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What’s a good coffee for plunger?

I’m often asked what’s a good coffee for plunger? I could correctly answer “all coffees”, and leave it at that. However, I’d prefer to get you to understand how coffee is extracted through a plunger and the flavour it produces. From there we will identify a range of coffee attributes and flavours that are generally more suitable in a plunger AKA French press and explain why.

What is a French press?

The French press is glass beaker that’s been aesthetically designed for making coffee and consists of:-

1. The glass beaker with the handle attached
2. 

   Plunger coffee

   The lid with the wire mesh filter attached to the plunge rod

How does it work?

Brewing in a French press relies on water just off the boil (approx. 96°C) poured onto coffee grains. The ground coffee is steeped for 4 minutes extracting body, aroma and all the essential flavour components. The coffee grains are separated via the plunge rod/filter mesh. The finished brew has ground coffee sitting at the bottom of the beaker and the hot coffee is now ready to pour.

What does plunger coffee taste like?

Plunger coffee tastes very rich and rounded with a slightly earthy sediment texture. It’s acidity is somewhat lower because the extraction is slow and not subject to pressure.  It’s strong but not as intense as an espresso. And this is why the African and central American arabica coffees go well in a plunger.

Our family has been enjoying plunger coffee for over 40 years. It’s simple, no fuss and consistent. We often have customers that own coffee machines come in asking for a good coffee for plunger. We know that they’re entertaining at home that weekend. How true.

 

So, as a general rule coffees that are more livelier come up good in a plunger. The liveliness comes from the acidity, which is

subject to the roast development of the coffee.Coffees that are a light to medium roast are more suitable in a plunger. They have a richer flavour and more acidity and mouthfeel than the darker roasts. Regarding the lighter roasts, they must be roasted into the ‘sweet spot’ otherwise they can taste a quite tart. Body, texture and mouthfeel are also important attributes to a good plunger coffee. As well as the roast level influencing the acidity and texture we also need to look at the various coffee origins. The arabica species coming from Africa and central America are very aromatic and have a great sweet lively acidity. On the other hand, there are people who prefer a more developed/darker roast coffee in their plunger.

Are single origins good for plunger?

Yes, of course. The beauty of a single origin is that you get to taste the pure flavour characteristic of the origin.

A few of our favourites are:-

• Ethiopian Limu – “TUTTI FRUITY”, very aromatic, zesty tangerine & grape like flavours are complimented in a drier wine – like tannin finish.
• Colombian organic ‘ Tolima farms’- “FRUITY CARAMEL”, Sweet and fruity with a dry nutty texture.
• Guatemalan ‘Finca Ceylan‘ – “BUTTERSCOTCH”, sweet brown sugar, great body and depth of flavour.
• Indian ‘Pearl Mountain‘ – “CHOC MALT”, smooth malty chocolate. This coffee is well rounded and low in acidity with    good body.
• Honduran organic – “CHOCKY WALNUT” yes please. If you’re after a no fuss good smooth round flavour. Then, this is the one.

Are blends good for plunger?

 

Certainly. Because they have a variety of different single origin coffees, you get a more complex flavour.

As with any recipe you aim to introduce contrasting flavours that compliment each other and produce a more complex and rounder coffee with good depth of flavour.

Our favourite plunger blends are:-

• Maria’s Choice – a blend of Colombian,, Guatemalan and Brazilian. RICH & NUTTY, Our family always serves up Maria’s Choice in a plunger. We love it!
• The Original – consists of Guatemalan and two differently processed coffees from Ethiopian. TOFFEE & FRUIT, a lively caramelly coffee with a TANGY liveliness that comes from the Ethiopian coffees.