People Are Just Realising How To Use A French Press Correctly, And The ‘Right’ Method Feels So Wrong

There’s an onslaught of facts raging against my culinary ego at the moment. First, I learned I was cooking mash wrong; then, I found out my pasta sauce was missing an Italian staple.

And now, it turns out I can’t even use a cafetière right. 

In a TikTok, coffee company Pact shared, “We get it ― French press implies, well, ‘to press.’ But it’s a myth.”

What in the everloving caffeine are you on about?

Honestly, I was as surprised as you are. But no; they really don’t recommend plunging the filter down at any point in the coffee-making process.

“Once you’ve scooped your coffee into the cafetière, add the water and wait for five minutes,” Pact advises.

Then, you simply… let it brew, using the still-unplunged plate as a makeshift coffee filter.

“Without getting too scientific, all the delicious flavours, aromas, and caffeine from liquid coffee that you put into the cafetière,” the company added. But “when you press down and hit these grounds, you are disturbing the sediment.” 

So, plunging the, er, plunger can loosen the grounds, encouraging some to float back up to the top, they say. 

“The plunger’s best left on top and used as a strainer,” the company shared (with no regard whatsoever for our collective sanity). 

In case you think they’re alone, they’re not ― in fact, coffee legend James Hoffmann even recommends getting rid of the press part of the press altogether at first in favour of steeping, stirring, and scooping out loose grounds with a spoon. 

It’s only after a further eight or so minutes that he finally uses the plate ― and even then, he doesn’t push it down, instead using it at the top of the coffee like a strainer.

People had *thoughts* about the whole thing

”You’ve been driving your car wrong, the steering wheel isn’t for turning ― it’s just for resting your hands,” one commenter joked below the video. 

“If that was the case why make it a plunger and not just use a strainer on the spout,” another comment read.

“Don’t tell me I’m doing something wrong and then proceed to do something wrong,” yet another app user wrote. 

I can see where they’re coming from, but the pros seem pretty united on this front.

I guess I’ll have to make a fresh pot now ― you know, for journalistic reasons.