How to Clean a French Press in 5 Steps: It’s Really That Easy!

Rinse out the leftover coffee, leave the carafe to dry … If learning how to clean a French press is so easy, why have I written an entire guide?

Having recently written a guide to the best French press coffee makers, I thought about why a little more care for the carafe, metal filter and lid ensures an even better pot of coffee.

Don’t worry, though; it doesn’t get complicated or complex. After all, the special thing about this coffee maker is its simplicity – both as a preparation method and in its cleaning.

How to Clean a French Press: Step-by-Step Instructions

Any guide to cleaning a French press should consist of two parts: the daily tasks and the occasional deep cleaning work. Both ensure that coffee oils, stray grounds and leftover dish soap don’t end up in your coffee.

The most important trick is to always use running water. With plenty of hot water, you’ll barely need any dish soap. In addition, you should make it a point to become familiar with your press pot’s nooks and crannies. Trust me, coffee residue loves to hide out in there!

Daily or Deep Cleaning: How Often and How Thoroughly?

Allow me to be honest: I actually disassemble my French press way less often than I recommend you to. Most of the time I simply rinse the thing with water and call it good.

And that’s perfectly fine for daily cleaning. Often (okay, mostly) I don’t even use dish soap – I trust in the power of hot water.

With all that said, I’m not exactly a regular French press user. In fact, I prepare pour over coffee or fire up a fully automatic coffee machine way more often. And this can become a problem.

If you rarely use your French Press and then only rinse and put it away, you can rely on microbes, rancid oils and the like to make their presence known in your coffee at some point.

If you use your French Press frequently, you can remove the worst via its daily water shower so it’ll always be ready to go. However, there’ll be more deposits and thus more reasons for regular deep cleaning.

So once a week, get ready to roll up your sleeves. If you only go to work every two weeks, no one’s gonna say anything. Except maybe your coffee. If you want to store your press pot, you should definitely go through all the steps in my description. Otherwise, that’s it for good coffee flavor.

Why Is Cleaning a French Press Important?

Unlike with tea, the taste of coffee doesn’t get better if leftovers get stuck inside the machine or the pot. Coffee grounds contain oils that tend to stick to surfaces and become rancid.

Even a super smooth glass carafe as with the classic Bodum French press), a carafe made of glazed stoneware (Le Creuset) or a French press made of stainless steel (like the Fellow Clara) is susceptible to this.

In addition, we are not all the most thorough cleaners. Dishwashing detergent can dry just as quickly in a French press, making your coffee taste like fake lemon or summer breeze.

One of the most important components to consider is the mesh filter screen. The fine filter mesh clings to deposits, and coffee powder can also make itself comfortable in the metal spiral of the upper part of the filter.

The transition from the filter to the threaded plunger rod is also a hotspot where bacteria and residue of all kinds can cling.

So it’s clear: between the best coffee beans and the perfect cup, a dirty French press can ruin everything. Then we wouldn’t need to put so much effort into preparing the coffee.

Avoid Common Mistakes: French Press Cleaning Do’s and Don’ts

So far, we can summarize: A clean French press equals better coffee This is not witchcraft. If you don’t feel like reading through every tip about how to clean a French press, you should at least pay attention to the following information:

You’ll often read that you can use baking soda or something similar for cleaning a French press. To be honest, if you need something like that, you should have questioned your cleaning routine a long time ago.

A carafe, or any coffee brewing device for that matter, should never get so dirty that the machine has to let you know or you can’t see through the glass. I wouldn’t make coffee in it under such conditions anyway.

French Press in the Dishwasher: Yes or No?

Like everyone else, I’m a big dishwasher fan. However, I prefer to rinse all coffee brewing equipment by hand.

A dishwasher has many advantages, but a French press will come into contact with aggressive detergent and food residue in there.

Unfortunately, the mesh and filters also do their job in there, so they may catch some of it. In addition, it’s much quicker if you rinse the thing yourself at the sink. And that’s just as much to my taste as quick preparation.

Broken or Damaged French Press: Is It Worth Repairing?

The Fellow French press proves that repair can be worthwhile for any coffee preparation device.

In the manufacturer’s online shop, you can reorder all components individually – including the lid, filtration mesh and shaft. Of course, it is important that the price of the spare part doesn’t exceed the price you paid for the French press.

As long as this is the case, I’m always in favor of making old new instead of replacing the entire apparatus.

How to Dispose of Used French Press Coffee Grounds

Wet coffee grounds have no place in the garbage can. Unless you have a taste for coffee leaks.

That said, they don’t belong down the drain or the toilet either. Just as the coffee oils build up in carafes and filters, they accumulate in drains – and lead to long-term blockages.

If you don’t have a garden or compost directly in front of the house, you should keep a coffee grounds container in your kitchen, knock out your coffee waste and collect it in there. That way, when you take out the trash you can bring the container and empty it into the compost or organic waste bin.

Incidentally, whichever container you use to collect used grounds, be careful not to close the lid all the way. That way, the coffee grounds will dry without molding.

By the way, you should hardly have liquid coffee leftovers – at least if you follow my instructions for how to use a French press. I note that you should always brew coffee according to how much you plan on drinking, and choose the carafe size accordingly.

If there is a little coffee left over, pour it through a kitchen strainer into the sink, let the coffee grounds dry a little and then put them in the compost. Better yet, check out my post on what to do with used coffee grounds. Let your creative side shine!

Final Thoughts

To be honest, there’s about as much to do when cleaning a French press as there is when making coffee in the thing. With this straightforward and simple brewing method, everything is just a question of will and routine.

Personally, I’m always willing to go the extra mile if it means my coffee is going to taste better. But this article has hopefully shown that you won’t even have to go that far with a French press.

How to Clean a French Press FAQ

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