Night Speed Tips for French Press Coffee (by Chris Howard)

I'm so happy to welcome Chris Howard, author of NIGHT SPEED, to the blog! 

Okay, Coffee Lovers, this is NOT the French Press extraction method that Alana teaches Ethan in NIGHT SPEED. Alana didn’t have time to break it all down in as much detail as she’d have liked, so here we go… Guaranteed to brew an awesome cup of coffee every time, assuming you start with some good beans :)

1. Make sure your French Press is clean! Take apart the filter and stuff every day and soak it with a little soap, sponge it off, then rinse well... You don’t want it to smell like coffee unless you are MAKING coffee!

2. For this method, go with a pretty darn COARSE grind. And use a good quality burr grinder, if you can. It’s best to grind the beans right before you prepare your coffee in the French Press.

3. Try starting with a ratio of 13:1 for the water:coffee. Yes, you will need a kitchen scale :)

4. Find out the perfect temperature for your “hot water” by researching what people recommend for the elevation you live at. The boiling point of water is lower at higher altitudes due to the decreased air pressure. In Denver, for example, you can just boil it and pour it…

5. Set a timer for 4 mins and hit “start” on the timer as you begin adding about a fifth of the hot water to the fresh grounds you’ve poured into the French Press… Then let that amount of water “bloom” for 30 seconds. Enjoy the sight and smell of the bloom :)

6. After those 30 seconds stir with a CLEAN chopstick (or some similar utensil) and add the rest of the water... Feel Zen, as much as possible.

7. No let the coffee sit in the French Press till your timer goes off, then IMMEDIATELY do a nice slow plunge and poor ALL of the coffee into a clean/hot mug or cup.

8. Tweak your ratio and timing based on your own preference.

9. Try to consume good quality beans within a month of the roast date if possible!

So, Alana then adds A LOT of sugar to her coffee (which she drinks black) but the only “right” way to drink it is the way you like it, so experiment, and perhaps consider befriending your local roasters, researching their coffee growers/partners, keeping a “coffee journal”… Oh, yeah, and have lots of highly-caffeinated fun :)

About NIGHT SPEED:

An addictive new drug fuels superhuman strength and speed in this action-packed sci-fi thriller that will have fans of Scott Westerfeld and Marie Lu on the edge of their seats.

Only those young enough can survive tetra, a dangerous drug that creates a pulse-pounding rush of enormous strength and incredible speed. Seventeen-year-old Alana West has been trained to use tetra so she can pursue the young criminals who abuse its power—criminals like the one who nearly killed her kid brother.

On tetra, Alana is unstoppable—an explosive blur as she surges through New York City. But with the clock ticking down to her eighteenth birthday, Alana will soon be too old for the rush . . . when just one more dose will prove deadly.

Supported only by her steady handler, Tucker, Alana goes undercover, infiltrating an elite gang of breaknecks to stop their supply of the drug. But when Alana gets trapped on the wrong side of the law, she learns the breaknecks are not quite what they seem—especially Ethan, the boy who seems to see the truth inside her. With her dependency on tetra increasing, Alana must decide where her loyalties lie, before the rush ends. Forever.

About Chris Howard: 

Chris Howard was born and raised in England, and it was there he first began writing stories and songs. He now lives in Denver, Colorado, where he and his wife enjoy mountains, music, and mugs of good coffee. Chris is also the author of the Rootless trilogy. Connect with him online at www.ChrisHowardBooks.com.