French Press Timer
French press brew runner with a 30-second bloom, a steep phase totaling about four minutes, and a plunge cue, plus coffee and water grams scaled to your cup count and ratio.
Built by the AbraCalc team
How to play
- Drag the cup slider to how many 8oz cups you're brewing, then pick a ratio from 1:12 (strong) to 1:17 (light).
- Read off the coffee and water grams shown below the slider and measure both before you start the timer.
- Tap Start Brew for a fullscreen run: BLOOM counts down 30 seconds first, then STEEP runs the remaining time to a 4-minute total.
- When PLUNGE appears, press the plunger down slowly and evenly — a chime marks the moment your press coffee is ready to pour.
A good French press comes down to two numbers: how long the grounds sit in water, and how much water you used in the first place. This runner starts with a 30-second bloom so trapped CO2 can escape before it blocks even extraction, then steeps for the rest of a four-minute total contact time, then gives you a plunge cue instead of a guess. Set your cup count and a coffee-to-water ratio from strong to light, and the grams for both coffee and water scale together so the brew stays balanced whether you're making one mug or a full carafe.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does the timer bloom for 30 seconds before the main steep?
- Freshly roasted coffee releases carbon dioxide when it hits hot water, and that gas can form bubbles that block water from reaching all the grounds evenly. A short 30-second bloom lets most of that gas escape before the rest of the water goes in, which gives a more even extraction for the remaining steep time.
- How is this different from the pour-over coffee runner?
- This tool times a French press: one bloom pour, one long steep with the grounds fully submerged, and a single plunge at the end. The pour-over runner instead walks you through several separate timed pours to specific cumulative water-weight targets, because pour-over extraction happens gradually as water drains through a filter rather than all at once in a steeping vessel.
- Can I use a different ratio than what's offered?
- The 1:12 to 1:17 range covers the common French press spectrum from bold to light-bodied, and the grams shown will always stay proportional to whichever ratio you pick. If you prefer a ratio outside that range, use the closest option as a reference and adjust the coffee dose by feel — the timing itself doesn't change with ratio, only the grams do.