best coffee beans for french press

4 Best Coffee Beans For French Press in 2022

French Press coffee is as straightforward as it gets. Plus, it’s also a somewhat customizable brewing method that can produce rewarding results in a flash. Well, as long as you use high-quality coffee beans. Use stale or poor-quality coffee, and you’ll end up with a bitter or flavorless mouthful of coffee that’ll make you despise press pot forever.

To prevent such a disaster from happening, I’ve gathered some of the best and high-quality coffee for the French press. Discover useful tips and the best beans to make the most flavorful cup every day. Ready? Let’s get going!

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TOP PICK

Guatemala Antigua

Volcanica Coffee Beans

Antigua is a medium roast with notes of chocolate and nutty. Its vibrant acidity makes it quite unique and sought after among true coffee aficionados.


Guatemala Antigua is one of the best beans from Guatemala. It produces bold and flavorful coffee with a smooth yet intense aroma (normal and decaf available). 

Contents

How to make the most of your French press coffee?

Since the French press is such a straightforward brewing method, choosing high-quality coffee beans is an absolute must.

With the French press method, we brew coffee directly in the brewer, where coffee oils, flavors, and aromas get a chance to get fully extracted. Generally, medium or dark roast is used for this brewing method. If you grind your beans fresh (investing in a high-quality burr grinder is nearly a must), you can improve press pot coffee quality, but that’s not all.

Apart from thoroughly cleaning your press pot after every use, be sure to get freshly roasted beans from reliable coffee roasters. Also, invest in a quality French press pot.

If you have the gear, here are our best coffee bean options to use in your French press.

Top coffee beans for French press

Guatemala Antigua Volcanica Coffee – Best Overall (+ Decaf Option)

Key features:

  • Medium roast
  • Tasting notes: nutty, chocolate
  • Vibrant acidity
  • Origin: medina Estate, Guatemala
  • Available as Decaf
  • Rainforest alliance certified

Due to its rich and full-bodied profile, Antigua coffee has become incredibly popular in the world of coffee, making it one of the best beans from Guatemala. The beans produce a smooth yet rich beverage with sophisticated flavor; press pot helps to bring out its intense aroma and makes this coffee a real treat for your tastebuds.

French Roast Peet’s Coffee – Best Dark Roast Blend

Key features:

  • Dark roast
  • Tasting notes: coffee, smoky, bittersweet, hints of caramel
  • Origin: Latin America (highest altitudes of prime Latin American growing regions)
  • Roasted to order and same-day shipping ensure maximum freshness

Peet’s French Roast is one of their signature blends. It’s a high-quality Arabica dark roast coffee with smoky tones, powerful taste, and a pleasant bite. It has hints of caramel and it’s slightly bittersweet, spicy, and complex coffee. Honestly, it’s not for the faint of heart, but for those who want the bold, smoky, and powerful cup on a daily basis. That’s why it works great in a press pot (and drip coffee machine), and it can handle cream and sugar excellently.

Kenya AA Coffee: Fresh Roasted Coffee – Best Single-Origin

kenya best beans for french press

Key features:

  • Medium-dark roast
  • Tasting notes: peach blossom, black tea, orange zest
  • Origin: Bungoma County, Kenya
  • Kosher certified and sustainably sourced

Complex, bright, sweet coffee, these Kenya AA beans have less acidic bite than many other African coffees. French press method helps to bring out the fragrant aroma of fruits and silky body, as well as intensify all the flavors. It makes a strong and bold coffee, well-rounded and full-bodied.

Organic Medium Roast Lifeboost Coffee – Best Organic

1x Medium Roast Coffee 12 oz Bag

Key features:

  • Medium roast
  • Tasting notes: chocolate and nutty undertones
  • Origin: Nicaragua
  • Low acidity
  • Organic certified, Non-GMO, fair-trade, and shade-grown

This is a single-origin coffee from the mountains of Nicaragua, high-quality Arabica beans that are chemical- and pesticide-free, and 3rd party tested for mycotoxins. These beans make a flavorful and smooth coffee that’s also healthy at the same time. The roasting process creates a balanced medium roast that can make one of the best-tasting plunger coffee out there.

FAQ on French press coffee beans

What’s the best grind size for French press coffee?

For best effects, use medium-coarse to coarsely ground coffee, with a consistent grind (that a reliable burr grinder can give you).

How to make good French press coffee?

French press coffee can be tricky until you get used to it. There are a few things to consider before brewing coffee:

  • Use freshly ground coffee
  • Figure out your ideal coffee to water ratio
  • Keep your equipment clean
  • Use your preferred beans to brew, until you get the ratio right

For more details, check out my detailed French press brewing guide for tips and tricks.

Press pot coffee to water ratio

Ideally, the coffee to water ratio with the press pot is 1:10 if you’re new to the French press. That means 1gram of coffee per 10grams of water, to produce an averagely strong brew that caters to the taste of most coffee drinkers.

You can easily change the ratio to your liking though, and customize the amount of coffee to water to produce the brew that suits your tastebuds. For a stronger taste, increase the grounds to water ratio. if you prefer it lighter, decrease the brewing time or use a smaller amount of grounds.

What is better: French press or pour over?

While both of these methods can produce a rich and flavorful cup of coffee, they are somewhat different. With a French press, you let the coffee steep in the brewer, while with pour-over, you let the coffee drip into the carafe through a filter. For more details, see this post on the key differences between the press pot and pour over brewing style.

What coffee beans are best for French press: A recap

French press coffee is a rewarding way to brew since it allows you to customize your daily cup, and provides you with the maximum flavor of any beans.

While there are many different options when it comes to French press coffee beans, keep in mind that you can achieve the best results with freshly roasted and ground beans, those from reliable coffee roasters or suppliers who roast on demand and deliver the freshest beans to your doorstep.

Honestly, you can’t go wrong with any of the beans listed above. There’s something to cater to every taste, but in most cases, French press roast is either medium, medium-dark or dark roast.

For the best decaf coffee for the French press, turn to organic Volcanica Guatemala Antigua with vibrant acidity, nutty and chocolate flavor, medium roast, and smooth flavor.

If you prefer darker roasts, Peet’s Dark Roast produces a deep, flavorful, smoky cup of joe with hints of caramel, slightly bittersweet but a treat for any serious dark roast lover. The coffee is the company’s signature blend and produces a powerful taste and pleasant bite. It can also handle both cream and sugar!

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