robjame

I love my coffee.
In talking to a Parisienne, she said that she had nevere seen a French Press (my preferred method) until she came to the States. Furthermore, she said everybody she knew had electric perks.
Up to now I have had my coffee (espresso) in a cafe while in France and that will surely continue...but I had been thinking of coffee in our apartment and gite.
What have you found?

hetismij

Usually they have an elctric filter machine in my experience. I had never seen a French press either until I visited my SIL in the UK and she had one.
Very bad for you, French Press (or caffetiere) coffee - leaves all the cholesterol in the coffee, whereas the filter, or espresso take most of it out.

Christina

I don't use a French press at home or elsewhere, so never looked in the stores, but the two apts I rented in Paris had coffee machines where you pour the water in the top and it heats up and goes down over the ground beans just like most in the US now (ie, Mr Coffee, etc). They def. did not have electric perks, and these were not the slick apts rented to or owned by Americans, they were French rental agencies and French owners.

These are called cafetières in France and sold in regular dept and discount appliance stores -- they sell Braun, Bosch, Siemens, Rowenta, Philips, etc. coffee machine brands just like elsewhere. I think your friend is very unusual, unless she's using the term electric perk to mean a coffee machine where you pour water in the top.

hetismij

Christina interesting that the electric coffee maker is a cafetiere in France - in the UK that is what they call a French Press.

StuDudley

We've stayed in over 25 different Gites & apartments in France. They all had electric perks with filters.

Stu Dudley

Carlux

It always amuses me when people say 'no-one does that' or 'everybody has..."

Regarding coffee makers, certainly lots of people have electric, and now special espresso makers with pre-measured ingredients - Senseo, Nespresso.

However, i bought my 'French' press in France, from a supermarket, which makes me think there must be SOMEONE else out there using this method. They also sell replacement liners for those of us who are clumsy enough to break the glass.

I buy my coffee freshly roasted (in the shop) from someone who sells beans whole or ground, and lots of different French press sizes and makes, coffee grinders, etc. And I'm never the only one in the shop.

You will certainly find a cafetiere - French press when you stay with us - and a grinder so that you can make it just the consistency you like. Don't know about Paris, but they aren't expensive in the supermarkets.

robjame

Carlux - LOL - This saves me an email!

I won't have to suffer withdrawal!

Thank you.

tipsygus

Sorry as a British contributor, I have never heard a cafetiere called a French Press in the UK. That is how the shops label them as well, that includes the grocers/supermarkets where I buy my coffee. I have always know them as Cafetieres, and as far as I am concerned it is the only way to make coffee, itis so much easier than a filter machine or one of those filters that just stand on top of a cup or mug, saves using filter papers too. Just my opinion of course.

blh

In our apartment in France in May, there was a French Press. I was expecting a regular coffee pot (Mr. Coffee type that I had seen in other B&B's in France). Luckily, I have a French Press at home, so I knew how to use it - there were no directions. I doubt if everyone would know how to use a French Press.

NeoPatrick

Stu, now I'm really confused. Do you mean a Mr. Coffee type where you pour the water in the top and it heats it and goes down through the beans in a filter?
That's certainly what I've had in nearly every apartment I've rented.

Whenever someone says "perc", I think of one where the water is in the bottom and it heats and shoots up a tube to splash down over the beans (usually in a metal strainer) and then fall back to where the water started. That's what I think a percolator does.

No?

sshephard

hetismij: I was skeptical about your claim on cholesterol but then did a little research. Very interesting

Both French Press (boiled, unfiltered) coffee and espresso have been linked to higher cholesterol levels -- in men more than women. I suppose you could French press your coffee and then pour it through a drip filter?

For an article on coffee and cholesterol levels, go to:

http://tinyurl.com/36462y

StuDudley

NeoPatrick.

I obviously don't know what a Perk is. You are correct - all have been Mr Coffee type.

Stu Dudley

NeoPatrick

So relieved. Not sure I'd have been able to sleep tonight without knowing for sure. LOL
Don't we thrive on trivialities here?

ira

> leaves all the cholesterol in the coffee,

Cholesterol in coffee? Who put it there?

Cholesterol is solely and animal product.

"Aha", he said after doing a quick google, "There is evidence that filtered coffee is less likely to increase blood serum cholesterol".

http://tinyurl.com/2kqty8

robjame

hetismij, sshephard and ira - you have stuick a sword into one of my real pleasures and particularly the way I enjoy my coffee made
Next thing you will be telling me is that foie gras and excessive wine are also bad!

Louie_LI

Bodum certainly sells its French press coffee pots in France. I have bought and broken several.

ira

Hi rob,

>Next thing you will be telling me is that foie gras and excessive wine are also bad!

Not if eaten and drunk together in France.

Christina

So it seems some people are calling drip Mr Coffee type machines electric perks? Electric perks are the old-fashioned kind from the 50s, that brew a long time and have a metal filter at the top you put the coffee in.

I think the term cafetiere is just a generic term in French that means "coffee pot" really, so it can refer to many kinds and if you go into a French dept. store to look at cafetieres, there will be different models. But that term does include Brauns, Krumps, etc., typical modern style drip coffee pots where you just pour in the water and the coffee is in a paper filter (or some filters that are permanent and washable now, I have one of each), and the pot heats the water to boiling before it goes down over the ground coffee into a pot.

sshephard

Coffee has no cholesterol but apparently one study suggests that boiled coffee (French Press and maybe even percolated) can increase bad cholesterol levels.

This is one study and my link shows one article so I don't think one should give up French press coffee yet.

Having studied coffee a little I can tell you that percolated coffee is made by boiling water in a special pot. The boiled water goes up a tube and then drips down over the coffee grounds in a basket at the top of the pot. Coffee purists say that this is the worst way to prepare coffee because it boils the already boiled coffee.

We should all just drink instant coffee - yum!

robjame

Christina - this was my mistake in terminology from the OP.
I should have said "electric coffee makers" not perks.
This would be the type usually with the water reservoir in the back, filter paper with the coffee in it, etc. which drips down into a pot.