The French press brewing method is great for new and seasoned coffee lovers alike. French press coffee makers are affordable, versatile, and easy to use. But which coffee lets you get the most out of your French press?
owIf you’ve just bought or received your first French press, you might be at a loss browsing through a mind-boggling number of coffee varieties. Although grinding your own beans often makes the most delicious cup, pre-ground coffee can be a great starting point for your French press journey.
Read on to find out the best pre-ground coffee for French press brewing.
8 best pre-ground coffees for French press
Pre-ground coffee made from freshly-roasted beans with a French press coffee maker is a convenient and fast way to get a tasty brew. You won’t have to spend time grinding beans — add the ready-to-go coffee grounds into the coffee maker and plunge!
But even with pre-ground coffee, you have plenty to choose from. You’ll surely find a coffee that pleases your taste buds among these tried and tested pre-ground coffee varieties.
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
Top Pick  | Primos Coffee Co Specialty Coffee |
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 | Guru Coffee Company Single Origin Colombia |
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Most Versatile  | Two Volcanoes Guatemala Coffee |
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Best Value For Money  | Gevalia Special Reserve Costa Rica Coffee |
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 | Koffee Kult Thunder Bolt Colombian Coffee |
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 | Stone Cold Jo Organic Coffee |
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 | AmazonFresh Go For The Bold |
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 | Bones Coffee Company French Toast Flavored Coffee |
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Primos Coffee Co Specialty Coffee
Coffee brands rarely make (or at least market) ground coffee specifically for the French press. This coffee made from medium-roast beans stands out from the crowd — the bag tells you right away that it’s a French press grind.
Primos Coffee Company’s French press grind makes smooth, balanced coffee with notes of sweet fruits and cacao. If you don’t like coffee with a harsh or bitter taste, Primos will become your new favorite with its bright flavor profile.
This is a low-acid, mild coffee, so it’s great for caffeine addicts with sensitive stomachs. You can also easily mix it with oat or other plant-based milk without curdling.
As a direct trade coffee, Primos uses 100% Arabica high-quality coffee beans that arrive at the roaster directly from the coffee grower in Jinotega, Nicaragua. The company roasts the beans to order, so you will always enjoy the freshest coffee possible (unless you roast beans yourself).
In addition to the French press, Primos is also great for making cold brew — after all, the bag says French Press/Cold Brew grind! Why not give it a go if you have never tried cold brew? Let the coffee infuse in the fridge for a day, and enjoy a delicious cold coffee!
Do you enjoy coffee with a capital C? Then you should give Guru Coffee Original a try.
Prepared from 100% Arabica beans, Guru Original is medium roast all the way. But medium doesn’t mean average. This expertly roasted single-origin pre-ground coffee is the definition of a quintessential coffee flavor.
The medium roast coffee beans produce a bold and smooth flavor with medium acidity. Your tongue will detect chocolate notes and a hint of nuttiness. There’s next to no bitterness, making this a wonderfully flavorful and rich coffee option for those who don’t like the darker roasts.
Guru Original is also delightfully versatile. It’s a great coffee for enjoying black, but the flavors don’t get muddled even if you add milk or cream. You can also use it to make fantastic iced coffee.
Finally, this is one of the best pre-ground coffee options if you are sensitive to caffeine but still want your morning pick-me-up. Guru Original has enough good stuff to kickstart your engine, but it won’t leave you jittery.
Guru Original defines the flavor most of us imagine when we think of good coffee.
Two Volcanoes Guatemalan Ground Coffee
With a name like Two Volcanoes, you’d expect a flavor explosion from this coffee roaster. The 100% Guatemalan Espresso Blend certainly packs flavor — but this unique coffee might not be what you’d expect.
Despite its name, this espresso blend consists of rather coarse ground coffee, which isn’t exactly an espresso grind. But whether intentional or not, it is a perfect pre-ground coffee for the French press. Also, you can make a pour-over espresso with it, so it’s a win-win. The grind size is just right to produce an excellent coffee.
And what a coffee it is! Two Volcanoes has created a dark roast coffee without the “bite.”
This blend has a deep, complex, and rich flavor with aromatic wood and fruit notes. But at the same time, it’s surprisingly mild for a darker roast, lacking much of the bitterness you might expect. These pre-ground freshly roasted beans will let you relax with a sophisticated and complex brew.
In addition to the French press, Two Volcanoes is suitable for brewing coffee with drip coffee makers or preparing cold brews. This is a great choice for enjoying mild but very flavorful coffee.
Gevalia Kaffe Costa Rica Coarse Ground Coffee
Are you the coffee drinker who enjoys tweaking your drink based on your mood, the outdoor temperature, or just for fun? Then Gevalia Kaffe Costa Rica may be your best ground coffee option.
The 100% Arabica beans used to make this blend come from Costa Rica’s mineral-rich fields. Coarsely ground, this coffee is tailor-made for the French press brewing method.
This Kosher-certified medium roast coffee has a delicate, fruity, and citrusy flavor with delightful, rich hints of dark chocolate. However, by adjusting the brewing temperature, you can get a great range of variability in the taste and aroma. And that’s just what making coffee with a French press allows you to do.
Gevalia’s adaptability also makes it a great base for coffee recipes with milk. If you make a latte or another similar drink, you can get a delightful, slightly bitter, and strong coffee by increasing the brewing temperature. But fans of more mellow coffee can brew it with cooler water to appreciate a perfect cup.
Koffee Kult Thunder Bolt Colombian Coffee
Usually, I would not recommend French roast coffee for French press. Despite the name, it’s easy to end up with a much-too-bitter cup when using a dark roast. But Koffee Kult shows that there’s an exception to every rule.
Made from a blend of Brazilian and Colombian Arabica beans, Thunder Bolt makes for a flavorful cup with a rich body. It has the characteristically strong smokiness of dark roasted coffee. You’ll also get sweeter notes of molasses you might not expect from an extra dark roast.
Thunder Bolt is well-suited for the French press brewing process, resulting in a deep flavor and a smooth finish that’s bound to satisfy any strong coffee lover. Also, this blend works fantastically with espresso machines.
Koffee Kult roasts their organic coffee beans to order. The bag also features a handy built-in zipper that forms an airtight seal to maintain the ground coffee’s freshness longer.
While Thunder Bolt is not the cheapest pre-ground coffee, the price is still right for the quality. Give it a try, and you just might become a newly-converted Koffee Kultist!
Stone Cold Jo Low Acidity Organic Coffee
Not all coffee lovers enjoy highly acidic varieties for health or taste reasons. Stone Cold Jo can help even the most sensitive stomach savor delicious coffee without problems.
Many things contribute to this pre-ground coffee’s smooth, low-acidic flavor. It’s a dark roast, which naturally results in less acidity. This 100% Arabica blend is made from USDA-certified organic coffee beans, grown without pesticides or other chemicals.
Although Stone Cold Jo is marketed as a cold brew blend, this coarsely ground coffee suits French press brewing perfectly. Stone Cold Jo, when used with a French press, makes for a silky smooth brew with hints of caramel and chocolate.
Despite being a dark roast, this coffee does not produce the characteristic, strong taste you’d expect. It has very little bitterness and is surprisingly mellow. So if you are a fan of regular dark-roasted coffee, you may want to look elsewhere.
I’m not saying it negatively, though — it’s just a fact. Stone Cold Jo is one of the best coarse-ground coffee blends if you like a bold coffee with a full body that is still easy on both the stomach and the taste buds.
AmazonFresh Go For The Bold Ground Coffee
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Amazon-brand coffee? This can’t be good!” But you’d better buckle up because you’ll be in for a real surprise.
This pre-ground coffee blend isn’t titled Go for the Bold for nothing. The 100% Arabica dark roast beans produce a bold and rich flavor experience with a robust mouthfeel. But this coffee has no overwhelming bitterness you usually associate with dark roasts.
Go for the Bold is also a very versatile pre-ground coffee brand. In addition to the French press, coffee snobs have had great experiences brewing it with a drip coffee maker and even a Keurig.
To top it all off, this coffee blend is very affordable. Kudos to Amazon, who produced one of the best value-for-money dark roast coffee blends.
If anything, the Go for the Bold blend proves that you can’t judge a coffee by its bag!
Bones Coffee Company French Toast Flavored Coffee
Do you like sweeter brew but don’t particularly care for mixing a lot of coffee add-ins to your cup? Bones Coffee Company’s French Toast coffee will let you enjoy sweet, freshly brewed coffee without adding anything extra.
This flavored pre-ground coffee is made from medium-roasted Brazilian 100% Arabica beans. The whole-bean coffee is ground and mixed with flavorings. This results in a buttery and syrupy French Toast blend with notes of vanilla and cinnamon.
While you can make a French Toast latte from scratch, it contains syrup and milk, meaning quite a few additional calories in your cup. With Bones Cofee Company French Toast blend, you won’t have to worry even if you are on a diet. The coffee contains no added sugars or carbs. Additionally, it’s vegan and keto-friendly, so everyone can enjoy a delightful cup of coffee without feeling guilty.
Although this coffee blend is intended for drip machines, many coffee drinkers have had fantastic experiences using it with a French press. With this simple brewing method, the French Toast blend lets you prepare a delightful treat in a few minutes — and without extra calories.
Finding the best coffee for French press: buyer’s guide
Freshly ground beans will always produce the best flavor in your French press coffee. But if you don’t have a grinder — or are just looking for convenience for busy mornings — you can still get a satisfying drink from perfectly roasted pre-ground French press coffee beans.
Many different factors can affect coffee flavor and aroma. Different coffee brewing methods often call for a certain kind of coffee beans. But whether you use a French press or other methods, the coffee’s origin, roast level, and grind size are the three most significant elements- in addition to freshness.
Let’s learn out how to choose the best coffee beans when you buy pre-ground coffee for your French press.
Best beans for French press
Single-origin coffee from 100% Arabica beans works best with the French press method. African beans produce a fruity and vibrant drink, while American coffees are the smoothest. But coffee from any origin works with French press, so you can follow your preferences.
Coffee origin is an important factor in determining the general characteristics of its taste and aroma. Just like with wine grapes, the soil, altitude, temperature, and humidity in which coffee grows make a big difference in its taste. For example, compare Hawaiian Kona coffee to African varieties; they taste totally different.
Although coffee’s characteristics can vary even within a single region, fresh beans from specific origins share certain features. Here are the general flavor profiles of the world’s major coffee regions:
- The Americas: Countries in Central and South America produce smooth-tasting coffee with a well-balanced taste and body — perfect for fledgling coffee drinkers. These coffees often have a nutty flavor, floral aromas, and refreshing, bright acidity.
- Africa: Coffee from Africa is second to none when it comes to fruity and floral notes. These coffee bean varieties are often fragrant and vibrant, with intense and often highly acidic flavor profiles.
- Asia: Indian and Southeast Asian coffees are full-bodied and robust. They have low acidity levels with often smoky and earthy notes.
- The Caribbean: Last but not least, we arrive in the Caribbean Islands, which grow coffee beans with a well-balanced body. They share some characteristics with continental American coffees but often have a milder acidity and a richer flavor.
Best roast for French press
A medium roast is the best for French press coffee. You can get good results with all coffee roast levels, but the final taste and strength will vary between roasts.
Light roast coffee beans will produce a drink with light brown color with no coffee oils on the surface. Light roast coffee produces bright, fruity-tasting notes, higher acidity, and delicate flavors and aromas. The coffee origin will reveal itself the most in a light roast. This isn’t the recommended roast for French press since the flavor profile is so mild, but if that’s what you enjoy, go ahead and use it!
Medium roast is often touted as the best coffee roast for French press. It will produce a drink with more body and a stronger flavor that’s still balanced and smooth. Medium roasts also often have more sweet notes due to the sugars in the coffee beans caramelizing during roasting. Medium-roasted beans often have a slightly oily surface.
Medium-dark roast to dark roast coffee beans produce a bold cup of coffee with a bitter aftertaste from the extended roasting process. They have low acidity and a smoky, strong flavor with plenty of natural oils on the surface. Note that a very dark roast is sometimes called a French roast, but that doesn’t mean it’s ideal for French press coffee. It can easily produce a drink with an overly bitter taste.
Best grind size for French press
A coarse grind is the best grind size for French press brewing. A coarser grind results in better flavor extraction and makes pressing the plunger easier.
If you are buying pre-ground coffee for French press, you’d ideally want a grind labeled for this brewing method. Unfortunately, very few coffee roasters market their coffees like this. However, you’ll be just fine purchasing coarsely ground coffee or a cold brew grind.
If you are using your own coffee grinder, grind your beans to roughly 0.75-1 mm granules. The grounds should feel like rough sand when rubbed between the fingers.
But you don’t want your coffee ground too coarsely because the flavor won’t extract properly, and you’ll get a bland, watery coffee. Conversely, since French press coffee makers use an immersion method, a too-fine grind will produce over-extracted coffee that will taste bitter. Fine grinds could also clog the French press’ filter, making it hard or impossible to push the plunger down.
So here you have it, the top picks and tips for the best pre-ground coffee for French press. They make a great starting point for coffee fans new to French press brewing or those who are willing to explore the possibilities of this great brewing method. And once you determine what you like, you can always take the next step and buy a burr grinder to enjoy the freshly ground coffee aroma every morning.
