The 12 Best Coffees To Use For A French Press

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As The New York Times highlights, versions of the French press have been around since the 19th century. Even in this modern era of nitro brews and disposable pods, this humble piece of equipment is still holding its own. In fact, Statista reports that the French press is the third most popular method for Americans to brew coffee at home. 

The French press is a simple method in which the coffee grounds have to be steeped in hot water before the plunger is dropped (via Illy). Secondly, the French press produces a unique, intense style of coffee as it extracts a lot of oil and sediment from the ground coffee (per Frankly Good Coffee).

As always, when it comes to coffee, the beans you select and how they are processed are of immense importance when using a French press. Washed coffee, for example, will taste more like the bean than the sweet fruit that surrounds it (via Rogue Wave). Naturally, with natural coffee beans, it's quite the opposite. 

Furthermore, the darker the roast, the more intense and bitter the coffee will be (as per Paulig). However, it is important to remember that there is no "right" selection when it comes to coffee beans, just personal preference. If you're using a French press, there are a range of different coffee bean varieties that you can use from roasteries across the United States to brew the ideal cup of coffee. 

The High Bank Coffee Roasters brand is making a name for itself by selling intricate, bright coffees that feature unique flavor combinations. This particular coffee is grown by Edwin Noreña Bourbon Ají, an innovative Colombian agroindustrial engineer, and it highlights the brand's flavor-centric approach to perfection.

When drinking this coffee, expect a mind-boggling array of notes, including chili, lime, hot chocolate, and even cinnamon. The incredible amount of flavor packed into this particular coffee is due to both the variety of beans and how they are processed. The beans themselves are of the bourbon ajÍ variety, which has gained acclaim after being discovered by producer José Salazar.

High Bank Coffee Roasters reports that these beans, which already carry the spicy flavors present in the brewed cup, are infused with mossto, which is the fermented juice from the cherries of the coffee tree. This result is a spectacular product that has a unique and, quite frankly, unmatchable flavor profile, one which has to be tasted to be believed.

Vivid Coffee lives up to its name with this coffee, which is made from the parainema variety and processed using the enticing-sounding honey method. As The Roasters Pack highlights, Parainema is well known for its savory herbal flavors. However, these have been transformed into something more akin to tropical fruit, thanks to the use of honey processing.

Contrary to what the name suggests, this processing method does not involve the inclusion of honey. Rather, the name refers to coffee that has been de-pulped but has not been washed (as per Trianon Coffee). The sweet residue of the cherry sticks to the bean. This is a substance that imparts an impressive amount of flavor.

This distinctly bright and fruity coffee may not be the most obvious choice for a French press (via Perfect Daily Grind). However, its distinctive profile makes it a coffee we simply couldn't pass up on including. Be sure to use a coarse grind and keep an eye on extraction time to ensure you get to experience the full range of citrusy and fruity flavors.

Coffee has been growing in Papua New Guinea ever since it was introduced to the country during the colonial period. However, the incredible crop has often failed to translate into a brilliant cup of coffee: A lack of access to processing plants has often led to the fresh coffee fading or over-fermenting, which can seriously affect and alter the product's final flavor. 

Fortunately, The Baroida Estate in Papua New Guinea's Eastern Highlands has taken matters into its own hands. All processes of coffee production are overseen on the estate, from the growing all the way through to the exportation.

Counter Culture is a specialty coffee roaster founded in 1995 that takes advantage of the excellent coffee that arises from The Baroida Estate. While all of Counter Culture's coffee is purchased from The Baroida Estate, Counter Culture's Baroida blend features three different varieties of coffee, and the standout one is Arusha.

HomeGrounds highlights that Arusha carries flavors of molasses, raisin, and spicy chocolate: These intense flavors are spotlighted in Counter Culture's product. What's more, Counter Culture's Baroida, as a dark and powerful coffee, is excellently suited to the French press' intense method of brewing. The resulting cup will astound you with its strength and larger-than-life flavors.

Visual Capitalist reports that Brazil is the biggest producer of coffee in the world by far. Because of the scale of production and vastness of the country itself, there is an immense amount of diversity in Brazilian coffees (as per Perfect Daily Grind). However, the one thing a lot of Brazilian coffees have in common is the method used to process them is predominantly the natural or the pulped natural process.

This is the case for Gimme! Coffee's Brazil Coopfam, which is named for the coffee cooperative from which the beans are sourced. Coopfam is located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais: The cooperative is well-located, as the state produces approximately half of all the coffee in Brazil (via Perfect Daily Grind).

Gimmie! Coffee draws from some 800 growers represented by Coopfam to produce Brazil Coopfam, a blend of Mundo Novo and Catuai. This choice makes perfect sense given the country's predilection for natural processing. 

As Perfect Daily Grind explains, Catuai reacts especially well to natural processing. This is represented in the finished coffee, which is silky, thick, and nut-forward: These features will only be exacerbated when coffee is brewed via the French press method. 

Big Island Coffee Roasters hails from Hawaii, and the brand has made a name for itself by producing a range of award-winning, Hawaiian-grown coffees. Chief among these is the Kona Peaberry, which is a coffee that has received an incredible 93 points from Coffee Review, with the publication lauding its rich flavors and smooth structure.

The Typica bean variety is used to make the Kona Peaberry. However, it is not the variety of the bean that sets this coffee apart, but the type: Kona Peaberry is (unsurprisingly) made entirely from peaberries. These are rounded seeds that occur in only 5 to 10 percent of all coffee cherries (as per Perfect Daily Grind). 

This coffee arises from a mutation, which means only one seed grows inside the cherry instead of two, allowing the peaberries to have unfettered access to nutrients and attain an unmatched flavor. 

This coffee is unique: You can expect notes of cinnamon, fruit, cacao, and perhaps even recollections of the islands. As one customer describes, this coffee is one of the best options out there, and it really gives you a wonderful taste of the islands on the mainland (via Big Island Coffee Roasters).

Perfect Daily Grind reports that specialty coffee produced in El Salvador has a brilliant reputation that has been built upon a long history of world-class coffee production. Madcap Coffee adds to this illustrious history through its blend, El Porvenir. 

Madcap Coffee is sourced from both Bourbon and Typica varieties from El Salvadorian growers known as the Rodriguez Family, who farm in the country's prestigious Apaneca region, which is an area known for its fertile lands (as per Coffee Direct). 

El Porvenir, as a full-bodied coffee, will be amplified by using a French press, which is something a minority may find overwhelming (via Java Presse). However, those that like texture in their coffee will be hard-pressed to find a more suitable brew. To make matters even better, fruit flavors play an integral role in El Salvadorian coffee. 

El Porvenir is no different, with Madcap Coffee highlighting red apple and cherry as potential tasting notes. As such, El Porvenir is a texture-rich, flavorful introduction to El Salvador's fabled coffee, one that will perform extremely well in your French press.