DEAR DAME EVELYN , Bad me: I found out that my housemate is giving me one of those French-press coffeemakers as a Christmas present. (Don't ask how I know this.) We are having some people over for brunch on Christmas Day, and I want to be able to use the thing like a pro. I've heard they can be tricky, but I don't see how; it's not like a VCR or something like that, with a clock nobody knows how to set. You just put in the coffee grounds, pour in the boiling water, press the plunger, and voilà. Right?

Snoopy

Dearest, Wrong. Oh my, so very wrong. The French press, or cafetière, or plunger pot, is a thing of beauty and among the best ways to make coffee. And you are right: it is not a fancy device, just a less than forgiving one. This quality makes it something of an anomaly in an era when much of the energy of industrial design seems to be going into making things idiot-proof. I leave it to you to speculate as to why this might be so.

I nearly fainted when you described the pouring of boiling water on coffee grounds. Nein! Bad taste! You must let the water come off the boil before letting it make contact with the grounds; swirl it around in the kettle for 30 seconds, or pour it into the press's empty carafe and stir a few times before adding the grounds. These, by the way, should be of a medium to medium-coarse grind – about a 10-second whirl in one of those little electric grinders.

Ratios are also important. The basic ratio for filtered coffee is two tablespoons of coffee grounds per six ounces of water. This means you have to do some measuring, and if you do it right, ably manage your water temperature, and stir once during the four-minute steep, you will be rewarded with flavorful coffee. If not, you will have produced a monster, and your guests might flee your table, never to return.

Measuredly, E. G.-S.