We’re taking a look at a modern classic - the AeroPress Coffee Maker. In this blog, we’ll give you everything you need to know about how to brew AeroPress coffee.
What is the AeroPress?
Invented by American engineer Alan Adler, the classicAeroPress we know and love was the solution to his issue with other manual brewers, which he found produced excess bitterness and acidity. Though Adler’s company, Aerobie, was known for producing frisbees up to that point, he applied his engineering know-how to create something that would revolutionise home coffee brewing worldwide.
Loved by home brewing enthusiasts and internationally recognised professionals since its introduction in 2005, the brewer even has its own championships for those who believe they’ve got what it takes to brew the best AeroPress coffee (we even hosted the Scottish Championships in 2014 and 2015).
You can learn more about this brewer’s origins in thisincredibly charming video featuring Alan Adler himself.
How does the AeroPress work?
In our previous guide, we covered V60/drip coffee, which uses percolation to brew coffee. However, the Aeropress, despite using a filter, is primarily an immersion brewer. This is because water is poured into the chamber alongside the coffee for a set amount of time. However, unlike other immersion brewers like the cafetiere/french press, the AeroPress maintains a clean, sediment-free cup by plunging the coffee through a paper filter.
What does AeroPress coffee taste like?
As intended by Adler when designing the AeroPress, the flavours it produces are typically smooth, flavourful, and sweet. Clean and low in acidity, while maintaining a decent body, all depending on the coffee and brew recipe you use, of course. It offers an attractive middle ground between drip brewers like the V60 and immersion brewers like the cafetiere/French Press.
Recipe
As you might expect, there are many variations in approach to brewing with AeroPress - there wouldn’t be hotly contested international championships otherwise! Even within Dear Green, you’ll find several methods for brewing with the AeroPress. As always, it’s entirely down to your palate and preference, but there are some specific factors that we’d consider non-negotiable.
Coffee
Let’s start with what we’re all here for: the coffee! As with most commercial brewers, there’s no single ideal coffee for brewing with the AeroPress. That being said, you can optimise your experience by selecting coffees that play to the brewer's strengths. Coffees that feature fruitier notes, or coffees with plenty of body, are going to really sing in this brewer, so it’s worth keeping this in mind when selecting your next bag of beans.
Additional factors to consider are freshness and weight. As with any brew method, your final product is only going to be as good as your inputs, so it’s important to have coffee that’s as fresh as possible. This means, wherever possible, avoiding pre-ground coffee, as the drop-off in flavour intensity is quite remarkable.
While you won’t notice this drop-off quite as much with harsher brewing methods like the moka pot, the AeroPress is fabulous for accentuating a coffee’s minute details and complexities, so it makes sense to complement it with fresh coffee. To that end, we recommend a precision home grinder for the freshest experience possible.
Finally, using the right amount of coffee is essential for consistent flavour. The AeroPress comes with a scoop, but in our opinion, this method isn’t foolproof. Because coffee has different densities from bean to bean, volumetric measurement will more often than not result in inconsistent coffee weight, which in turn results in inconsistent flavour. To combat this, we recommend using a set of electric scales to weigh your coffee with maximum consistency.
Consistency in weight should also extend to the amount of coffee you use relative to the water. For a coffee that isn’t too strong or too watered down, we recommend sticking to the golden ratio of 1:16. That’s 1 gram of coffee for every 16 grams of water.
Grind size for AeroPress
Alongside grinding fresh, it’s just as important to grind your coffee to the correct size for your chosen brew method, as doing this incorrectly will dramatically affect the flavour.
When selecting the ‘correct’ grind size for AeroPress, most recipes will require medium-fine particles, similar to table salt. Of course, depending on the type of recipe or coffee you’re working with, you may wish to adjust coarser for longer brew times, and finer for shorter times. However, be warned, straying too far in either direction will result in coffee that is excessively bitter or sour, depending on the direction you go.
Water
Does water quality matter?
In an ideal world, we’d all use water with an ideal mineral content, filtered of impurities, for brewing coffee. When the majority of a cup of coffee is indeed water, we want to give the extracted coffee solids and solubles as many chances as possible to shine!
If you don’t create your own water from your home mineral additives collection of calcium, magnesium and zinc, trust us, this is a thing! Then be sure to select an ideal bottled mineral water, filter your own tap water or remineralise your soft Scottish tap water with a suitable water cartridge. Of course, boiled tap water can do the job here too; we’re lucky enough to have it readily available, and it has a lower environmental impact than water supplied in single-use plastic. Whatever you choose, it’s our duty to advise that your water of choice will affect the final flavour of your brew.
How much water do I need?
As with coffee, this will depend entirely on how much coffee you want to brew. As before, we recommend the golden ratio of 1:16.
What temperature of water do I need?
When selecting water temperature for your AeroPress recipe, the main factors to consider are roast type and recipe. Because the AeroPress is an immersion brewer, it exposes coffee to water for a more extended period than a drip filter brewer like a V60 would.
For darker roasted beans, cooler temperatures around 80-85°C will benefit your final product, while for medium and light roasted beans, you’ll aim for 86-90°C and 91-96°C, respectively.
The SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) recommends a standard water temperature of 90-96°C at the point of the water being in contact with the grounds. Too hot, and the beverage could taste over-extracted, bitter and harsh. Too cool, and the resultant brew could under-extract, giving weak, sour flavours.
Achieving these temperatures with accuracy can be challenging, so we’d recommend a temperature-controlled kettle if the budget allows. Temperatures drop quickly, so always consider heat loss when pouring and compensate for it by starting with a higher temperature than intended. Remember, experimentation and personal preference are essential, so don’t worry if your first coffee isn’t perfect.
What you’ll need to brew AeroPress coffee
Now that we’ve covered the basics of brewing, let’s recap everything you’ll need to brew AeroPress coffee:
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Water (ideally filtered)
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A kettle (ideally a gooseneck with temperature control)
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AnAeroPress Brewer
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Your favourite mug (or reusable cup if you’re heading out the door)
As well as offering a plethora of AeroPress gear, we also provide a beginner-friendly bundle that includes a bag of beans to get you brewing in no time!
Our Favourite Recipe
Now that you’re ready to brew, it’s time to let you in on our top-secret, extra special AeroPress recipe. Let’s get stuck in.
- 17g of coffee
- 250ml of Water
- Grind size medium/medium fine
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Inverted Position
Inverted Methods Explained
When the original specialty coffee crew adopted the Aeropress as their go-to brewer, the inverted brewing method was born. It takes the intended brewing guideline and tips it on its head, quite literally. By turning the brewer upside down, the extraction of brewing liquid can be better controlled. The immersion brew allows the coffee and water to be in contact for a timed period, and the extraction can be stopped when the brew is deemed ready. The recipe is then also repeatable once you’ve nailed your dial-in.
Alan Adler's demonstration (watch the film!) shows coffee dripping through the paper filter, which hasn’t been in contact with the coffee grinds long enough to extract perfectly. This, in our experience, will create an uneven brew and flavour.
For this reason, many AeroPress users favour the inverted method. This involves setting up the brewer ‘upside down’. This means that the chamber can be filled without any coffee dripping through the filter until flipping and plunging as usual.
How to Brew
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Invert the brewer.
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Add the coffee and all the water.
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Stir 5x, making sure to get all the way to the bottom.
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Flip and plunge at 2 minutes.
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Aim to plunge for 30 seconds, for a total brew time of 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
So there you have it, the complete guide to brewing with the AeroPress! Well, apart from our Mile High Aeropress Club stories, we’ll save that for another blog post!
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