It's like a small pitcher with a movable filter, you put in the ground coffee, hit water, stir, wait, push down the filter with the grounds, pour off the coffee with most of the ground staying in the French press.
French press is basically the same work as a drip machine, but a different shape. You just heat the water seperately and then pour it and the coffee into the French press, let it sit, press the plunger down, and pour. Actually takes slightly less time than any cheap dropper I've used and runs 0 risk of burning the coffee (drip machines like to put heating elements into their bases to keep the pot hot, this can burn the coffee and ruin the flavor, French presses cannot burn coffee because they cannot add heat)
Espresso is finely ground coffee that uses steam pressure to brew (thus why espresso machines are fucking expensive, my mr coffee unit was 80 buck), it's an involved process (worth learning gif you've got 20m to make a cup of coffee every time) but very good if you use beans you like AND you like your coffee flavor strong
Thanks for the detailed right up. I'm actually thinking of trying a French press now that several of you have taught me the mechanics. Seems a lot better than an old dripper but not so slow like an espresso. I Just thought those were cool because the tiny cup 😂
I switched to a French Press recently-ish. Instead of 4 or 5 cups of weaker coffee from my single serve drip thingie, I have 2 strong cups from my French Press and am ready to go. I'm thinking about trying a pourover to see how that is. Espresso is tasty and strong, but I don't think I'd want it NEARLY enough to justify a machine. I usually only do espresso when I'm traveling, makes me feel fancy having a latte in the big city haha.
All that said, coffee is very individual. There is no "right" answer. If you're happy with drip, than drip is the way. :)