Does a French Press Have Microplastics? Every Part, Model by Model

Does a French press have plastic in it?

Most do somewhere, but the question that matters is where. A French press has six parts: the beaker, the frame that holds it, the lid, the plunger rod, the filter stack at the bottom of the rod, and the handle and knob. Only some of those touch hot coffee, and only one sits fully submerged for the whole brew: the filter stack.

Bodum’s US product pages are unusually direct about this. Each lists a single material line and a set of spare parts. The Chambord’s says “Stainless steel, plastic, borosilicate glass”, and the page identifies the plastic: “The handle is made from Polypropylene.” Its spare parts include a “Cross plate, metal” and a “Spiral plate, metal”, which together with the mesh filter plate make up the part that presses through the coffee.

So a Chambord’s plastic is on the outside. That is not the case for every press, and not even for every Bodum. For the wider brewing picture, see our microplastics in coffee hub.

Which parts of a French press touch the hot coffee?

Trace it the way the water moves.

• Beaker. The coffee steeps here for about four minutes at 92–96 °C, Bodum’s stated water temperature. Glass presses from Bodum and ESPRO use borosilicate glass. Frieling and the ESPRO P7 use stainless steel.
• Filter stack. Mesh screen, the plates that clamp it and the nut that holds it to the rod. This is fully submerged during the steep and the plunge. On Bodum’s classic presses these are metal; on ESPRO presses the cage around the mesh is polypropylene.
• Plunger rod. Stainless steel on the models we checked. The lower part is in the coffee.
• Lid. Sits above the coffee and over the pour spout. It catches steam and some splash when you pour, but it isn’t immersed. Plastic on the Bodum Brazil and Caffettiera; chrome-plated stainless on the Chambord.
• Frame. Holds the beaker from outside. On a glass press the coffee never reaches it. The Brazil’s body is plastic; the Chambord’s and Caffettiera’s frames are chrome-plated steel.
• Handle and knob. Outside the coffee.

Two things outside the press also touch the brew. The first is the spoon. Bodum’s shared French press manual says to “Stir the brew with a plastic spoon” because metal can chip the glass; the product pages say “a plastic or wooden spoon”. A wooden or bamboo spoon solves the chipping problem without adding plastic. The second is the kettle that heated the water. If it has a plastic interior, that contact happens before the press is involved. Our electric kettle guide covers what the kettle studies measured.

One more detail from that manual: its cleaning diagrams show both a “Metallic filter” and a “Plastic filter” version. Bodum doesn’t say which presses ship with which, so check the spare-parts list for your exact model number rather than assuming every Bodum filter is metal.

Which French press has no plastic in the hot-coffee path?

The table uses each maker’s own product page or FAQ. It separates the submerged parts from the parts that only see steam or sit outside.

Retrieved October 18, 2026. The page text for the Caffettiera lists “Borosilicate glass, Chrome-plated steel, Plastic, Nylon, Bak”, truncated on Bodum’s site; it doesn’t say which part is nylon. Models and parts change, so match the item number on your box.

Two presses come out with no plastic listed in the coffee: the Chambord, going by Bodum’s parts list, and Frieling’s all-steel presses, going by Frieling’s own “no plastic anywhere” claim. Neither maker publishes a particle test, and Frieling’s page doesn’t say whether the filter has any seal. Our plastic-free coffee maker guide lists the same Frieling and ESPRO declarations, so the two pages agree.

What does the research say about hot water and polypropylene?

The reviewed sources did not include a particle test of any French press. The closest evidence is about other polypropylene products in hot water, and it explains why the filter cage is worth noticing.

In 2020, researchers at Trinity College Dublin tested polypropylene infant feeding bottles during formula preparation and reported release “as high as 16,200,000 particles per litre”. Sterilizing the bottles and using high-temperature water significantly increased release. That is a maximum from one product type under a specific heat-and-shake protocol, not a typical value, and it says nothing directly about a filter cage that sits still in coffee. The authors called for work on whether those levels pose a risk to infant health; the study did not show harm.

A 2019 McGill study is the other often-cited result. Steeping one nylon or PET teabag at 95 °C released about 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a cup. Those bags are a thin plastic mesh, a very different object from a molded polypropylene cage, and the result shouldn’t be transferred to a press. Our tea bag guide explains that study’s method and its critics.

What both studies support is the general point: some plastics shed particles in hot water, and heat and wear matter. What they don’t support is a number for your press.

Is the ESPRO filter a reason to avoid ESPRO?

It depends on what you’re trying to avoid. ESPRO says its dual micro-filter “eliminates grit”, and many people buy it for a cleaner cup. The cost is that a polypropylene cage and a silicone seal spend the whole brew in hot coffee. ESPRO describes the cage as BPA-, BPS- and phthalate-free. That is a statement about specific additives, not a test of particle release. Our guide on whether silicone counts as a microplastic covers the seal.

If you already own an ESPRO and like it, ESPRO also sells paper filters that fit inside its micro-filter. A paper filter adds a barrier the coffee passes through, but the cage is still in the brew, and we found no data on how much paper changes the particle picture. If you’re buying new and want no plastic submerged, a Chambord-style or all-steel press is the more direct choice.

Use the App

Which of your coffee tools has plastic in the hot path?

Scan your press, kettle and mugs. The app reads each product’s declared materials and flags the parts worth a closer look. It doesn’t test your coffee.

Is French press coffee bad for you for other reasons?

There is one well-measured issue, and it has nothing to do with plastic. Coffee beans contain two oily compounds, cafestol and kahweol, which raise LDL cholesterol. A 1997 review explained that hot water extracts them and a paper filter traps them, “whereas Scandinavian ‘boiled,’ cafetiere, and Turkish coffees do” let them through. A 2001 meta-analysis of 14 trials concluded that “consumption of unfiltered, but not filtered, coffee increases serum levels of total and LDL cholesterol.”

A French press is unfiltered coffee in that sense, whatever its plunger is made of. If your cholesterol is a concern, that’s a question for your doctor, and a paper-filtered method such as pour-over addresses it. It’s a separate trade-off from plastic contact, and the two shouldn’t be blended into one score.

What the evidence does not establish

• No French press particle test. We found no published study measuring micro- or nanoplastics in coffee made in any named press, or comparing a metal filter with a polypropylene one.
• No dose from the baby-bottle number. The 16.2 million per litre figure is a maximum from polypropylene bottles under one protocol. It cannot be assigned to an ESPRO cage or a Bodum lid.
• No guarantee from glass or steel. A glass beaker doesn’t make the coffee particle-free. Particles can also come from the water, the beans and the air, and the reviewed sources don’t separate those for a press.
• No health outcome. The FDA says current scientific evidence does not demonstrate that levels of micro- and nanoplastics detected in foods pose a risk to human health.
• Manufacturer claims are claims. “No plastic anywhere” (Frieling) and “BPA-free” (Bodum, ESPRO) are statements on product pages, not independent audits.

What should you buy or change?

If you want no plastic in the coffee, in order of how much it changes:

• Buy: a Bodum Chambord (glass, steel frame and lid, metal filter plates) or a Frieling all-steel press. Check the item number matches the one in the table.
• Avoid if plastic contact is your concern: presses with a polypropylene filter cage (the ESPRO double micro-filter in the P3 and P7, for example) and presses whose filter frame looks molded rather than stamped metal.
• Accept, if you like it: a Brazil or Caffettiera. The plastic is the lid, which sees steam rather than a four-minute soak.
• Swap the spoon for wood or bamboo. It’s the cheapest change on this list.
• Look upstream. If your kettle has a plastic interior, a steel or glass kettle changes more contact time than a new press.
• Replace a damaged beaker. Bodum says not to use a scratched, chipped or cracked glass, for safety. That’s a breakage rule, not a particle one.

If you’re choosing between methods, our brewing-method comparison traces pour-over, drip and espresso the same way. If you’re weighing a press against an AeroPress, the AeroPress materials guide separates its polypropylene, Tritan, glass and steel models.