It was that bad. One sip left me revolted. At first, I assumed I bought a low-quality french press, or one of the parts was broken. So I went and returned it and bought another, slightly more expensive brand.

 And guess what? The second cup of coffee turned out just as awful. At this point, I thought ok well clearly french press is not meant for me. But then I learned that the key to french press is figuring out the right amount of coffee to water ratio for one’s personal preferences. And since then I have not looked back!

 But before brewing the perfect cup of coffee, you need to get the right size of french press for your individual needs. If you’re planning on making 3 cups at once, you’d think a 3 cup french press would suffice. Well, you’d be wrong. “Cup” sizes are based on smaller European-sized cups that are around 4 ounces(100ml). The chart below will help you determine the right size to purchase.

Now that you have the perfect size of french press for your individual needs, it’s time to brew the perfect cup of coffee. So how strong do you want your coffee? To get the perfect strength for your taste buds, the key is the coffee to water ratio.

Using too much water will result in weak, bitter coffee. While using too much ground coffee will result in acidic, overpowering coffee. Therefore, we want to aim for the middle. But your middle will be different from someone else’s middle, so the chart below will help you get started.

 It may seem overwhelming at first, but once you play around and try a few different options, it will become intuitive, and you will be able to tweak it to fit your needs. After all, brewing coffee in a french press is a beautiful work of art. And one you will be grateful to have mastered when sipping a fresh cup of coffee to meet your exact needs.