Doing away with drip>>.

[Greg Suekoff]

The retail cafes where I work are going to get rid of the drip coffee program. We currently offer several custom brew methods alongside the drip, but since none of our staff drinks drip, or supports drip extraction as an accurate brewing method, we shouldn't expect our customers to either... Our strongest choice for replacing these brewers is currently french press. I was wondering if anyone had logistical advice for this preparation. We will prepare several large presses, pour the coffee into shuttles, and distribute the coffee from there. Is sediment an issue? would it make sense to filter the press coffee with a cone? How about heat retention? This is an attempt to make a major improvement to our coffee program and I (QC is one of my departments) want to make sure we make this change smoothly. Any Hints?

[Jason Haeger]

You can also use the "cupping method" to start with a cleaner brew to begin with. Takes a little more time, but it's well worth it, in my opinion.
Zech said:

A mesh tea filter! Brilliant!



John P said:

To remove most of the sediment from the Press coffee...strain through a tea strainer or other fine mesh when pouring into thermal carafe/airpot.

[Lorenzo Perkins]

We use french press for all our coffee, and there is little to no grumbling. We always have our "house" blend brewed and waiting in an airpot for those who want to grab and go, and we offer two to four single origin presses by the cup, for those who will wait five minutes for a knock you socks off cup of coffee.

Sediment isn't an issue as long as the airpot is cleaned in between french presses, and I also recommend throwing out the first bit of coffee after it has been transferred to the airpot to reduce the sediment even more. But this brings up an interesting point for customer education. While "floaties" aren't desirable in a cup of coffee, you need to find ways to inform your customers that sediment in the bottom of the cup is standard for a french press.

I know of several other shops that have gone the gold cone method of reducing sediment with great success. In fact, someone in town is talking about having a few large ones custom made for this purpose. Good luck with the switch, both you and your customers will be thrilled with the results.