What else we tested
What else we recommend and why:
Bodum Travel ($48.79): This French press built into a mug does the job, but for $10 more you can get our top travel pick with a fully sealing lid and a better filter.
Coffee Gator ($34.97): Coffee Gator makes a highly competitive vacuum-sealed, double-walled, stainless steel press, but as with most designs, you’ll find a good deal of sediment at the bottom of your cup. We like the travel container that comes with this press and allows you to pack it for a day on the road or trail, but when looking for a true upgrade, we found a finer filter to be paramount.
Coletti ($59.95): Coletti’s Boulder Camping French Press is arguably the heaviest-duty French press we’ve tested. It has a large, welded-on handle, an ultra-tight silicone seal (which is great for keeping your coffee hot at camp), and keeps grounds out of your cup with the best of them. It’s still in the funding stage on Kickstarter, but we highly recommend it for people who are extra rough on things.
Espro P7 ($149.95): Our previous upgrade recommendation, the Espro P7 is an industry favorite and we can’t say enough good things about it. That aside, your coffee is best if it’s separated from brewed grounds, so the investment in fancy double-walled stainless steel isn’t necessary. Further, our current pick, the Flask by Ethoz, not only separates your brew from your spent grounds, but it’s also $50 cheaper.
Frieling ($124.95): Frieling’s French press is well-designed and appointed with high-grade steel. It also now offers a dual-filter setup, so in function, it’s highly competitive with the Espro P7. The only real difference is that it comes with a five-year warranty, compared to Espro’s “Friends for Life Guarantee.” Still, it’s by no means a bad option.
Stanley ($65): If you’re looking for something for camping, boating, or RVing, there’s hardly a better choice than Stanley’s robust line of drinkware. This French press comes in multiple sizes and can just about withstand a tumble into the campfire like the original, if it weren’t for a few plastic modifications, including the handle.
What we don’t recommend and why:
Brutrek: Between the immaculately locking top, and the “brew-stop” plunger that separates grounds from your coffee so it’s not over-brewed, the design of this travel press is beyond impressive. The only problem is that the plunger doesn’t get anywhere near the bottom of the pot, so unless you fill roughly the bottom fifth of the container with coffee (and make an absurdly strong batch of coffee), you don’t get a great brew.
Le Creuset: Le Creuset’s ceramic French presses certainly have aesthetic appeal, but in our experience, they’ve been too easily breakable, and oftentimes the filter either doesn’t quite fit in the first place or begins to warp over time, allowing too many grounds to end up in your coffee.
Simpli Press: This is an attractive device if you ask us, but the trap in the bottom, which is supposed to come up with the plunger for easy cleaning, doesn’t always catch and can be tricky to remove. Otherwise, the fine filter (akin to the Espro P7’s system) works well. The brand has a new model, and while it’s marginally more user-friendly, it’s nowhere near as simple or high-performing as the Flask by Ethoz for the same price.