Brewing Coffee With an Aeropress

You Will Need

Aeropress

Aeropress fillter papers or metal filter

Kettle

Ground Coffee

Timer

Scales (optional)

Brew Info

Ground Coffee: 14g

Water: 200g

Duration: 2 minutes

Ratio: 1:14

Let’s be totally honest, the Aerobie Aeropress isn’t the sexiest bit of coffee brewing kit out there, but that’s what happens when you get an engineer to design something (no offense meant to the engineers!). What you do get is an effective brewer, that’s easy and quick to use, and creates very little mess. It’s very popular with travellers, particularly when paired with a hand grinder, due to its compact lightweight design. It’s also a relatively forgiving coffee brewing method. In other words it’s pretty easy to get a tasty coffee without a lot of fuss.

First Steps

Bring your kettle to the boil. Your water temperature should be in the range of 75-90C. If you aren’t able to measure the temperature, bringing the water to the boil and then letting it sit from between 45 seconds to a minute is a good starting guide.

Hotter water temperatures will increase the bitterness of your coffee, lower water temperatures will provide a smoother coffee. Match the water temperature to the coffee you are using and your personal taste preference.

While your water is boiling and coming to the right temperature, grind your coffee beans to a medium fine grind setting [see A Note About Grind for additional information on grind].

Heat the chamber of your Aeropress with water from the boiled kettle, and also heat the vessel you will be pressing your coffee into.

Insert one of the provided paper filters into the Aeropress cap, and wet the filter thoroughly with water from the kettle – be careful not to burn your fingers! This will prevent your coffee taking on a paper taste when it is filtered.

From this point on you have two options, the "original" and the "inverted" method...

Original Method

Attach the cap of the Aeropress to the Aeropress chamber, with your wetted filter paper in place. Place the chamber with the cap attached onto the vessel you will be decanting into.

Add your ground coffee to the chamber.

Pour heated water onto the ground coffee and start your timer. Add 200g of water or until you reach the "4" level on the brew chamber.

Stir the water and coffee mix with the supplied paddle, and insert the plunger into the brew chamber. Keep the plunger above the water level.

At 1:30 press down slowly and firmly onto the plunger, extracting the coffee through the filter and into your cup.

Inverted Method

Start with the plunger inserted in the brew chamber, with the base of the chamber near the "4" level. Turn your Aeropress upside down.

Add your ground coffee to the chamber.

Pour heated water onto the ground coffee and start your timer. Add 200g of water or until the brew chamber is almost full.

Stir the water and coffee mix with the supplied paddle, and place the Aeropress cap with filter in place onto the brew chamber and lock into place.

At 1:30 place your cup upside down onto the filter end of your Aeropress, and in a smooth motion flip your cup and Aeropress together, back onto your bench.