Testing a la Francaise

In response to a few customer requests, we performed the following tests related to french press / press pot coffee. First: Which of the insulated stainless steel press pots retain their heat the longest? Second: How does the coffee taste at different steeping intervals? #1: Insulated Stainless Steel Temperature Testing We took the 8 cup versions (roughly 35 oz.) of the Bodum, La Cafetiere and Frieling double-walled stainless steel presses and filled them with hot water. We then measured their start temp and checked in on them at regular intervals -- 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours and 24 hours. Watch the excitement unfold:

Since you don't actually want to keep your coffee in your press pot for hours on end (the ideal way to prepare and serve coffee this way is to pour it out right after the desired steep time has completed, either into serving cups or an insulated pitcher), arguably the most important interval in the test was the first one, right after 30 minutes. In that round, the winner was the La Cafetiere, which lost only 19.1F degrees, as opposed to the Frieling's 21.4F and the Bodum's 21.6F. But still, these were all pretty close so selecting any of the three models will still be a good choice. #2: French Press Steep Test Next, we wanted to find out how press pot coffee tasted when steeped at different durations -- 4 minutes, 6 minutes or 8 minutes. We loaded up three 8 cup Bodum presses and then tasted them. Possibly a bit more scintillating than the video above -- and this time with 100% more Allison!