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A cafetiere (also known as a French press) makes drinking delicious coffee easy without the need to go out to a coffee shop. But which cafetiere is best?
We originally tested cafetieres in January 2021 and have tested more in January 2022. We bought 16 popular cafetieres from brands including Bodum, John Lewis, Kitchen Craft, Le Creuset, ProCook and VonShef, to find out which ones are most effective at filtering out coffee grounds, and which are the easiest to press, pour and clean.
Overall, we found most of them pretty good, but there were a few that stood head and shoulders above the rest to earn our Best Buy recommendation.
See our full results below to find out which cafetieres came out top in our tough tests.
Prices and availability last checked 7 March 2022.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the cafetiere test results below. If you're not yet a member, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the cafetieres we tested. Join Which? now to get instant access to our recommendations below.
Asda George's Double Walled Stainless Steel Cafetiere is one of the cheaper ones we tested, and as it's made of stainless steel you won't have to worry about it breaking like you might with a glass cafetiere. Our tests reveal how cheap cafetieres compare with those at more than twice the price.
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Cheapest price: £12.60 at Amazon , also available at Bodum , Robert Dyas
Sizes available: 350ml, 500ml, 1,000ml, 1,500ml
Dishwasher safe: Yes (beaker and frame only)
Accessories included: 7g plastic coffee scoop
The Bodum Caffettiera has feet at the bottom of its metal frame that raise the beaker, which is handy for keeping it off any delicate surfaces when it's hot. We investigated whether it's handy for brewing coffee, too.
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Cheapest price: £22 at Amazon , also available at Bodum , John Lewis , Ocado
Sizes available: 350ml, 500ml, 1,000ml, 1,500ml
Dishwasher safe: Yes (beaker and frame only)
Accessories included: 7g plastic coffee scoop
Although the frame is metal, the Bodum Chambord has a plastic handle that keeps it from getting too hot while your coffee is brewing. Our tests reveal how comfortably it pours as well as how it presses and cleans.
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Cheapest price: £13.02 at Amazon , also available at Bodum , Dunelm (out of stock), Ocado , Robert Dyas
Sizes available: 350ml, 500ml, 1,000ml
Accessories included: 7g plastic coffee scoop
The Kenya is the only Bodum cafetiere we tested that isn't dishwasher safe, so it isn't quite as convenient as the others for cleaning.
Could the quality of its filtration, pressing and pouring still make it a better choice than the other Bodum cafetieres?
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Accessories included: Spare filter screen
This large cafetiere from Cafe Du Chateau has two layers of filter screens in its press.
We looked at whether that makes it twice as good at filtering out granules from your coffee.
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Accessories included: Coffee storage pot
Coffee Gator's stainless steel cafetiere has a few helpful labels that some of the other cafetieres we tested don't, such as a max fill line and an arrow on top of the press which tells you which way to face the lid.
Find out if it's worth splashing out on this moderately expensive steel cafetiere.
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Cheapest price: £7.50 at Argos , Habitat , Sainsbury's
Accessories included: 7g plastic coffee scoop
When testing the Habitat Cafetiere we completely disassembled it so we could thoroughly test how easy it is to clean each part.
How does it scrub up against the other cafetieres we tested?
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Cheapest price: £7 at John Lewis
Accessories included: 7g plastic coffee scoop
The Anyday range from John Lewis is geared towards helping you spend less on your household necessities.
We tested this Anyday cafetiere alongside more expensive competitors to see if it's just as good.
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Cheapest price: £25 at John Lewis
Thanks to its thick stainless steel design, the John Lewis Double Wall Stainless Steel Coffee Press was one of the better cafetieres we found for keeping your coffee hotter for longer.
We also assessed how good it is at filtering out coffee granules, and other key factors including how easy it is to use.
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Sizes available: 350ml, 500ml, 700ml, 1,000ml
Dishwasher safe: Yes (beaker and frame only)
Accessories included: 7g plastic coffee scoop
The KitchenCraft Le'Xpress Deluxe cafetiere comes with a scoop in the box to help you be exact with your coffee grounds.
We investigated how well it filtered coffee grounds out in our filtration tests.
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Dishwasher safe: Yes (beaker and frame only)
The La Cafetiere Monaco is a stylish cafetiere that comes in a variety of colours: black, red, cream, grey, blue and pistachio.
We tested the pistachio one, but our results will tell you how good it is whichever colour you like best.
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Cheapest price: £44 at John Lewis , also available at Le Creuset
The Le Creuset cafetiere is the most expensive and the only stoneware cafetiere we tested.
We put it through the same tough tests as the rest to see if it's worth paying more for your cafetiere.
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Cheapest price: £21 at ProCook , also available at Amazon (out of stock)
This ProCook cafetiere is made from stainless steel and it has a brushed satin finish
On top of how well it filters out coffee granules and sediment, we also tested how easy it is to press, pour and clean.
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Cheapest price: £6.99 at Robert Dyas
This cafetiere is one of the cheapest we tested, so if it presses, pours and filters effectively, it could prove to be great value for money.
Find out if it's a bargain worth snapping up, or one to avoid.
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Cheapest price: £20.99 at Robert Dyas
Larger cafetieres such as this one from Robert Dyas tend to be better at keeping your coffee hot if you've got more than one cup to drink.
We timed how quickly the coffee cooled in this cafetiere over an hour to see how effectively it maintains high temperatures.
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Cheapest price: £16.99 at VonHaus , also available at Amazon
The VonShef French Press can't go in the dishwasher, so every time you use it you'll have to scrub it clean by hand.
We cleaned it multiple times to judge how easy a task that is.
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Cafetieres combine ground coffee and hot water to brew fresh coffee. You can buy pre-ground coffee, or you can grind the coffee beans yourself using a coffee grinder, which makes for a much fresher brew.
See our picks of the best coffee grinders .
Follow these four simple steps to make your perfect brew:
Rather like how long you should leave your tea bag in for, this question has a different answer depending on who you ask.
Four minutes is the generally accepted amount of time people let their cafetieres brew for before pressing, and is how long we left each cafetiere to brew for in our tests.
If you prefer your coffee to be milder, let it brew for less time, and if you like your coffee stronger and more bitter you can leave it for longer.
Be careful not to leave it for too long, though. Once you go past the four-minute mark you risk over-extracting the coffee, which gives you a very bitter brew that most people will find unpleasant to drink.
1. Size doesn't matter
We bought the 1,000ml version of one of the 350ml cafetieres to see if we could spot any major differences in how well they worked. When using the same amount of ground coffee and hot water in each we couldn't spot any major differences.
2. Stainless steel cafetieres keep coffee hotter for longer
Stainless steel cafetieres are popular for keeping your coffee insulated, and our heat retention tests confirmed that they're effective.
The stainless steel cafetieres cooled more slowly than any of the other cafetieres we tested. The best stainless steel cafetiere for heat retention lost less than half the heat in the first 10 minutes than the worst glass cafetiere did.
3. Filled cafetieres also keep coffee hotter for longer
We measured the rate that the temperature of each cafetiere dropped over one hour, and discovered that a 1,000ml cafetiere containing 350ml of coffee cooled down faster than a fully filled 350ml cafetiere.
However, a fully filled 1,000ml cafetiere retained heat for longer than a fully filled 350ml cafetiere, so whatever the size of your cafetiere you should fill it up to capacity to keep it warmer for longer.
4. Stainless steel cafetieres take the most effort to press
Although there were one or two exceptions, we found most commonly in stainless steel cafetieres that extra effort was required to press them . Anyone who is concerned about how much effort they will need to press down their cafetiere should bear this in mind when choosing.
5. Wear washing up gloves to avoid spiky filter screens
It's important to take apart the press when cleaning, as coffee granules can get wedged between the various parts, but the metal mesh filter screen can have sharp edges.
Take care when washing the mesh and wear washing-up gloves to reduce your chances of pricking yourself on the sharp bits.
Prefer to go for a full-size bean-to-cup coffee machine? Compare our coffee machine reviews .
To find the best cafetieres, we put each one through a series of robust and challenging tests.
We selected and bought 16 bestselling cafetieres that were widely available from leading UK retailers at the time of testing and were often recommended online.
None of the cafetieres we bought were sent to us free of charge, and we always test independently so you can be confident that our recommendations are neutral.
A cafetiere should be comfortable to hold and pour, and you shouldn't need more than a gentle push to press the filter down.
We judged how convenient each cafetiere was on each of these factors and penalised them if they poured messily or took a lot of effort to press.
The filter screen in your cafetiere should effectively push the coffee grounds to the bottom of the beaker without letting too many through. Cafetieres that filter poorly will leave you with bitter grounds floating around in your cup.
To find out how much each cafetiere lets through, we poured the contents of each cafetiere through a separate filter screen and assessed how much was left on the screen.
We put the same amount of pre-ground coffee and hot water in every cafetiere, and tested each one twice to ensure consistency in our results.
Filter screens with small amounts of granules and sediment earned higher filtration scores than those that let more through.
It's important that your cafetiere keeps your coffee warm and doesn't cool down too quickly. Noone wants a lukewarm brew to drink if you fancy another cup after you've had your first.
We used a thermometer to record the temperature of each cafetiere for one hour to find out which ones cooled down the fastest.
We opted not to do a durability test, as a stainless steel cafetiere is far less likely to break when dropped than a glass cafetiere. We felt that people would know this when choosing which to buy, so didn't think it was a factor worth rating in our tests.
Cafetieres can be a nuisance to clean. Coffee grounds easily get lodged in the nooks and crannies of the press, so it's important that your cafetiere is easy to take apart and clean.
We used a sponge, warm water and washing-up liquid to clean each cafetiere multiple times, looking out for any staining, smells or sharp edges. We also noted when the cafetieres proved difficult to disassemble for cleaning.