Here's my french press secret
https://prima-coffee.com/.../aeropress/aeropress

For my daily, I've also foregone french press in favor of aeropress, largely because of its insane ease of cleaning.

But if you want to stick with french press, there are still tons of variables, some of which you allude to in your post, which is awesome, since you're thinking about it the right way. Maybe one of the bigger differentiators with french press vs. other methods is that pressure is wholly removed from the time/temperature/pressure profile. Which is totally fine!

So the remaining variables you have to play with are:
Source of beans
Bean roast profile
Bean grind
(Let's please not let freshness be a variable :) )
Whatever is in your water (actually huge!)
Ratio of coffee:water
Water temperature
Brew time
What you add to your coffee afterwards (some roasts are really designed to be had black, and others are designed to be mixed with dairy)

I have a strong preference for lighter roasts, as my plebeian palette can actually pick out flavors. I have friends, particularly the Swedes, who find anything but pitch-black dark roasts to be completely disgusting. That's really up to you, but for any given roast, it's worth it to futz around with grind coarseness and demonstrate to yourself how that affects the finished product. And definitely experiment with different roasts!

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Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

How is using a lever pull machine? I've purposefully avoided home espresso for fear of getting down a deep dark hole of commercial machines hacked to work for home use (I have a history of that with kitchen gadgets). Between that machine and grinder it's still about a $1k outlay, vs about $100 to get started doing pourovers (where I've mostly stabilized around).

Fyi, french press coffee raises your bad cholesterol. I've periodically used it, but just an FYI if anyone had not heard this.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/...m-drink-201604299530

May and if you're in the 5-8 cups a day range

it's like going to the restaurant that everyone raves about. are they raving because it's really, over the top good? or are they raving because they just paid a bunch of money and dont want to feel they've wasted money?

like someone else said, making coffee is/can be a nice routine and i enjoy the routine. it can be a pain in the ass to get it right, but when you do it makes a very nice espresso. the question is do you want to put in the time, and money. to get the grind right and tamp right then pull right you may have to pull a couple of shots to get the learning curve down. that can be a little costly because coffee isn't cheap. but i dont smoke, dont have multiple wives so i have to spend my money on something.

i enjoy the routine most of the time. my better half did get a nespresso machine a few months ago, she's tired of the routine. if i'm pressed for time i'll make a coffee with the nespresso, the la pavoni takes a few minutes to warm up. then to measure the weight of the beans, grind 'em, tamp, raise the lever to charge the head, wait, pull the shot. then do a little bit of clean up, it takes some time. but if i pick up good coffee on the road to bring home, it's usually espresso that i make with the lever.

if you like to tinker or are picky about certain things you'll prob like it. if neither of these are you, you probably wont.

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ΜΟΛΩΝ-ΛΑΒΕ
we're doomed

depends on what they mean by cups. if the typical 5 oz that coffe pots use, then 5 cups is 25 oz or on large coffee. if 8 oz, then 40 oz and 2 large coffee's.

Stupid question:

Apart from ease and convenience, is there a different between a hand burr grinder and a machine burr grinder? Does one provide a better quality grind to the other?

What spudon said. So long as it is a burr grinder, not too big a deal between hand and machine grind. However, the cheap ones can "mangle" or heat up the beans. Not sure how big a deal that is, but, supposedly, it is a thing. Not something I considered, however. The got the hand grinder for two reasons - (1) cannot stand the loud noise first thing in the morning and (2) makes it more of a ritual. I grind enough for about 30 oz of water, so, it is a bit of work. But, I enjoy the manual aspect of it without the loud noise.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Thanks to Spudon and you for your replies.

I have an old blade grinder which I have been using, but I was looking to get it replaced as one of the blades is out of whack, so your post was timely.

french press is all I've ever used and good tips here. I just broke my upteenth glass press and now have a brand spankin' insulated stainless one to try tomorrow.
it came with extra mesh filters and they say try adding a second for sublime flavor. Tomorrow can't come soon enough.