From the Texas Steakhouse blog:

I have to admit that when I first heard Texas Steakhouse was going to implement a new coffee product and it was going to be brewed using a French Press, I thought the CEO had lost his mind. What does anything French have to do with Texas and how in the world are we going to sell a $2.99 coffee when Starbucks is on every corner?

While not the most expected pairing, we can see the French press method is making inroads, even into steakhouses.

“French Press To-Go™ is a disposable single serve French Press Plunger. Our patent pending French Press To-Go™ Plunger is conveniently pre-packaged with coffee in an innovative spring loaded filter plunger. Simply add 10 fl oz of hot water, the French Press To-Go™ brews quickly with little preparation and leaves no mess to clean up.”

The benefits include that it costs less than what one would pay at a coffee house, and there is ‘no waste’ of the coffee itself. It appears the cup itself can be reused, but the Single Serve French Press Plungers and Plunger Covers are disposable, and include the Plungers include the coffee.

Coffee Artisan is currently selling them for $3.95.

If anyone tries one, feel free to comment on your experience.

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1. A Disposable French Press?

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That’s the question a person asked at CoffeeDetective.com.

It’s a good question, when even ‘unbreakable’ French presses sometimes leak or break. At the coffee house I volunteer at, we used to use Bodum’s glass French presses. They worked well, but being made of glass, they eventually break. In a cafe environment, this certainly happens more often than it would at home. The process of heating and cooling the French press glass also can contribute to breakage. We eventually changed to steel French presses, which work much better in a cafe, since there is no more glass to break.

I’ve had my current French press at home for 5 years, and it’s still intact. They can handle being knocked over on the counter, but knocking them into the sink or on the floor may be too much. Also, I’ve rinsed hot French presses out with cold water without them breaking, but I certainly don’t recommend it. If you use your French press daily, odds are it will eventually break, all the more in a high traffic environment. If you have kids around, a steel French press won’t shatter and is also cooler to touch on the outside, but also more of an initial investment.

If you have any stories about French presses breaking or advise on how to prevent it, please share!

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1. French Press: Glass vs Stainless Steel vs Plastic

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This French press was designed by Chris Woodward, and is made of a single piece of glass framed in metal. “A single solid piece of glass is far more shatter resistant.
What’s even better is the entire thing is dish washer safe and BPA free.” says Yanko Design.

Very cool. This is a very new product, and as far as I know, is not yet available for purchase.

One of the products unveiled at the latest Coffee Fest in Seattle was the SmartCup.

When Jeff Baccetti wanted to take his French press coffee on the road, he’d take it out of his press and put it in a mug. But that wasn’t good enough.

So the Redmond resident created the SmartCup, a disposable, recyclable French press.

Sure, it sounds wasteful, but I have to admit I’m curious to see it.

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1. Solobrew French Press To-Go - both portable and disposable

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I do searches for “French press coffee” to see what the latest news and commentary is. One of the threads I found was a Twitter question on Twitoaster: “I have to admit, the French press coffee is pretty tasty. The question is whether or not the difference is worth the effort. Hmm.” 23 people had responded at the time of this post. @weeklyroast answered first and said it well in 140 characters: “french press coffee is tasty b/c the coffee oils make it into your cup and don’t get stuck in a filter!”

To see what the Twitterverse currently has to say, search for French press coffee on Twitter.

The short answer seems to be yes. Apparently coffee doesn’t contain cholesterol, but it does contain cafestol, which “is the most potent dietary cholesterol-elevating agent known,” according to How Coffee Raises Cholesterol in the Science Daily. Additionally, “French press coffee, boiled Scandinavian brew and espresso contain the highest levels of the compound, which is removed by paper filters used in most other brewing processes. Removing caffeine does not remove cafestol, however.” Specifically, they are talking about it raising LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Other references online:
MSNBC: Coffee and Cholesterol
CoffeeGreek Forum Discussion - Includes links to research
BMJ paper about Netherlands study
NY Times Commentary - Questions research
INeedCoffee article - Also questions research

Sadly, it appears the very thing that makes French press coffee more flavorful also makes it less healthy, but this also applies to espresso, though espresso has lower levels of both cafestol and caffeine (based on what I’ve read). The study referred to in the Science Daily article had people drinking 5 cups of French press coffee per day for 4 weeks. I don’t know about you, but as much as I like coffee, I drink less coffee than that. Some also point out that there are other factors affecting both cholesterol and our health than just what kind of coffee we drink. If anyone has any more commentary on this or can point to additional research, please do.

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1. Cold Brewed Coffee in a French Press

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While the French press is my favorite method to make coffee at home, there are some intriguing alternatives out there. Single cup brewing is now in vogue. The $11,000 Clover makes a really good cup of coffee, but that’s a bit steep for home use. The following filters are a little more practical.

The Melitta cone filter has been around for awhile. It’s a simple plastic cone meant to placed over a coffee cup. Grounds are placed in the cone, then hot water poured through the filter. Simple. And only $3.

The Washingto n Post just had an article aptly titled A Coffee Lover’s Perfect Mate. He pointed me to the Beehouse Coffee Dripper, single cup filter. This filter is made of ceramic, by a Javapanese company that speciliazes in teapots, and not much more at $16.

The dripper, by Japanese company Beehouse, is similar to the age-old plastic Melitta one-cup filter I remember from my mother’s kitchen, only much better designed.

The result is the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had, a perfectly rich but smooth brew. Unlike a French press or Melitta, the device is a breeze to clean.

On the higher end, there is the Tru Bru Coffee Station, which is a stainless steel station designed to have the ceramic filters on top, and the coffee cups beneath. At $330, one would think that you could create something similar for a lot less with the Beehouse Coffee Drippers. This is designed for commercial cafe use though, so maybe it’s more durable. In any case, this gives you can idea how you could layout a coffee station using single cup filters.

I’ve never used any of these personally, so I’d love to hear feedback. Also let me know if there are some other single cup filters that should be mentioned.

Do you like drinking cold coffee? On a hot summer day, a hot cup of coffee may seem out of place. I have to admit that I prefer freshly-brewed, hot coffee, even in warm weather. I decided to give cold brewing a try in my French press though. It was a fun experiment.

To create a cold brew, I ground the normal amount of beans and placed them in the French press. Then I poured in cold water. Stirred. Lastly, I let is brew on the counter…for 12 hours. After that, I poured myself a cup and put the rest in the refrigerator. Since it takes so long to brew, it’s wise to start brewing in the evening so it’s ready for you in the morning.

What kind of coffee does this method produce? It is an even thicker brew, with 3x the caffeine. I felt the caffeine jolt instantly. People say it tastes less bitter, and I agree with that assessment. Since hot water isn’t used, the brew is less acidic and less bitter. Overall, it’s a smoother, stronger cup of coffee.

The New York Times wrote an article a few years ago on iced coffee that inpired a lot of people. If you do a search for cold brewed coffee or cold brewed coffee french press, you can read about some other people’s experiences.

The most popular cold brewing product is the Toddy Coffee Brewing System. Some coffee houses are beginning to use it, including ours. It’s easy to use and produces a large amount of coffee at one time.

If you’re a little more adventurous, you may want to check out the Cold Drip Coffee Maker from Coffee Snob. It looks more like what you would see in a science lab.

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1. Does coffee made in a French press raise cholesterol?
2. How To Make French Press Coffee: Brewing
3. How to Make French Press Coffee: Grounds

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There’s a good article in the Atlantic titled Press Pots: Coffee Worth the Effort:

Nearly all the coffee I brew for myself is press pot or espresso. I love my espresso machine, of which you will certainly hear much more in the future, but an espresso or a caffé macchiato just doesn’t last long enough for the first awakening of my taste buds in the morning. I no longer enjoy the steamed-milk and espresso cappuccino, and I never liked the extreme dilution of a caffé latte.

The article is written by Jerry Baldwin. Who is Jerry Baldwin? He is the co-founder of Starbucks. After leaving Starbucks, he purchased Peet’s Coffee and Tea. Baldwin, along with Zev Siegel and Gordon Bowker, opened the original Starbucks  in Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington, in 1971. And according to this article, Starbucks originally only sold beans and equipment, not espresso.