What happens if you use regular ground coffee in a french press?

Normal ground coffee beans are too fine for the French pressing mechanism. As a result, coffee is allowed to macerate faster than it would if a coarse-grained grind were used, which is intended for French presses.

What happens if you use regular ground coffee in a french press?

Normal ground coffee beans are too fine for the French pressing mechanism. As a result, coffee is allowed to macerate faster than it would if a coarse-grained grind were used, which is intended for French presses. Since coffee soaks faster, it will normally give the coffee cup a bitter taste. As you can guess, using a finer grind will result in more coffee particles in the cup than you're used to.

French press coffee is normally prepared with coarsely ground coffee, but you might be wondering if it's possible to make French press coffee with finely ground coffee. The long-term answer is that preparing a French press with a fine grind will largely depend on some additional factors, which we will discuss here in greater depth. In particular, if you plan to prepare your coffee with a French press or prepare it cold, you'll probably need (you'll want) relatively thick coffee beans. If you regularly prepare coffee with a French press, you probably know that coarsely ground coffee beans are the best option.

If you know how to prepare coffee to perfection, you can get the best flavor and flavor, no matter what you use to prepare it. But if you really want to improve your entire coffee experience, you should buy a coffee grinder. However, since coffee is easily extracted from finely ground beans, it's also very easy to over-extract them and find yourself with a very bitter cup of coffee. The preparation time for French press coffee depends on the type of grind used and the intensity of the coffee.

Coarsely ground coffee allows for slower extraction, since water takes longer to extract flavor compounds from larger individual coffee particles. You can find coarse-ground coffee at most grocery stores, or you can buy it online at independent coffee roasters, but most of the time the pre-ground coffee is medium, perfect for drip coffee, but capable of making a somewhat gritty batch of French press coffee. Coffee is more easily extracted from coffee grounds if it is finely ground and at higher temperatures. If coffee is “blooming” for too long in your French press, you'll most likely end up with an overextracted coffee drink.

There are many great independent coffee roasters across the country that offer their coffees in a variety of different grinding styles. In other words, even if you don't have the right grind size to prepare French pressure coffee, you can make more than a decent cup of coffee. You can't stop fine coffee particles from reaching your cup if you use finely ground coffee. So, unless you enjoy a mouthfeel based on ground coffee, you'll need to add an additional filtration step if you want to use finely ground coffee in your French press.

Many coffee drinkers really enjoy the French press because it allows them to customize their coffee in such a specific way.

Glenna Matthys
Glenna Matthys

Hardcore internet practitioner. Wannabe beer advocate. Infuriatingly humble beer expert. Devoted coffee evangelist. Hardcore social media scholar. Friendly beer fanatic.