coffee (Step by Step)

Here is how to make French press coffee. Use 60 grams of coarse ground coffee per litre of water. Pour water at about 92 degrees C, stir once, and rest the lid on top without pressing. Wait 4 minutes. Press the plunger down slowly, then pour every drop out. Coffee left on the grounds keeps extracting and turns bitter.

1. Grind coarse. The grounds should look like raw sugar or coarse sea salt. Fine powder slips through the mesh and makes the cup muddy and bitter.
2. Measure. Use 60 grams of coffee per 1 litre of water. For a 350 ml press that is about 21 grams; for a 600 ml press, about 36 grams.
3. Heat the water to about 92 degrees C. Boil it, then let it stand for 30 to 60 seconds. Water straight off a rolling boil is 100 degrees C and tastes harsh.
4. Pour and stir once. Wet all the grounds, give one gentle stir, and set a timer for 4 minutes. Rest the lid on top but do not press yet.
5. Press slowly and pour it all out. Push the plunger down over about 15 seconds. Serve it straight away, or move the coffee into a flask.

That is the whole method. If your cup still tastes bitter, the section below shows which step to change.

Why Does French Press Coffee Taste Bitter?

French press coffee usually tastes bitter because of over-extraction. The water pulls too much out of the grounds. Roasting also builds bitter compounds inside the bean. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich named phenylindanes as some of the most bitter molecules in coffee (Frank et al., J Agric Food Chem, 2007). They form from caffeic acid as the beans roast, so dark roasts carry more.

Five things push that bitterness into your cup. A fine grind. Water that is too hot. A long steep. Coffee left on the grounds. Stale beans. Roast level matters most of all. A University of California, Davis study of full-immersion brewing found that roast level shaped flavour more than brewing temperature did (Liang et al., Scientific Reports, 2024). Brew time mattered less than expected. So if a dark roast tastes harsh at every setting, change the beans, not just the timer.

Fixes for Each Cause

• Over-extraction: Cut the steep to 4 minutes and grind coarser. Both slow down how fast the water pulls flavour out.
• Water too hot: Use water at about 92 degrees C. Boil it, then wait 30 to 60 seconds before you pour.
• Steep too long: Set a timer for 4 minutes, then press and pour straight away.
• Grind too fine: Switch to a coarse grind, like raw sugar. Fine grounds slip through the mesh and over-extract.
• Stale beans: Buy small packs of fresh beans and grind them just before you brew. Store them in an airtight jar away from heat.

Ideal French Press Parameters

These are the settings we brew with. They keep the cup balanced instead of bitter:

Serve it straight after pressing. Adjust by small steps for your beans, and wash the press every week so old coffee oils do not turn the next cup bitter.

The InstaCuppa Glass French Press (Rs 1,299-1,999) features borosilicate glass, 4-part filtration, and measurement markings in 350ml, 600ml, and 1000ml sizes.

Saran Reddy

Founder, InstaCuppa | Building kitchen tools that give busy Indian moms their time back