Why You Should Pre-Heat Your French Press

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how coffee experts like James Hoffman don’t plunge their French press before pouring a cup.

Instead, he steeps, stirs, and scoops out loose grounds with a spoon, only using the plunger’s plate as a strainer.

And here’s another pro tip for you: try prepping your cafetière like it’s a teapot.

According to kitchen utensil maker OXO, along with Starbucks, Apostle Coffee, Lavazza, and Stumptown Coffee Roasters, we should ideally being adding a step commonly used on teapots, known as “scalding”.

In Ireland, “scalding the pot” means pre-heating a teapot with hot water before making the tea (and in my household, it was seen as mandatory).

It involves pouring very warm water into the container and carefully swirling it to warm the ceramic up.

Of course, this isn’t just an Irish thing – it’s a global phenomenon that can help tea better infuse into water, as the temperature stays steady for longer.

As it turns out, the added step could make your coffee taste better, too.

OXO writes that you should use any extra hot water to “pre-heat the French press or your mug by pouring it in, swirling it around a few times and then dumping it out before pouring in your coffee”.

Stumptown Coffee Roasters shared that the move can “maintain the temperature while brewing”, while Coffee Sensor explained that stable temperatures can lead to better coffee extraction.

Some Redditors say pre-heating their French press has led to tastier cups of coffee, though commenters suggest it might be a better option for ceramic cafetières.

You should also stir your coffee grounds when using a French press for a more even immersion.

BBC Good Food recommends we “half fill the cafetière with the hot water, pour it over the grounds, and stir with a spoon” before topping it up.

Starbucks points out that this “saturates” the grounds uniformly, giving a more consistent flavour.