My Convoluted Coffee Making Process...

...Because Java is Good

This is probably not the most elaborate way to make coffee, and I won't call it the best.  After all, the former assertion requires robust knowledge of coffee-making around the world, and the latter is a matter of taste (no pun intended).  However, this is what we now usually do every morning, and I'm recording (and sharing) it here for posterity - and just in case one day I lose my mind.

Beginning with the French Press

My French press holds about 750 grams of very hot water comfortably, enough to make two decent cups of coffee.  I use the French press' beaker to measure out water into my kettle, putting around 2.25 (two and a quarter) beakers-full of water in.  I then heat it up to 195 degrees F.  Use an instant-read thermometer, preferably a digital one, stuck into the spout to monitor the temp.

The Beans, The Grind

I measure around 38 grams of beans to my 750 intended grams of water.  Measuring the beans before grinding works fine.  This is about a 20:1 ratio of water to coffee.  The smaller your ratio, the more coffee you are adding to your water.  A 15:1 ratio will mean that you'll add 50 grams of coffee to the 750 grams of water.  You'll have to work out your favorite, or whatever gets you the most caffeine before your eyes start twitching.

Now, I realize most people use liquid measures for measuring water, but I do most of my measuring by weight, and it gives excruciatingly predictable and repeatable results.

We have an aging burr grinder.  But it works - for the moment.  I do a course grind on the beans, not the absolute coarsest setting, but just a little finer than that.  We've also used store-bought pre-ground coffee (coffee-maker grind), but it tends to be harder to press and might be a little more bitter.

Grind while the water is heating up, or during the preheating step (below) if you have decided to leave everything unattended until the kettle whistle blows.

Preheating the Beaker

By now, your water should be up to temp.  If it's too hot, that's fine.  If it's just below 190, that's probably fine too.  Now, you're wondering why I poured 2.25 beakers-worth of water into the kettle.  It's because now we're going to waste a little for preheating the French press' beaker.  

Pour in a good amount - since I heated up so much water, I pour in as much as I reasonably can.  Let the beaker sit for a few minutes to warm.  The glass will, predictably, get quite hot.  Do not touch it unless you need to wake up faster.  I will put the plunger in and slosh the water in the beaker around over the sink.  Sloshing too vigorously is a good way to test your pain threshold.

If you had heated the water to a full boil, you can either take this time to let the beaker get very hot while the kettle water cools down, or - to rush it - you can add cold water to the kettle until the temperature is around 195 degrees F.  Swirl your instant-read around in the kettle while adding the cold water, to help it mix and to not over-cool.

On my little portable induction cooktop, I often heat to 190, then fill the beaker and leave the kettle on the cooktop at the lowest level with the spout lid open - it keeps its temp and heats very slowly toward 195.

The Pour

Once the beaker is quite hot, dump the water down the drain.  Now add the grinds, zero your scale, and add water from the kettle - I aim for the aforementioned 750 grams.  The temperature should remain in the 190s if you pop your instant-read thermometer in there for curiosity's sake.  

At this point you can set the lid and plunger in place on the top of the press and set a timer for five (5) minutes.  At the end of that time, perform a standard very-very-slow-press (weight-of-hand / gravity-press, but I'm meaty) and pour the magical caffeine-laden tonic into a worthy and deserving cup.

Pouring for Two

I mentioned this makes two decent cups.  The grinds absorb about 50 grams of water in the process, so you can usually get out about 700 grams total.  I put the two cups on the scale and dump around 350 into each.  Or if I'm unsure, I'll shoot for 345 each and then start splitting the extra with back-and-forth pours between the cups.  This works well if the cups are different shapes, as most of ours are.

The Reasoning, and Variations

We had bought some special coffee once from a local bulk retailer, and the instructions on a couple of the bags indicated brewing between 190 and 200 degrees F.  After much playing with that, I now try to stay within that range.  Previously I always poured at 212 degrees and left it for four minutes, but it tended to leach out a lot more acidity.  There is a difference between excellent, dark, strong coffee and obliterated, dark, strong coffee.  Needless to say, I didn't realize what I was missing.

Brewing at or below 200 for the longer time seems to bring out significantly more flavor, without tasting watered-downed or harsh.  I have brewed for as long as six minutes, though I can't remember how I felt about it afterwards.

One site I revisited while typing this suggested pouring at exactly 200 degrees.  However, they did not appear to preheat whatever they were pouring into - which I think were the mugs themselves.  Maybe I skipped over that part, though.  Anyway, the minute the water hits the vessel, it loses temperature.  I did some informal testing of this back when I started preheating the beaker, and was astounded to find double-digit drops in temperature (say, from 190 degrees kettle temp to 160 degrees in the beaker, shortly after pouring, but don't quote me on that).

While we could get very scientific about all of this, and confirm my very impromptu and not very scientific findings, it also doesn't appear to hurt to preheat the beaker - aside from wasting a little extra water (hell, save it for tea later!).  The second pour with the grinds loses very little temperature, the glass of the beaker having already absorbed and not immediately lost much of the first pour's heat.  The result is a slightly lower-temperature water striking the beans, and a (probably) more sustained temperature throughout the brewing.

Also, in the past I used to stir the grinds right after pouring, and then right before plunging.  I don't do either of those now, I just make sure all the grinds are wet while I'm pouring.  A fast, dangerous pour will accomplish this.  

Stirring before plunging seems to just gum up the screen.  Stirring after the pour probably does no harm, other than dirtying another utensil.  And in the morning, I prefer not to have to wash extra things.

Further Study

There is obviously a lot more we could do to confirm all of this.  I could sneak in some temperature probes, monitor the water every 30 seconds for the five minute duration.  I could test also against a room-temp beaker, to see how the water temp varies.  I could try using a double-boiler with one of my glass measuring cups to maintain the brew at exactly 195 degrees, or exactly 200 degrees, or test with temperatures in between, although at that point I think we'd be splitting hairs...

One must also play with the concentration of coffee to water.  I find that - personally - pushing to 40 grams of coffee is just too much and I end up with shoulder and back pain from a strange muscle tension that has been too consistently observed after enjoying a delicious cup of intense java.  Dialing down to 35 produces quite acceptable results, also, so feel free to experiment.

Good luck!