TIL my French press was brewing wrong for 3 years straight

I thought I had pour over dialed but my morning cup kept coming out bitter no matter what beans I tried. Turned out I was leaving the grounds in the press way too long after plunging. It took me like 6 months of frustration before a barista at a shop in Austin finally asked how long I let it sit. Soon as I started pouring it all out right after pressing the difference was night and day. Now I finish my cup in like 5 minutes flat instead of letting it steep and turning to mud. Has anyone else had a simple fix like that completely change their brew?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendy_bell837d ago

Oh man, that papery taste thing is wild. Honestly I bet half the weird flavors in our coffee come from stuff we never think about. Like I keep my beans in a cabinet that's right next to the stove and turns out the heat from cooking was slowly roasting them again every time I made dinner. Swapped to a dark pantry drawer and the difference was crazy. Also had a buddy who swore his water was fine but turns out his fridge filter was way overdue and the coffee tasted like old plastic. Once he changed it out his whole brew game changed overnight.

hill.david2d ago

Same thing happened with me but it was a bag of beans I kept in my truck for a week. Was working a job out of town and figured they'd be fine. Tasted like I was drinking out of an ashtray. Storing them right makes way more difference than people realize.

cameron_webb7d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, that's rough. I had a similar thing with a Chemex - kept getting a weird papery taste no matter how much I rinsed the filters. Turned out I was storing them in a cabinet right above where my roommates kept a box of dryer sheets. Vents and all that. Swapped to an unbleached filter and kept it in a drawer downstairs and it fixed everything. Sometimes it's the dumb stuff you'd never think of.