9 Best French Press Coffee Makers of 2023
French press is something of a kitchen staple. Yet, it’s often overlooked when it comes to brewing specialty coffee. It might have a simple design, but the materials, construction and filter can all make the difference between an average French press and a great one.
In this article, Home Grounds outlines the elements that go into making a quality coffee press. We also tried and tested some of the most popular FrenchPresses in the market to come up with this list of the best French press coffee makers in 2023.
At A Glance:
- OUR TOP PICK: The Frieling Stainless Steel French Press
- BUDGET PICK: The Bodum Brazil French Press
- MOST DURABLE: BaristasBuddy The Parisian French Press
- MOST INNOVATIVE: Espro P3 French Press
The Best French Press Coffee Maker 2023
Let’s take a look at our picks for this best French Presses round up and discover why each one made our list.
| IMAGE | PRODUCT | DETAILS | |
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Frieling Stainless Steel French Press |
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SEE ON AMAZON
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Francois et Mimi Double Walled French Press |
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SEE ON AMAZON
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Bodum Chambord French Press |
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SEE ON AMAZON
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KONA French Press |
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SEE ON AMAZON
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Bodum Brazil French Press |
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SEE ON AMAZON
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Le Creuset Stoneware French Press |
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SEE ON AMAZON
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Espro P3 French Press |
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SEE ON AMAZON
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BaristasBuddy The Parisian French Press |
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SEE ON AMAZON
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The Sterling Pro French Press |
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see on amazon |
1. The Frieling Stainless Steel French Press – Best Overall
Specifications
Material: Stainless steel with double-screened, stainless-steel filter
- Capacity: 36 oz
The Frieling is one of our favorite coffee makers. It is one of the most stylish (and most expensive) French presses we’ve selected. Just like the Francois et Mimi, the Frieling is 100% stainless steel, but, unlike the Mimi, the Frieling holds 36 oz. instead of only 12 oz.
It also features a double-walled interior, which makes it very effective at retaining heat. In addition to that, the Frieling’s two-stage filter fits more snugly into the chamber. With two Italian fine mesh screens, it’s excellent at keeping out sediment (while letting in those coffee oils)
All components of this insulated French press are machine washable, and the filter components don’t even need to be disassembled for cleaning.
Read our Frieling French Press review to learn more why this became the best French Press coffee maker in our list.
2. The Francois Et Mimi Double Walled French Press – Best Small Capacity
Specifications
Material: Stainless steel (body and filter)
- Capacity: 12 oz
At only 12 oz., the Francois et Mimi French press is the smallest on the list, making it a smart choice for the solo brewer. What we like about it, is that the interior of this thermal coffee press has double walls and is made from insulated stainless steel. This makes it much better at retaining heat than the single-walled glass carafe that most other French presses have.
Where this coffee press coffee maker loses some points is its relatively high price, and its comparatively less-effective mesh filter. For the small size (12 oz., 375 ml), you may not be willing to pay the price for this metal French press, considering you can easily make the same amount of coffee in a lower priced, 34 oz French press.
In regards to the filter, although it is by no means bad, it is not as good as some of the others on this list.
3. The Bodum Chambord French Press – Most Classic Design
Specifications
Material: Glass body and stainless steel filter
- Capacity: 34 oz
Somewhere amongst all the confusing press pot origin stories, the Dutch company, Bodum has also staked a claim. Although Bodum does not pretend to have invented the coffee press, they certainly contend to have perfected it.
I won’t support or refute this claim, but I will say that it’s no mystery why Starbucks continues to stock their shelves with these very well-designed coffee makers, despite having its very own Starbucks French Press model.
Bodum has a number of different glass French Presses available (which you can see here), but this model is the classic. I have owned and used this press, and can attest to its reliability and ease of using and cleaning. The borosilicate glass used by Bodum has proven to be very durable and heat resistant. However, like the Francois et Mimi, the Bodum Chambord will leave a little fine sediment in your coffee, because the plunger doesn’t press all the way to the bottom.
4. The KONA French Press – Best Glass French Press
Specifications
Material: Glass body and stainless steel single screen filter
- Capacity: 34 oz
Like the Colorful Brew, the KONA’s frame is made from BPA-free plastic. It features a stainless steel filter which does a better job at straining out the coffee grit than some of the more expensive presses, like the Bodum Chambord. Additionally, this bad boy is able to be completely disassembled and machine washed. The KONA comes in two sizes: a 12 oz that makes the perfect travel French press, and a bigger 34oz version.
However, what sets this coffee French press apart from the Colorful Brew is its unique design.
The KONA is not only fun to look at, but also safer to use. The large handle is ergonomically designed so that the handle fits comfortably and more securely in your hand as you pour. Ergonomic handle design is often overlooked in a press pot, and shouldn’t be glossed over …we’ve burned our hands multiple times while pouring, so we know what we’re talking about here!
If you’re on a budget, here’s a good news. French Presses are generally affordable coffee makers and the KONA is the least expensive item on this list, and it still functions just as well as all the others, although it may not last quite as long.
Read our full Kona French Press review.
5. The Bodum Brazil French Press – Budget Pick
Specifications
Material: Glass body with stainless-steel, single screen filter
- Capacity: 34 oz
The Bodum Brazil is rated as Amazon’s #1 best seller, and the attractive price isn’t the only reason. The carafe is borosilicate glass, but it’s carried in a handle, base, and lid of BPA-free plastic, which serves as a combination shock absorber and design element. In addition to basic black, the plastic components are available in a brilliant apple-green and a cheerful red.
Bodum’s standard three-part filtration system is present here, with a stainless steel mesh held in place by a spiral plate on top and a cross plate below. These disassemble easily for cleaning and are dishwasher-safe, as is the borosilicate carafe. Learn more in Home Grounds’ in-depth Bodum Brazil review.
6. Le Creuset Stoneware French Press – Most Stylish
Specifications
Material: Ceramic body with stainless steel filter
- Capacity: 34 oz
The Le Creuset French press stands out on our list for both its looks and construction. If you’re familiar with the brand, you’ll instantly recognize this brightly enameled exterior, which covers the stoneware beaker.
Stoneware has the benefit of better heat retention than glass. And though it will probably break if you drop it on the floor, it has good durability, longevity, and heat resistance.
This ceramic French press certainly isn’t for anyone on a budget, but if you already have a few Le Creuset items (or you want to start a collection) this will make an excellent addition to your kitchen.
7. Espro P3 French Press – Most Innovative
Specifications
Material: Glass body with plastic filter
- Capacity: 32 oz
Most of the French press models you come across will feature the same style of filter at the end of the plunger. The Espro P3 is a little different, with a dual-layer mesh filter basket.
This unique design, with its silicon outer ring, helps to completely separate the water from the coffee grounds. Once it’s pushed down the extraction process is halted and you can avoid an over-extracted cup of coffee.
The glass here is supposedly 40% thicker than other brands, making it more durable and proving better heat retention. If you do want to keep your coffee hot for longer, you can upgrade to the Espro P6, which features a stainless steel carafe.
8. The Sterling Pro French Press – Best Stainless Steel French Press
Specifications
Material: Stainless steel body and filter
- Capacity: 59 oz
This Sterling Pro French Press will have you seeing double. First, its simple, clean design – a number of cylinders of different sizes assembled into a pitcher, a handle, and a knob for the plunger – has a huge number of imitators. Second, one of its key features, the SterlingPro Double Wall Construction, uses a double wall of stainless steel to provide maximum heat retention.
But the last double is a fairly exclusive feature: its double-screen filter. On the face of it, this simple, second mesh screen traps more sediment than a single. It’s still not going to give you a completely grit-free cup like a pour-over or drip coffee machine will, but the coffee is less chewy than what you get from the usual French press, yet still retains all the oils and solids that make French press coffee so flavorful.
Read our Sterling Pro French Press review to know if it is the right French Press for you.
9. BaristasBuddy The Parisian French Press – Most Durable
Specifications
Material: Stainless steel body and filter
- Capacity: 34 ounces
The Parisian from the new brand BaristasBuddy is impressing us right out of the gate. Constructed of food-grade stainless steel, this brewer is built to last, making it perfect for travel or heavy use. Toss it in a suitcase, drag it out as a camping French press, or knock it on the floor on a dark morning – unlike glass brewers, it won’t shatter.
The BaristasBuddy French Press stainless steel features a double-wall insulating design that ensures your coffee stays hot for up to an hour longer than other brands! It’s only available in a 34-ounce size so far. But this is a practical choice, large enough to serve a crowd but small enough for easy travel.
We can’t fail to mention the beautiful design of this cute French press. It just as easily could have been awarded for its style. It’s available in four unique matte colors that definitely set it apart from the crowd: a basic black, a dusty pink, a vibrant yellow, and a pale blue. Each is accented with a well-chosen lid color. Hopefully, you have plenty of counter space because you’ll hate hiding this coffee maker in a cupboard.
What To Look For In a French Press
Using the French Press is easy, and delicious: Grind freshly roasted, high-quality coffee beans in the right coarseness. Use a grinder that can deliver the right coarseness for a French Press brew. Then, put the ground coffee in, pour hot water (not boiling) over it, and simply press down when your timer says ‘Ding!’ Done.
No precision pouring, stirring, or Gooseneck kettles required. No paper filters needed. Many aficionados of coffee say the press pot produces the best brewed coffee. It certainly captures the full essence of the bean.
Despite how simple the mechanism is, French Presses come in all sorts of variations, and it can be difficult to separate the functional from the flashy.
Related Links:
- French Press Vs Drip Coffee
- Moka Pot vs French Press
- Aeropress vs French Press
- French Press vs Pour Over coffee
- French Press vs The Chemex
- How to use a French Press
To help you navigate the flurry of dinky knock-offs and overpriced frustration traps, here is a list of what to look for the perfect press:
Material Stainless Steel vs Glass (and heat retention)
These coffee makers are almost exclusively made from one of two materials: borosilicate glass or stainless steel. Although some may think the choice between one or the other comes down to visual appeal, it’s really more of a practical matter.
Glass french presses are pretty, but won’t keep your coffee warm as well as a double-wall stainless-steel press.
However, if you feel particularly driven towards glass, breathe easy, because unless you plan to let your coffee sit for more than ten minutes, the amount of heat lost in a glass coffee press isn’t too significant. If you pour it into an insulated travel mug the moment you push down the plunger, choosing a glass or stainless-steel press makes no difference.
Between these two choices stainless steel offers you more control over temperature for a longer period of time (1) and this may be good for someone brewing for more than themselves.
If you’re the one responsible for the morning coffee for you and your special someone, ensuring that their hot coffee will stay hot – no matter how long they take doing God knows what in the bathroom – can be the key to a happy morning.
Also, stainless-steel, like in the Stanley coffee press or this Fellow French Press, is orders of magnitude more accident-proof than glass carafes (…yes, we’re speaking from personal experience here).
Although the glass often used in press pots – borosilicate glass – isn’t as fragile as momma’s fancy wine glasses, it’s still glass, which, as science still maintains, is more prone to breaking than steel.
Design & Comfort
Design may seem superficial – and it often is – but it can also be practical. Comfort, for example, is one of those unappreciated-until-you-try-it advantages.
Considering the times we crave coffee the most are also the times when our fine motor skills are at their lowest (AKA mornings), a comfortable handle may reduce the rate of morning rage-attacks.
Whether you’re pouring for just yourself, or for a plus-one, a good handle keeps that delicate French Press from careening off the counter to an untimely, messy death.
While on the topic of design, it’d be evasive to not at least mention aesthetics, so I’ll say this: a handsome coffee maker isn’t always a well-functioning one. Showing off your pretty new French Press brewer is fun and all, but delicious coffee doesn’t always come from the prettiest instruments (e.g. the AeroPress).
Size – Do You Really Need a French Press That large?
When you make a cup of coffee, are you really just making a cup, or is it more like two cups? If your morning “cup” consists of one to wake and one to go, then you probably need something that can keep up.
There are a few standard French Press sizes to choose from, but 12 oz. and 34 oz. are the most popular. If you’re alone or with someone else, I’d recommend going with the 12 oz. To give you some perspective, 12 oz. gives you one large cup of coffee, or two small cups. Needless to say, the 12 oz. model is also by far the more travel-friendly coffee press, for all you road brewers out there.
If you often find yourself brewing for your family, colleagues or groups of friends, opt for the 34 oz. version. This would also be our recommendation if you’re dealing with two coffee guzzlers, as you won’t get two cups of coffee out of the 12oz.
But bigger isn’t always better. French Presses are all about proportions. If you’re going to use the 34oz size you’ll need to put more coffee grounds and hot water in the carafe to make the French press coffee ratio work with the depth of the plunger.
Filtration System (which affects taste)
The final consideration before purchasing your press is its filter. The filter in a typical French press, composed of a sandwich of steel mesh held in place by stamped steel, is not nearly as fine as those in a drip or pour-over coffee maker, and therefore not as good at keeping out bits of sediment. And more sediment in your brew will change the taste as it over-extracts the remaining coffee.
However, a French press filter will not filter out the tasty and aromatic coffee oils as other filters will.
Although some people like some extra grit floating around in their coffee (2), it’s not for everybody. That said, there are some unique ways to get around brew debris. One of these, the “pull” method of brewing, has you place ground coffee on top of the filter, and pull them out after steeping.
Get a good grinder so you can lessen the chance of having too many ‘fines’ that will sneak past the filter and cause the coffee to be over extracted.
The Verdict
One of the great things about brewing with a French press is that there are so many brands and models to choose from, regardless of your needs and budget. We’re fans of all the coffee presses on this list, but in the end the Frieling Stainless Steel French Press came out on top.
The mirror-finished stainless steel construction makes the Frieling a thing of beauty, and the double-wall carafe keeps your coffee hot four times longer than a glass carafe. Dishwasher safe, 5-year warranty, and a two-stage filter round out the winning characteristics.
This article was last updated on 19 January 2023.
FAQs
The best beans for French press are generally considered to be medium or dark roast. The French press method highlights the big body and rich mouthfeel of darker roasts, while reducing the bitterness. It should go without saying that your beans should be freshly ground directly before brewing if you want the best possible flavor.
French press coffee is not bad for you, but it can be worse than filtered coffee for your cholesterol levels. Unfiltered coffee, which includes French press coffee, contains higher levels of cafestol, which can increase bad cholesterol (3). This compound is filtered out in other coffee brewing methods.
The different coffee extraction methods for making coffee are pressure, filtration, immersion, and decoction. French press is an immersion brewing method, which means the coffee grounds are steeped in water until the desired extraction level is achieved. Cold brew is another method of brewing that uses the immersion method.
Your French press coffee might taste bad for a number of reasons, but the most common one is over-extraction. Even after you depress the plunger, the gourds are still in contact with the water and will continue to brew. Ideally, you should pour your coffee straight away or decant it into another vessel. If you don’t clean your French press carefully after every brew, you might also have coffee residue on the glass or mesh filter. This residue isn’t bad for you, but when the oils in the residue go rancid, they will affect the taste of your coffee. Other reasons you might not like the taste of your coffee include using old or bad beans, grinding your beans too fine, or using water that’s too hot.
Yes, you can make cold brew in a French press, in fact, it’s a great way to make this drink. Start by coarsely grinding and measuring your beans – you’ll need a ratio of 1:4 – 1:5. Slowly pour in room temperature water, without stirring. Add the lid and leave it to sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours. Do not put it in the fridge during the steeping process as this will slow down the extraction. After 12 hours, depress the lunger slightly and decant into another container to avoid over-extraction. You can now put it in the fridge to chill or drink as is.
References
- Buchanan, M. (2013, June 18). Chasing the Perfect Cup of Coffee with Science. Retrieved June 2, 2019, from https://gizmodo.com/chasing-the-perfect-cup-of-coffee-with-science-5642561
- Hoffmann, J. (2016, October 04). Cupping Vs French Press. Retrieved June 2, 2019, from https://jimseven.com/2010/11/04/cupping-vs-french-press/
- Godman, H. (2016, April 30). Pressed coffee is going mainstream – but should you drink it? Retrieved June 2, 2019, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/pressed-coffee-going-mainstream-drink-201604299530
So AeroPress not one of the best in 2020?
I use mine with a Prismo & would consider this combo great for single cup brewing.
The Aeropress is great, but this post is looking at French press coffee makers only. We love (and talk about) the Aeropress all over Home Grounds. Use the search bar and you’ll find some of our posts featuring it 🙂