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REI
Editor’s note: As of today, Sept. 8, this item is out of stock at most online retailers. You might want to check out our best french press coffee maker list in the meantime.
Heads up, coffee lovers: This might be the best French press you’ll ever try.
It started off innocently enough. A few camping trips here, a long road trip there. But now I find myself spending every morning at home with Stanley… and my husband is all for it.
My Stanley French press entered into my life only a few months ago, but has already become one of my favorite parts of my morning routine, offering a welcome ritual between waking up and opening my laptop each day. The first time I used my Stanley was around a campfire, just steps from a pitched tent and my sleeping husband and baby. The early morning fog was still hovering just above the dewy grass while the sounds of the crackling fire began to stir the treetops and incite a chorus of chirping birds.
A bit poetic for a camping trip that took place in my own backyard? OK, yes. But the second that smooth, hot coffee slid down my throat, there could have been unicorns and trumpets for all I remember. It was one of those “eyes wide open, life stands still, everything is right in this world” moments.
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Walmart
The 48-ounce French press keeps drinks hot for 4 hours, cold for 9 hours or iced for 24 hours.
I chalked the experience up to the fact that everything tastes better outside, or maybe it was just that I had to work to earn my coffee that morning by setting up a fire, heating the water, stirring the grounds and then gently pressing them down below the water’s surface so they could do their magic. I have since tried all methods of coffee brewing at home — single-pod machines (too wasteful), pour-overs (too technical), stovetop cezves (too gritty) — but nothing has ever come close to recreating that ethereal experience of the first time I used my Stanley French press around that campfire… until I decided to bring him into the kitchen.
French press coffee is all about the experience, where the ritual somehow becomes equally important in the way the coffee tastes; a fact that Chicago French Press founder Kris Christian can personally attest. “French press coffee is for someone who enjoys taking their time to enjoy coffee as a pastime of gratitude and reflection,” Christian says. “My love for the French press method started on a trip to Los Angeles to visit my best friend, Warren. [He] took me to a local cafe where they served French press coffee. I had never had it before, and, in addition to its fresh aroma and rich taste, it enhanced our conversation and made it more interesting and interactive. The French press method quickly became my favorite way to brew. That one conversation over French press coffee sparked Chicago French Press — a destination for freshly roasted organic coffee that connects java drinkers to philanthropic causes in underserved communities.”