title_body: How can I make my coffee taste stronger using a french press or gold filter?
upvoted_answer: I enjoy my homemade French-pressed coffee more than anything I can buy at an espresso shop, though a long black is my preferred choice if I'm away from home.
  
  There are a couple of strengths of the espresso shop's infrastructure which you can emulate on a smaller scale:
  
  Good coffee beans
  
  Buy good fresh whole beans and grind them right before you prepare the drink.
  
  Strong extraction
  
  Use more coffee and/or grind it more finely. More surface area will make it extract more and taste stronger. You can even make it really thick and creamy and add it on top of water for the long-black-like experience.
  
  There's a discussion about minimizing the grounds in your cup here.