The cafetière is the most widely used home brew method in the UK - and for good reason. It is straightforward, requires no special equipment and produces a full-bodied cup that rewards good technique. This guide covers everything you need: the right grind, the right temperature and the four-minute method that works every time. For a broader look at home brewing, read our Complete Home Coffee Brewing Guide.
How do you use a cafetière step by step?
The process takes about six minutes from boil to cup. Follow these steps and you will get a consistently good result.
- Boil your kettle and let it sit for 30 seconds. You want the water at 90–96°C - just off the boil, not at a rolling boil.
- Add coarsely ground coffee to the empty cafetière. For a standard 8-cup (1-litre) cafetière, use 65g of coffee.
- Pour the hot water over the grounds evenly, leaving about 1cm of space at the top.
- Give it one gentle stir to make sure all the grounds are wet.
- Place the lid on the cafetière but do not press the plunger down yet.
- Wait exactly 4 minutes.
- Press the plunger down slowly and evenly - no forcing.
- Pour immediately. Do not leave brewed coffee sitting on the spent grounds.
That is the complete method. Nothing else is needed.
What grind size is best for a cafetière?
Coarse is the only grind that works well in a cafetière. The mesh filter on a plunger is not designed to hold fine particles - a fine or medium-fine grind will push through the filter, leaving silt in your cup and making the coffee overly bitter.
A coarse grind looks a little like coarse sea salt or breadcrumbs. If you are using pre-ground coffee, look for bags specifically labelled for cafetière or French press use. If you grind at home, set your grinder to its coarsest or second-coarsest setting and adjust from there.
Using a finer grind is one of the most common reasons cafetière coffee comes out harsh and gritty. Get the grind right and the rest of the method becomes much easier.
How long should you leave coffee in a cafetière?
Four minutes. That is the standard brew time for a cafetière at 90–96°C and it holds true for most coffees and most roast levels.
Under four minutes and the extraction is incomplete - the coffee tastes flat, thin and undersweet. Over four minutes and the extraction tips into bitterness as the water pulls harsher compounds from the grounds.
The four-minute rule also has a second part: once you have pressed and poured, stop there. Coffee left sitting on the spent grounds after plunging continues to extract. Even five minutes of post-press contact can noticeably alter the flavour. If you are not serving immediately, pour the coffee into a warmed jug or flask to remove it from the grounds entirely.
What water temperature should I use for a cafetière?
The target range is 90–96°C. In practical terms, this means boiling your kettle and then waiting 30 to 45 seconds before pouring.
Boiling water (100°C) scorches the coffee grounds and accelerates over-extraction, producing a harsh, bitter cup. Water that is too cool - below 88°C - will under-extract the coffee, leaving it weak and sour.
If you have a temperature-controlled kettle, set it to 93°C and use it immediately. If you are working with a standard kettle, the 30-second wait is a reliable shortcut. You do not need a thermometer - the brief pause is enough to drop the water into the right range.
"We try to focus not only on different regions, but from a traditional lens - a historical lens. The origin method, the origin of making. We try to make the coffee simple as it is. Too much syrups, too much flavours - the source of coffee is to be what it is."
- Ameen, Founder, Hamdan Coffee
The cafetière fits this philosophy precisely. The method has not changed in 150 years. There is no paper filter removing oils, no pressure, no complexity. Just ground coffee, hot water and time. When the beans are good, that simplicity is all you need.
Why is my cafetière coffee bitter or weak?
Bitter coffee almost always comes down to one of four causes: the grind is too fine, the water is too hot (boiling rather than just off the boil), the brew time was too long or too much coffee was used relative to the water.
Weak coffee points in the opposite direction: the grind may be too coarse, the water too cool, the brew time too short or not enough coffee was added.
Work through the variables one at a time. The most common fix is the grind - switching from a medium to a genuinely coarse grind resolves bitterness for most people straight away. If bitterness persists after coarsening the grind, check your water temperature and reduce your brew time by 30 seconds. Small adjustments make a clear difference.
How much coffee should I use in a cafetière?
The standard ratio for a cafetière is 1:15 to 1:16 - one part coffee to fifteen or sixteen parts water by weight.
For a standard 8-cup (1-litre) cafetière, this works out to approximately 65g of coffee. For a smaller 3-cup (350ml) cafetière, use around 22–24g.
These ratios give a balanced, full-bodied cup. If you prefer stronger coffee, move toward 1:14. If you prefer a lighter cup, try 1:17. Start with 1:15 and adjust once you know where the coffee sits on your palate. Using a kitchen scale rather than scoops makes it far easier to repeat results accurately.
What coffee works best in a cafetière?
The cafetière's immersion method keeps the coffee's natural oils in the cup rather than filtering them out. This makes it particularly well-suited to medium and dark roasts - coffees with body, sweetness and depth translate well without a paper filter between you and the flavour.
Light roasts work too, especially if you want brightness and clarity, but they can seem thin in a cafetière compared to how they perform in a pour-over.
Single-origin coffees from Yemen - like Hamdan's Royal Haraz - are processed naturally, which means they carry berry-forward sweetness and deep chocolatey body. Both qualities come through well in a cafetière. If you want to understand what your coffee can do without distractions, this is the method to use.
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