I have been using a French Press coffee maker for quite some time now, and I have tried a few methods for removing the spent coffee grinds from the vessel. It is always a bit of a chore to this in an efficient manner without making too much of a mess. I am hoping to find a way that is quick, but does not result in grinds all over my hands or excess grinds going down the drain. I wonder if there are any accepted or creative methods for this action.
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A long handle strainer works so much to my liking that I've come back to share its wonders. It's so simple! And very inexpensive. I love it! Having bought a close-knit wire sink strainer that I like, my system is complete. With a 6.5" x 6.5" (165 mm²) flat, square-faced strainer, I have ample room to pour directly into the strainer without performing any type of difficult or careful procedure in the morning. The foot long handle works well for knocking out the grinds into the trash/compost. |
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What you could do is: Find an empty yogurt container with a lid. Drill a bunch of small holes into the lid (using a very sharp pencil and poking shallow holes may work if you don't have a drill handy). Fill the bottom of the yogurt container with water. Take screened plunger out of press and thrust lightly, repeatedly, into container until free of most all grinds. Rinse remaining grounds off of plunger with a very light stream of water, as to not add any excess water to the container. Add about a cup hot water to the press. With a wooden spoon handle or a upside down chop stick rapidly agitate the grounds in the press scraping at the sides and bottom of the press. Move from agitating with spoon hadnle or chopstick into a circular stir and begin to swirl the French press with the other hand and slowly start the tipping pour into the yogurt container with a joined centrifugal momentum until the point where the water and grounds are near to washing out of the press. Note: stiring will need to be a bit of a corkscrew, working from the bottom up whilst both tipping and swirling the press with the other hand, until finally, just before pouring out the grounds, the stiring tool is completely removed to allow for a clean and heavy pour. Quickly rinse off stir stick into the container with a low flow of water. Add additional cup of hot water into the press and forcefully swirl out the rest of the grounds. (after the second rinse it might only take a small amount of wAter swirled with haste to make for a more final rinse.) With a paper towel, wipe out any stragglers and wipe off stick. Probably will want to was both with warm suddsy water and dry. Place lid onto container and flip it over slowly and set to drain in sink. (for extra conscious people: before topping with lid set a paper towel across the top of the yogurt container to use as an extra filter and then secure lid by pressing down firmly at all points). Gravity should be on our side as long as care is taken to ensure that the lid is held to the container until the point that an edge of the lid is touching the bottom of the sink. |
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Cleaning it out immediately makes it easier to rinse all of the grounds out of the glass pot as well as off of the various layers of pressing/filtering mechanism. You could dump the majority of the spent grounds into a plastic bag (keep the same one for a week, not like they're going to rot or smell up the house) before putting them into the trash if you use a paper trash bag and don't want wet, leaky spots all through it. What little remains shouldn't be too bad on your pipes. (I'm not a plumber either, but always do mine this way, daily, and have never had a problem with the pipes, have lived in most places at least five years and this one going on 10.) |
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My solution is much like @Michael's. I have a fine mesh sink strainer, like this one:
I put a little water in the French press, swirl it around, and dump it right in the strainer. Since you grind coarsely for French press coffee, it forms a pile and doesn't run through the strainer. Although from experience, even more finely ground coffee will pile up and form its own filter and not run through the strainer without help. Then I just pick it up and knock it into the garbage can. |
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My mother-in-law came up with a brilliant idea. Put a large viva paper towel in the sink and push it down a bit. Swirl water in the pot and slowly pour it over the towel. You must do this a few times then you can just toss the paper towel! |
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I usually fill up the press with water, swirling it around a bit to get the grounds floating around, then flush it down the toilet. IANAP* but I've never had trouble with it clogging there. (though be cautious if you know you have bad/sensitive pipes, and folks with septic tanks might have additional worries?) *(I Am Not a Plumber) |
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My favorite way to clean a french press is to add water into the spent grounds and pour all the contents at the base of a rose bush. It's an easy way to get all the grounds out, and the coffee grounds are good fertilizer for acid loving plants. Obviously, this isn't an option for everybody, but I used it often at one apartment I lived at where my landlord kept a rose garden out front(with the approval of my landlord, of course!). The roses looked great that year! |
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I have a small sieve (like the one pictured) that I use for this purpose and it is very quick and easy. Slosh water in the press, pour through the sieve and dump grinds in the trash!
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Pull press apart. The filter and the filter holder should unscrew from the press stem and handle Shake off excess grounds from each component into compost bin Leave on sink rack to dry (over night). When dry, tap or shake off the last of the grinds into compost and wash as normal |
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