The Top 5 Best French Press Coffee Makers for Home Use (2023)

French press coffee holds a special place in my heart, so I’ve tried out a bunch of French press coffee makers to find the best one. The brewing equipment you need to make French press coffee is limited and affordable, thankfully, but you still want a good quality French press that can hold temperature, filter out most of the grounds and the “fines,” and will stand up to daily use.

In this guide, I’ll be discussing the top five French press coffee makers for use at home, and I’ll also include a buyer’s guide to explain what you should look for when choosing a French press. Let’s get started!

The Top 5 Best French Press Coffee Makers

1. Mueller French Press Double Insulated 310 Stainless Steel Coffee Maker — Best Overall
2. Bodum Java French Press Coffee Maker — Best Budget Option
3. ESPRO P7 French Press Coffee Maker — Best Premium Option
4. Frieling Double-Walled Stainless Steel French Press Coffee Maker — Best for Big Batches
5. Le Creuset Stoneware French Press Coffee Maker

1. Mueller French Press Double Insulated 304 Stainless Steel Coffee Maker — Best Overall

This French press from Mueller is the one I use just about every single morning to make my coffee. It’s affordable, coming in at around a third of the price of some of the premium options, but it’s still super high quality and durable as anything. I’ve been using this French press for about 10 years now, and I suspect it has several more decades in the tank.

This is a double-wall French press with a vacuum seal between the layers. You can check out my guide on buying a French press for more information on why this is so important, but basically, it helps maintain your ideal temperature for the entire time your coffee is brewing. This helps deliver a balanced cup of coffee that is lightly sweet and lacks the sourness and acidic taste you’d see if your temperature gets too low.

It’s made of high-quality 304 stainless steel (18/10), which is durable and won’t impart nasty chemicals to your coffee over time.

The plunger comes with two super-fine mesh screens that help remove the majority of the grounds, including most of the “fines.” Fines — or small pieces of coffee grounds — remaining in your brewed coffee will continue to extract and lead to unpalatable bitterness and acidity. These screens do a great job of keeping those fines out of your coffee and minimizing the coffee mud you see in the bottom of your cup.

Additionally, this French press has one of my favorite quality-of-life features: an engraved arrow on the lid to line up with the spout to prevent making a giant mess when you pour. I never knew I needed this until I had it, and I’ll never go back.

2. Bodum Java French Press Coffee Maker — Best Budget Option

If you’re looking for a budget option, you’ll likely have to go with a glass French press, like the Bodum Java. Single-wall glass isn’t ideal because it doesn’t retain heat as well as insulated metal, stone, or a double-wall glass French press. As such, your brewing temperature can drop more rapidly and lead to some sour or even salty flavors in your coffee, which aren’t ideal. However, single-layer glass is the cheapest material.

To keep costs as low as possible, this French press has a plastic handle and brewing chamber holster, as well as a plastic lid and plunger handle. The plastic is good quality, although it’s possible it will crack if you drop it. The glass will absolutely crack if you drop it, which is another reason why this material isn’t ideal for something you handle every day.

This French press only has a single metal mesh filter, which will remove fewer fines from your coffee than a double mesh filter, as you get with my top pick. As such, you’re more likely to see over-extraction occurring in your cup — think bitter and acidic flavors — if you don’t drink your coffee right away.

The glass portion of this French press comes out easily enough for cleaning, but it sits snugly in the holster while you’re using it and should never come out by accident.

3. ESPRO P7 French Press Coffee Maker — Best Premium Option

The ESPRO P7 French Press is the one option that will catch the most scoffs because of the price tag. This coffee maker is super expensive for a French press, but if you’re looking for a clean cup of coffee — minimal fines — but still want those delicious and heavy coffee oils, you can’t beat the P7.

This French press uses a unique filter basket for your grounds that has two metal mesh filters: one filter on the bottom to keep fine grounds out of the basket and one ultra-fine mesh on top to prevent those tiny grounds from getting into your cup. The entire basket also has a rubber gasket around the edges to keep fines from slipping up around the edge of your mesh filters — something I’ve never seen on another French press.

The result is a clean, crisp cup of full-body coffee that won’t over-extract after you pour it and won’t leave that coffee mud in your cup.

This French press is also beautiful and comes in a few colors and patterns of brushed metal. This can be a piece of your kitchen decor in addition to being your ideal piece of coffee brewing equipment.

The only major downside to this French press is that there’s no easy way to implement a paper filter like you can with the traditional French press design. The super-fine metal mesh more or less provides the same effect, but if you want to be able to take those coffee oils out of your French press coffee with a paper filter — read why you’d want to remove oils from French press coffee here — then you should choose a different French press.

4. Frieling Double-Walled Stainless Steel French Press Coffee Maker — Best for Big Batches

The Frieling French press is another rather expensive option, but the quality of coffee that comes out is outstanding.

This is a double-wall, vacuum-sealed, stainless steel French press, so you can’t get much better in terms of heat retention and temperature regulation while brewing — with two layers of metal, it’s only marginally less insulative than two layers of glass. Maintaining your ideal brewing temperature means you’ll get full-flavor coffee with the sweetness and balanced bitterness and acidity that most coffee lovers long for every morning.

This French press also includes two metal mesh filters that are quite fine. These will pull most of the fines out of your cup, minimizing sludge and the risk of over-extraction after pouring.

Plus, the classic design of the metal mesh filters means you can use a French press paper filter if you want to. This is a great option for those who want the superior quality of the ESPRO P7 with the option to use paper filters.

This French press is built to last, and it has a unique handle and lid design to make it stand out a bit from your more utilitarian French presses. This can make a nice piece of decor in your kitchen when you’re not using it.

Lastly, this French press comes in a variety of sizes, the biggest of which is a massive 44 ounces. Most other French presses max out at a liter (33.8 ounces), so this is a great option for making coffee for multiple people at once. It’s also great for doing the initial filter for cold brew, given its size.

5. Le Creuset Stoneware French Press Coffee Maker

The Le Creuset Stoneware French Press is the only stone one on our list. The thick stone is superior to a single layer of thin glass in terms of temperature regulation for getting that ideal brewing temperature, but it’s still breakable.

The biggest draw to this French press is its appearance. It matches other Le Creuset pieces, like Dutch ovens and skillets, so it can be a nice addition to your kitchen’s decor if you have a collection of cookware from this brand. It’s available in a nice variety of colors to match your current pieces.

In terms of performance, this French press is good but not great. Stone isn’t quite as good for heat retention as double-wall stainless steel or double-wall glass, and the metal mesh does only a decent job of removing the fines from your brewed coffee.

You should expect some sludge in the bottom of your cup — which some people enjoy — and you should be aware that over-extraction can occur because some fines will remain in your coffee even after you press and pour.

Still, this is a beautiful piece of equipment, and the price for the quality is excellent.

Buyer’s Guide: What to Look for in a French Press Coffee Maker

Although the idea of a French press is simple in theory, there are quite a few practical things I recommend you consider when choosing one for your home. I’ll discuss some of the most important factors to think about when buying a French press below.

Temperature Regulation/French Press Material

First off, I recommend you think about how well the French press you’re considering will retain heat through the brewing process. There are two things that contribute to the insulative capability of your equipment.

Most importantly, you should think about the material. Glass French presses are the most efficient and will lose the least heat to the room during the brewing process…however, that’s only IF the materials being compared are single-walled and of equal thickness. Temperature loss can lead to under-extraction, which leaves you with slightly sour or salty coffee. Stone French presses take second place for insulation, and stainless steel French presses are the worst.

With that being said, though, most steel French presses are double-walled, and most glass and stone French presses are single-walled. What that means in practice is that steel French presses will generally be the best for temperature regulation, despite having the highest rate of heat conduction. A double-wall glass French press will be best, but these aren’t terribly common, and they can break quite easily.

To that end, you should consider how many walls your French press has. Glass and metal French presses can be made with a single wall or double wall, the latter of which usually has a vacuum seal between the walls. Double-wall French presses with a vacuum seal will provide the best heat retention, delivering the ideal balance of flavors in your cup.

Honestly, if you get a double-wall French press, you’re in good shape, regardless of the material. Over the four minutes of brewing in a French press, you won’t lose enough heat from a double-wall stainless steel French press to make a significant difference in the flavor of your coffee as compared to what you’d lose from a double-wall glass French press.

Mesh Screen Quality

Next, you should consider the quality, size and number of the metal mesh filters that your French press comes with.

The quality and size of the filter will determine how much of the grounds and fines get pulled out of your brewed coffee. Ideally, you want everything removed, as this limits the risk of over-extraction. Only high-quality, super fine mesh filters will provide this kind of filtration, and these tend to be more expensive.

You should also consider the number of screens included. Most of the budget options include just one, while some of the better French presses offer two screens for maximum filtration and sludge reduction.

Adaptability to Paper Filters

Traditionally, French press is unfiltered coffee because it doesn’t travel through a paper filter. Paper filters remove a good deal of the coffee oils from your cup, which are the compounds that contribute to the full mouthfeel and deep flavor of French press coffee. The lack of a paper filter, though, also means you get more fines in your cup, which can result in over-extraction and a sometimes undrinkable layer of coffee mud at the end of your cup.

As such, some French press lovers choose to use a small paper filter disk that’s designed to fit between the mesh screens. These paper filters will remove some of the oils and a good deal of the fines, resulting in a cleaner cup of coffee and, in some cases, a more even extraction overall.

Markings On the Lid

This is totally a quality-of-life feature, so it’s not necessary for making good coffee…however, now that I’ve used a French press with this, I’ll never go back.

The underside of the lid that comes with your French press will either have an angled side or a side with perforations, both of which are meant to line up with the spout when you pour. If it’s not lined up, the coffee will dribble out in a wide arc and probably get all over your counter.

If you have a glass French press, lining up the cap with the spout isn’t an issue because you can see right through the wall. If you have a stone or metal French press, though, having a little indicator on the top of the lid makes it easy to line up with the spout.

This seems like a small thing, but trust me…it makes a huge difference.

Capacity

French presses come in all different sizes, usually ranging from a small 12-ounce French press up to a massive 44-ounce French press, as is the case with the Frieling French press I mentioned above.

Capacity is important for obvious reasons because you want to be able to brew as much coffee as you need. If you frequently make coffee for family and friends or multiple people in your home, then you’re going to want a big French press for convenience and to save time.

However, what’s less obvious is that you don’t want a French press that’s too big. Brewing chambers made for 44 ounces of coffee aren’t going to do well making a single cup. Not only will the plunger likely not reach as far down as you need it to for fast filtration, but the extra space in the French press will also contribute to more rapid heat loss during brewing. This can lead to under-extraction, which, of course, you don’t want.

I have two French presses: one small one for daily use and one larger one for company.

Durability

Any time you’re investing money in coffee equipment, you should consider how long that piece of equipment will last. Paying more for a French press that will last decades is often worth it, rather than saving money upfront on a less durable one, only to have to replace it in a year or two.

Glass French presses are the least durable for obvious reasons: they can crack with rapid changes in temperature, and they’ll also shatter if you drop them or bang them on hard surfaces. Stone French presses are more durable, although they can still crack if you drop them.

Stainless steel French presses are all but indestructible, so I’d recommend investing in a metal one that will last you for decades to come.

Design

The design and aesthetics of your French press might be something you want to consider if you plan on having your brewing equipment on display. Although I love my Mueller French press, it’s not the nicest-looking one out there and is quite utilitarian.

I don’t think design should trump function, but you might want to consider both, depending on your preferences.

Price

Last and definitely least important, in my opinion, is the price. French presses aren’t like espresso machines, where you could easily spend $3,000+ on a single piece of equipment. Most French presses — even premium models — are going to be under $200. Over the decades that these can last, the investment will pay for itself time and time again.

If you need to choose a budget option, a single-wall glass French press will be the cheapest, although the quality won’t be as good. I recommend at least investing in a simple, double-wall stainless steel French press to keep the costs relatively low but still get above-average quality for the money.

Wrapping Up: What Is the Best French Press Coffee Maker?

In my opinion, the Mueller French Press Double Insulated 310 Stainless Steel Coffee Maker is the best one you can buy. It’s very affordable, super durable, comes with two fine metal mesh screens that will remove most of the fines from your coffee, and holds heat as well as any other French press I’ve owned.

This is the French press I use most mornings to make my coffee, and I’m confident it will serve you well for years to come as well.