For as much we tend to love the finer things in life like wine and good food, as a society we've somehow decided to neglect coffee. And that's a damn shame because there is nothing in the world  like a delicious, perfectly prepared cup of coffee.

The aromatic compounds in coffee outnumber those in wine by an order of magnitude and with a little bit of work, you can enjoy a cup of coffee better than anything you've ever had before, every single day. 

So why not give it a shot?

You probably already have most of what you need to get the job done.

What you need:

• High quality, fresh coffee 
  • Coffee is a food that goes stale. If you want the best possible cup of coffee, you need freshly roasted coffee, ground right before you use it! My favorite source is Go Coffee Go.
• Coffee Grinder
• A French Press - Any will do. I prefer a Bodum press, but Ive heard incredible things about the Espro press.
• Kitchen Scale - I got mine on Amazon for $17
• Stopwatch
• Kettle (or another way to boil water)

Preparation:

1) Heat your water to 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93.3 degrees Celsius)

200 degrees is the exact perfect temperature for brewing coffee. Some electric kettles allow you to choose the temperature manually, otherwise, simply bring your water to a boil and remove it from the heat for about a minute. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit so a little bit off boil will get you to 200 degrees.

2) Measure out 21 grams of whole bean coffee (per cup)

This is my preferred amount of coffee for around 10oz of water. It yields a great cup of coffee. Most people seem to think it's ridiculous to measure your coffee so precisely but it makes a huge difference in the cup. Remember coffee is a food and you're following a recipe here.

3) Grind the coffee on the coarsest setting available on your grinder

For a great french press coffee you want the grind to be coarse and consistent so the coffee extracts evenly as it brews. If there is a lot of variability, the fine particles will over extract and the large particles will under extract. Burr grinders are your best bet here, but if all you have is a blade grinder, turn it on in small bursts and try to match the size of the grind to my picture.

4) Preheat your press, add ground coffee, and zero your scale

First you want to use a little bit of your hot water to heat up the glass of your press. This will help to keep a stable temperature as you brew your cup of coffee. Next, pour out the water, add the ground coffee, place the press on your kitchen scale, and zero it out (tare it). You will be weighing the water as you pour to make sure you add just the right amount of water.

Brewing the Coffee:

1) Start your stopwatch and slowly pour about 50 grams of water over your coffee grounds

You want to pour as evenly as possible. Once you do this, allow the coffee to sit until your stopwatch gets to 30 seconds. This allows the coffee to release carbon dioxide that develops during the roasting process. This step is commonly known as allowing the coffee to "bloom."

2) At 30 seconds use a wooden stirrer to gently mix up the coffee grounds

You only need to mix for a second or two, just make sure it's well mixed.

3) Slowly pour an additional 250 grams of water over the grounds

You want the total amount of water (per cup) to be roughly 300 grams. It doesn't have to be perfect but you should try to get it close which is very easy with a simple, cheap kitchen scale. Pour the water slowly and in small circles over the grounds.

4) Cover the press and let it sit until your stopwatch reaches 3:20

5) Scoop off top layer of grinds and press slowly

This final step will help produce a much cleaner cup of coffee. All you have to do is remove the lid and gently scoop as much of the grounds that have floated to the top of the press as you can with a plastic/wooden spoon. After you do this, replace the top of the press, press the plunger slowly, and pour immediately. If you don't pour immediately the coffee will continue to brew and will taste terrible.

The fastest way to clean up:

The one downside of making a cup of coffee with a French press is that it can be annoying to clean up. This simple trick makes it easy. First, dump the grounds and rinse off all parts of the press. You want rinse off all the coffee grounds. You may have to loosen the metal filter at the bottom of the plunger to rinse all the grounds.

Once it's rinsed, all you have to do is fill it up with hot water, add a little splash of dish soap, cover the press, and slowly pull the plunger up and and down.

The press will be completely clean in seconds!

I hope you all give this a shot! All it takes to drink a truly wonderful cup of coffee, is a little bit of planning and few extra minutes.

Cheers everyone!