My normal method is put coffee in cup. Put some hot water for 30 seconds. Put remaining hot water for 2 minutes.
Strain and drink.
Now if I buy a french press machine should I expect a change in taste of the resultant coffee?
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Do you have a photo of your sieve, ideally with some kind of scale so that we can see how fine or wide the mesh is? – Stephie♦ Jun 20 '18 at 19:15
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Haven't purchased a french press yet. Hence asking, otherwise I would have tried myself @stephie – Aquarius_Girl Jun 21 '18 at 2:50
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Your sieve method and the French press are very similar, so with the current parameters you can expect a similarly flavor profile.
But:
If you complain that your current setup strains improperly, I suspect that unless your sieve is really wide-meshed, your grind is too fine and will be even more so for the French press.
French presses have a relatively coarse mesh “filter” (more like a sieve), so if you combine a French press with too-finely ground coffee, you will invariably get coffee grounds and a cloudy brew in your cup. The general advice is to use a coarser grind for French press than for filter, not to mention the fine to super-fine grinds of the espresso and Turkish mokka types.
But if you have coarser grounds, you need a longer extraction time (compare 30 seconds for espresso with 2-4 minutes for French press) to get enough overall “flavor” out. The different flavor components have different extraction curves, and this is one of the main reasons why roasters sell different roasts - they are adapted to the parameters of the brewing method.
My suggestion: Try your press with the current coffee. If it’s too cloudy or grainy (which I think is likely), try a coarser grind and play with the parameters like time and roast. If you want a truly “clean” or “clear” cup, all methods with coarse sieves are at a disadvantage and you are likely to get better results with true filters. They use a pour-over technique, which is similar (albeit not identical) to your current full-immersion method.
In the case you are describing there won't be a big difference to French press, assuming that you are able to strain the coffee as well as you could with a french press. As long as you manage to strain it properly so that most of the coffee particles are gone the result would ceteris paribus be similar (which means same times, same pre infusion, same water and same temperatures, same grind size, etc.).
That is because the methods would be identical, they are both full immersion brewing techniques. In both cases you pour the water on the grounds, let it brew and strain in the end. There are many tips on how to improve your brews with these kind of methods on the coffee stackexchange.
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I am not able to strain it properly. I find it muddy. I want it to be super clear. Is there a solution without French press? – Aquarius_Girl Jun 20 '18 at 16:59
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@Aquarius_Girl You can always try methods that include filters. Drip brew, Aeropress, V60, Chemex are best known 'clear' (and relatively cheap) methods. – MTSan Jun 20 '18 at 18:06
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1Yes that is the problem. Neither your method nor French press can give you a perfectly clean cup. You can switch to Filter methods like MT San suggested, any method that filters through paper. There's some things you can try though, if you want to stick with your method. First of all use a coarser grind and increase the brewing time slightly. That will give you similar levels of extraction, but less coffee slurry in your cup. Also make sure you let the slurry sink to the ground and when you strain leave the slurry in the vessel you are brewing in. Don't try straining the muddy part. – avocado1 Jun 21 '18 at 10:46
