creative uses for the French press?

This blog post from www.kitchn.com sure got our brainstorm wheels a'churnin




Q: This question is about French press coffee makers. I'm sure that I've seen these used on Iron Chef (or other places?) for purposes other than coffee, such as infusing broths with aromatic herbs.

I'm sure there are other ways to infuse a broth with a particular flavor, but this just appeals to me on a visceral "that seems pretty awesome" level. What's out there in terms of alternative uses for my French press — uses other than tea or coffee. Any ideas?

Everyone else, have you thought of this? Talk about outside the box...

thoughts on a controlled study of brew times

Last month a new controlled study of brew times in French press coffee was released.  Conducted by Daniel Drazenovich, Chief Technical Engineer for the micro roastery Old Wwworld Cafe, the process and findings were quite interesting and worth a read. (See, "Perfectly Timed French Press Coffee".)


The Coffee Catcher's Nate Jones had the following thoughts on the study:

"It certainly makes intuitive sense that the surface area of grounds exposed to water coupled with the total volume of grounds should affect the timing of coffee brewed.  Personally, I think the 200 degree pour is a bit on the low side, but I have no reason to supposed that that would comprehensively skew the results.

"This reminds me of an all day experiment I've been wanting to do involving brewing French press coffee by visual cues. I do it, and John [Custer] does it, but I haven't had a chance to figure out exactly what I'm reacting to in terms of sight, smell or perception of time that tells me when to press.  I think the color of the crust on the top of the coffee does change as the brew continues, perhaps as oil extractionslows, but I can't quite verbalize those cues yet. Anyway, this chemistry-heavy approach reminded me that sometime soon I'd like to do a controlled direct-perception series of brews and evaluate the results."

Caffe Culture & WB

Nate just boarded a flight from Seattle to London for Caffe Culture, 2010 & the World Barista Championship.  Catch him - and the Coffee Catcher - in booth P8, where he'll be demonstrating hte product and dishing out oodles of information.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Track Nate's progress on Facebook or Twitter

The Coffee Catcher Launch Event

The Coffee Catcher Launch last Friday was not only an amazing event in the fact that it brought together some of the biggest names in Seattle coffee, but also the Coffee Catcher-sponsored "French Press Throwdown" was a huge success.

In addition to launching the widely-anticipated Coffee Catcher, we also unveiled the new logo for Kaffeologie, the company behind the Coffee Catcher and the upcoming Kaffeologie French Press.

The Coffee Catcher launch featured amazing local sips & fare, including crepes from Mobatta Crepes, beer from Mack & Jacks's, 25 paintings by artist Charity Jones (who painted portraits of locals from coffee-growing countries from around the world), and locally roasted coffee from several outstanding roasters including Kuma Coffee.

The event was thrown in partnership with Agros International, who has been helping families in Central America and Mexico build self-sustaining communities since 1982.  We were very pleased to pair with such a hard-working organization whose approach encourages sustainability and includes land-loans, micro-loans, and training.

Visit our Facebook Page to view more photos from the event.

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Thanks to everyone who came out on Friday, and to all of our gracious sponsors for their support.