Never even thought of it to strain things. I have been making meyer limoncello and this would work so much better than the method I've been using.

I also use mine for making Yerba Mate.

Also what about when you make an infused oil or infused simple syrup - like with basil. This would be a great way to get the little pieces out!

i can tell you this is not for straining almond milk. DUH! as the glass shattered in my kitchen and almond milk covered the walls and cats.

oye.

I haven't really come up with any non-beverage uses for mine. Tea, Yerba Mate, etc...

Helpful when rehydrating dried mushrooms - the plunger holds them below the surface, and if you are using the liquid it is at least partially filtered.

I froth milk in mine. In fact sometimes I do heated milk, add tea and spices, and sugar and make a mean chai. You can't overly vigorously pump the milk I hear, or you might shatter the glass, but as I am not the Incredible Hulk, so far no harm.

Any kind of puree or pulping, would probably work well in here- anything you might be temped to buy a chinois for...?

I was going to say frothing milk and the biggie I use mine for: you can make whipped cream in seconds with one. Just pump up and down and voila. No bowls or whisks or mixers.

I swear I've seen iron chefs bring broth or something to the judging table with aromatic herbs under the plunger. Struck me as a good idea.

Maybe cider, too, if you put cinnamon sticks / cloves / whatever in the bottom.

hop tea, and hop infused water for brewing

I'd be worried that using it for anything else might impart a bit of flavour to the french press.

Rehydrating mushrooms sounds good and I might also try using it for garlic tea for when I'm making a garlicky bug spray for my plants.

I do have a too small 3 cup one that I might reserve for these pungent activities. Now that we have upgraded to an 8 cup, we never use the 3 cup press.

I use mine to get the water out of defrosted frozen spinach and I also use it to squeeze out cucumbers for tzatziki after they've been salted.

I do keep two in the house, so I can use one for cooking and one for beverages. While they do clean up fine in a dishwasher, I just have one of those stomachs that gets weird about mixing things. Sort of the same idea behind not using the same grinder for coffee and spices. Even if I clean it well, I still feel like there is a residual flavor. :)

Oh, and it's pretty good at squeezing out freshly shredded potatoes for hashbrowns.

I use mine for coffee mostly, but once I decided to try some herbal tea in it. Word of warning - make sure it is thoroughly cleaned first! Like perfectly scrubbed and soaked. My tea tasted of coffee blergh.

The restaurant down the street from me sometimes serves a seafood soup that consists of very thinly sliced scallops in an empty bowl and a french press with shrimp shells, a lovely combination on herbs and spices, and broth that you let steep, then push the plunger and pour over the scallops for an amazing seafood soup.

@reddylee -- Frozen spinach and hashbrowns, brilliant!

I have often avoided recipes that call for frozen spinach because I hate draining/squeezing it. I'm definitely going to try this.

Don't do anything with peppers. My ex decided to use his to make jalapano infused vodka or oil, I don't remember. A week later, even after a good washing, we sat down to a very spicy barley tea.

Not recommended.

Homemade apple cider worked in mine. I blended the apples and pressed the pulp.

Horchata did not. The glass didn't break, but the plunger wouldn't plunge.

Does cold brewed coffee count as something different? I let coffee grounds soak over night in the fridge and then press it in the AM.

Child toy. My little son likes to steal the plunging assembly and walk around spinning it, either pretending it's a fan or a helicopter. Sometimes he disassembles it.

I just use mine for those floral art teas.

I take the screen off and use it to make Mexican hot chocolate:
Drop in the grated disk of chocolate,
Add the water (just off a boil),
Stir with a spoon (I use a chop-stick),
Once it's all melted, pump up-an-down a few times to get a nice frothy head. If you don't hava a molinillo this works great!

SAzcuy, that's brilliant; I'm trying it tomorrow.

My charming teenage cousin was inspired to use her family's small french press to rapidly make vinaigrette. It emulsifies beautifully with a few plunges. The parts seem to get quite clean in their dishwasher, with no noticeable aftertaste or oil haze.

You could use one for an interesting pickle strainer. It would be much classier then the classis Tupperware pickle strainer/keeper.

I know that I'm over a year late to this party, but I stumbled across this post and HAD to share my favorite use for my French press (aside from coffee, of course): rinsing quinoa.

I've tried and tried and tried to find a way to rinse quinoa that doesn't involve wasting half of the amount I started with, and this is the only successful method I've found. Just clean all the pieces really well, put the dry quinoa in the carafe, pour in cold water, add the plunger and lid, and go to town rinsing your quinoa. You can pour out the "dirty" water and even carefully add more through the spout without having to take the lid off (which reduces the amount of quinoa "lost" in the process). When you add it to water on the stove, dump in what you can, then scoop a bit of water from the pot into the carafe, swirl it around to catch the stragglers, and dump it back in the pot. You can also swirl the French press plunger in the water to get quinoa off of the filter.

Even though I had neither coffee-flavored quinoa nor quinoa-enhanced coffee after good cleanings, I'm thinking of buying a small press just for this use!