How To Use an Aeropress
But how do you choose a recipe, there's thousands of them right?
My trusty plastic fantastic Aeropress has put a smile on my face many times over the last few years.
Whether it was a lazy Saturday morning brew or trying to find a stirring utensil on a camping trip it is one of the first things that I pack when going away.
Its robust and durable design makes using Aeropress a joy and is the best coffee filter method for travelling in my eyes.
Running out of filters was a small stepping stone I had to cross in Panama when I found that you can make 6 Aeropress size filters out of one flat bottom coffee filter.
Get your felt tip pens and scissors at the ready for a craft-a-noon.
The only downside for me is that you can only make one cup, which is fine 90% of the time.
However having a big family has meant I know how to share, I remember making 12 Aeropress’s in a row on a family holiday to France one year.
Anyway, here’s how I make my labour of love…
How To Use an Aeropress
1. Rinse the filter
Place a paper filter in the filter cap and sit over your glass or mug then rinse with hot water. This not only rids the filter of any papery taste that can pass into the brew but also preheats your coffee mug.
2. Grind the coffee
Grind 17 grams of your delicious smelling speciality Aeropress coffee to a medium-fine grind. A little courser than a stove top but finer than a V60 or Chemex grind.
It is fairly hard to describe the exact Aeropress grind size as different grinders for Aeropress have different settings. If your brew ends up tasting too week and make the grind finer and if it’s too strong make it slightly coarser.
However, coffee is an art as well as a science so if you prefer your coffee with bitter notes then you go Glen Coco!
3. Invert the Aeropress
Invert you’re Aeropress on top of your scales and empty the coffee into the chamber.
Making sure the plunger is sitting around 1cm above the bottom of the brew chamber.
4. Bloom the coffee
Start the timer and pour around 30-40 grams of water onto your coffee grounds, give it a quick stir making sure all of the coffee is soaked.
This is called blooming the coffee and is an important step in creating an unbeatable brew. It helps the coffee release various gasses like carbon dioxide and allows for the rest of the water to penetrate the coffee and extract all of those complex and delicate flavour profiles. You will see the grounds bubbling and expanding getting ready for the next step.
Tip: This is a great moment to get your nose in there and start to guess what flavour notes are going to be in the cup.
5. Add Water
At 45 seconds take the water up to around 110 grams which should come to around 4cm from the top.
6. Stir
Using Aeropress’ stirrer or simply a humble teaspoon give it a good old stir. Making sure you agitate all of the coffee sitting on the bottom. Do so for around 10 seconds.
This is sometimes a step that is hard to keep controlled as water temperature, brew ratios and to an extent grind size can all be kept the same, agitation (or stirring) is a pretty hard variable to keep consistent. As long as you keep in mind the intensity of your stir so you can repeat next time over.
7. Top up with water
Top up the Aeropress and quickly agitate the coffee again.
Secure the filter cap on top with the soaked paper filter intact.
8. Squeeze out air
Carefully squeeze any air out of the filter by pressing down on the mechanism. You’ll see there is no air left when coffee starts to seep through.
Be careful at this point as the coffee is pretty darn hot.
9. Place cup on top
Making sure you’ve thrown away the hot water used to rinse the filter, place your heated vessel upside down on top of the Aeropress.
Flip the whole thing over so your cup is on the surface ready to catch your brew.
10. Press away!
Press down firmly on the plunger at a steady pace until you hear a hissing sound.
Once you have become comfortable using Aeropress this is another point in which you will be able to recognise how coarse or fine the grind is depending on how hard it is to plunge.
11. Enjoy your brew
Tap your Aeropress off and compost your grounds and filter.
Now enjoy your perfectly extracted filter coffee
How much coffee do you need for an Aeropress?
Our brew method uses 17g of coffee, however the beauty of using Aeropress is that there are so many different techniques and styles that call for various volumes of coffee and water. So see if you like the above method and tweek for your taste.
How many scoops of coffee for an Aeropress?
Just over a full scoop. The scoop that is included with the Aeropress set is around 12g - 15g depending on the size and density of the beans. Our method uses 17g coffee.
How long does it take to brew an Aeropress?
It takes no more than 2 minutes to make a delicious coffee using Aeropress. It is one of the quickest filter methods on the market.
How does an Aeropress work?
Ground coffee is immersed in hot water in the chamber. The plunger is then pressed down with enough force so the coffee passes through the paper filter. Resulting in a bright yet full bodied cup of coffee.
What is the best coffee for using Aeropress?
In four words. Freshly ground speciality coffee. The origin and roast profile of the coffee is down to you. If you like your coffee bright and zesty or dark and rich, an Aeropress is adaptable and can achieve many different characteristics.
What grind is best for an Aeropress?
A Medium-Fine Grind. Like table salt. Finer than a pour-over, coarser than an espresso pot. Find out which is the best manual coffee grinder for Aeropress.
How does an Aeropress coffee taste?
Bright with a medium body. Although the Aeropress uses a paper filter, the coffee is still immersed in the water unlike most other pour-over methods. This results in more of the oils passing into the brew and creating a more full bodied coffee.
Why is my Aeropress bitter?
When coffee tastes bitter it is normally because the coffee has been over-extracted, this happens when the water is in contact with the coffee for too long. The more surface area of the coffee the slower it extracts.
So, if it tastes bitter grind your coffee slightly coarser.
Does AeroPress make strong coffee?
Yes Aeropress does make strong coffee. Strong is a bit of an ambiguous word on coffee. Strength one would assume means caffeine content but actually only really refers to the taste where bitter is strong.
In terms of caffeine content Aeropress certainly will deliver a coffee that will get your juices flowing. It can also brew a short concentrated coffee that many be perceived as strong by grinding the coffee finer and adding less water.
Is AeroPress stronger than espresso?
In terms of caffeine content they are the same per gram of ground coffee used.
Taste-wise an espresso will certainly seem stronger as the coffee is more concentrated than an Aeropress.
Is inverted AeroPress better?
We think yes. However that is our method of choice and the beauty of Aeropress is there is no right answer to the best brew method. Check out this Canadian Aeropress recipe.
Is an Aeropress worth it?
Yes. For me an Aeropress ticks a lot of boxes.
Firstly, the coffee quality you can achieve with an Aeropress is some of the best. Filtered through paper the end cup is clean and highlights all of the complex flavour notes in specialty coffee.
Second, you are purchasing a coffee brew method that may outlive you. An aeropress is robust and pretty damn hard to break (believe me I’ve accidently tried many times) unlike many other manual brew methods which are typically quite fragile.
Lastly, value. You get a top draw coffee maker for life that you can squeeze into you coat pocket with thousands of different Aeropress recipes and methods. Sounds like a good deal to me
Is Aeropress as good as espresso?
Yes. However Aeropress and espresso are 2 different styles of coffee and both stand alone as fantastic coffees.
Espresso is the velvety shot of perfectly extracted espresso ground coffee though an espresso machine whereas an Aeropress is usually a larger serving of coffee hand pressed though a paper filter.
You will not be able to achieve the concentrated espresso coffee with an Aeropress but you can brew a delicious filter coffee.
Is Aeropress better than drip?
Yes. You have mush more control with an Aeropress than a drip coffee maker.
Essentially you are doing the same thing by passing water through a paper filter however with an Aeropress you can perfect a recipe that brews better coffee unlike a drip maker that just has one setting to shower the coffee grounds with red hot water.
Why is my AeroPress coffee sour?
Usually because your coffee is ground too coarse.
Sour tastes in coffee are usually down to under extracted coffee, the water typically hasn’t been in contact with the coffee grounds long enough to extract all of the soluble compounds which make a balanced coffee.
It can also happen if the water temperature isn’t hot enough.
Is AeroPress the same as Cafetiere?
No. An Aeropress is a single serve brew method that uses a plunger to press coffee through a circular paper filter where as a cafetiere can come in many sizes and gently presses the coffee grounds to the bottom of the carafe with a mesh filter to brew the coffee.
The end rest is a clean and bright black coffee when brewed as an Aeropress or a full bodied black coffee as a cafetiere/
How many times can you reuse AeroPress filters?
You should only use Aeropress filters the one time unless of course you have purchase reusable filter that can be used again.
How long does an AeroPress last?
An Aeropress lasts longer than the majority of other brew methods. The plastic and mechanism are extremely robust and really do take a lot of force to break.
Can you add milk to AeroPress?
Yes. You can add anything to an Aeropress coffee. Bear in mind that the coffee will be similar to a long black or americano rather than espresso. So you will struggle to make a latte or cappuccino for instance.