I am on holiday in Cape Town. Once a year, around Christmas, my family and I spend about a month in the city where my wife and I were born.
We come to see family, take long drives, and eat very well for the cost of a shawarma in Dubai. This time, however, I added one more thing to the list. The Home Barista Show Cape Town.
The Home Barista Show is an event I created for people who brew at home. A place where curiosity is welcomed, questions are encouraged, and no one is made to feel small for not knowing the right words. The Cape Town edition exceeded every expectation I had. Which, if nothing else, proved that the idea travels. I am already thinking about where it goes next.
Of course, I have also returned to my favourite coffee shops. I wrote about them here and here. I went back to my favourite breakfast spot too, and wrote about that here.
Of course, I need more coffee than that.
The travel kit that usually makes sense
I travelled with my usual setup. A TIMEMORE Crystal Eye dripper and carafe. Hario filter papers. An Acaia Umbra scale. And my Comandante C40.
It is a kit I trust. Familiar and predictable. It produces clean, consistent coffee.
Every morning, however, I make coffee for my wife and me. That means grinding 40 grams of coffee. Every morning.
The Comandante is an excellent grinder. It is precise, solid, and satisfying to use. However, grinding 40g by hand day after day becomes work. At first, it feels essential. Then it feels repetitive. Eventually, it felt like effort.
After a few mornings, I stopped convincing myself I like hand grinding coffee.
The Woolworths decision
So I bought pre-ground coffee.
Not from a specialty coffee shop. Not from a roaster with a backstory. From Woolworths. A supermarket. A premium supermarket. But a supermarket nonetheless.
Back at the Airbnb, I opened a cupboard to find the French press I spotted when we arrived. Glass. Metal mesh. No brand. And, by the look of it, almost certainly used by every guest before us.
I added the coffee, poured the water, waited, plunged.
The coffee was really good. Not expressive. Not memorable. Just warm, balanced, and satisfying.
My wife noticed immediately. She is not a specialty coffee enthusiast. But 14 years of being married to me has helped her define what, for her, is good and bad coffee. She took a sip and said the coffee was “really good this morning”. High praise.
A brief look at coffee brewing methods
Most coffee brewing methods fall into a small number of categories. What separates them is how water meets coffee and how long they stay together.
Pour over brewing relies on gravity. Water passes through coffee once and exits through a paper filter. The result is a clean cup with lighter body and clearer flavours. Drippers like the Hario V60, Kalita Wave, TIMEMORE Crystal Eye, Origami, and Chemex all work this way.
Espresso uses pressure rather than gravity. Water is forced through finely ground coffee in a short time. The result is dense, concentrated, and intense. Espresso machines handle this process.
Batch brewing also uses gravity, but with automation. Machines like Moccamaster (my daily driver) brew larger volumes consistently. The cups are balanced, familiar, and easy to drink.
Cold brew uses time instead of heat. Coffee steeps in cold water for many hours, producing a smooth cup with lower perceived acidity. Systems like Shelbru do a fantastic job.
And then there is immersion brewing.
We all need a little forgiveness
Immersion brewing means coffee and water remain together for the entire brew time. Extraction happens evenly, because every particle experiences the same conditions.
This is how the French press works.
There is no flow rate to manage. There is no paper filter removing oils. Small inconsistencies tend to smooth out rather than compound. As a result, the cup has more body, a rounder texture, and blended flavours.
Immersion brewing is forgiving. It works with pre-ground coffee and it makes coffee for more than one person without complaint.
That’s why the French press has never disappeared.
The value of unfashionable tools
Thanks, mostly to social media, the French press has been overshadowed by newer brewers with precise angles and confident language. Yet, despite that, it remains where it has always been. In cupboards, offices and Airbnbs.
It works because it does not argue with you.
Which, in many ways, is exactly what coffee is meant to do.
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