Pour over guy here but I enjoy just a touch of oils in my extractions so I’ve settled on coffee sock use. Never liked the French Press side of things, but I’ve just learned about FP with paper filters, the Espro paper filter and more interestingly the Caffi bag filter. I’d like to experiment with this. The Caffi filter especially is appealing as the cleanup looks super easy (big change compared to my coffee sock ritual) and I like the idea of cleaning up the murky FP taste with some decent filtering. I’m considering trying an Espro device so I would have the option to try their paper filter too, but that’s less interesting since you still have to clean grounds out of your FP bucket. The Espro devices are pricey though. I’m curious if anyone thinks the finer mesh buckets on the Espro would contribute any cleanup benefit at all if using a paper filter like the Caffi bag? I would assume the much finer filter mechanism of the paper would just trump any plunger filter mechanism. Ok, my next question is what’s going on with insulated FP brewers? Stanley, Yeti, even Espro (they even make a travel mug FP that you just leave the grounds in!!) and many others make these. I don’t mean to be rude, but are FP drinkers just barbarians that think there is no such thing as over-extraction? How in the world can you just leave coffee grounds sitting in contact with your brew for hours as these insulated FP brewers claim? Don’t you need to decant as soon as the brew is complete?
The main thing that affects taste with FP that I have found is brewing time.
I find myself experimenting with brew time, for each and every different bag of beans or grounds to achieve optimal taste.
Starting with standard 4 minute brewing time: If that brew is underextracted, add 1 minute the next time; Likewise, if that brew is overextracted, subtract 1 minute the next time.
I can dial in the optimal brew time for taste for a new bag within 2-3 days.
Medium roasts tend to be overextracted at 4 minutes, dark roasts can go 4 minutes or more.
I have a hot water pot that maintains water temperature at 195F, and I don’t like futzing with it.
I don’t use paper filters, just a fine mesh filter.
Interesting, I’ve heard of extending beyond four but never shortening it, especially with water that cool. Most sources seem to push temp beyond the pour over range to just shy of boiling for FP. Four pour over usually go slightly higher in temp for lighter roasts so would have thought maybe longer extraction on those.
On a graph of time vs extraction, I’m sure there’s a logarithmic curve for any given temperature, with optimal extraction for taste falling some time value well before maximum extraction before the bitter astringent compounds are added to the brew.
I’ve never tried a light roast in any brewing method, but I suspect it would be even more finicky to get right than medium roast.
“Most sources” consensus is a good starting point, but it’s really up to 1) What resources and equipment you have, 2) how much effort you’re willing to put in, and 3) your personal taste.