HOW TO BREW: AEROPRESS
The 3-Minute Brew Method That Doesn't Need You To Measure Anything!
The AeroPress is a clever device invented in 2005 by the same team behind the famous frisbee-like disc, Aerobie. Considering it was launched only 15 years ago it is just amazing how quickly it has spread around the world. As it's name suggests, it's a press but unlike the French Press which is a plunger and a carafe, the Aeropress is a plunger in a chamber, so you need to put a cup underneath to collect your brew. When you plunge down, it'll press the coffee through a paper filter and into your cup. Thanks to the filter the brew is cleared of all sediment and the grinds are collected in a tidy puck that's super easy to clean after.
The Aeropress chamber can only hold 200ml water and you'll brew it with around 15g of medium ground coffee. Conveniently, 15g of coffee is approximately 1 tablespoon, so you don't even need a scale to make an Aeropress! 15g of coffee to 200ml water is a classic 1 to 13 coffee to water ratio, the brewing gold standard. If you want a stronger brew, add more coffee in the chamber. If you like it weaker, add less coffee. No measuring required!
The Aeropress is so simple it feels like magic, and it's unbelievably quick to brew, but it does have one drawback: it's designed as a single serve device, so you have to repeat the process for every cup. If you're home-brewing for 2 or more people, French Press is a better choice. That said, there is a hack to brew Aeropress for two - shared below!
Aeropress Cheat Sheet
- Only takes 3 minutes to brew, ideal for quick coffee!
- Designed as a single serve device, so best for drinking coffee solo
- Uses a filter that clears all sediment from the brew, delivering a very "clean" mouthfeel
- Small, super-portable and easy to store
- Insanely easy clean-up
- Easy to eyeball the right quantities, you'll get it right every time without having to nerd out on measurements and ratios.
- Timing is important so whip out our smartphone timer
Reason To Love #1: Insanely Easy Clean Up
When you plunge an Aeropress you push your ground coffee and hot water mixture through a paper filter into a cup, leaving all the grounds behind in the chamber. In a French Press the grounds are left swilling around in the bottom of the carafe, which can be a bit messy, but with the Aeropress you get a neatly compacted puck of used grounds that you can just push out and throw away. Once you've seen how easy the clean up is, you'll understand why the Aeropress has become so popular so quickly!
Reason To Love #2: No Measuring Needed & Perfect Every Time
The Aeropress brews 200 ml, and is marked on the side of the chamber to help you get the same water level every time without needing a measuring jug. You don't even need to measure your grounds, as a tablespoon (which is 15 grams) will give you a rough 1 to 13 ratio of coffee to water. You'll be able to consistently replicate a perfect brew without having to nerd out on exact quantities.
Reason To Love #3: It only takes 3 minutes!
Yup, you read correctly: 3 minutes! Mic drop.
Reason To Love #4: It's Small & Super Portable
The Aeropress is small and plastic, making it the best coffee equipment to carry with you. We take ours with us whenever we travel, and make illicit brews in fancy hotel rooms that provide a kettle. It's also great for hiking, camping and teeny, tiny kitchens in cities everywhere.
The Theory
AeroPress is a hybrid immersion and percolation method of coffee brewing. Your coffee first brews while the grinds are immersed in water, and then the Aeropress makes clever use of percolation. Percolation just means that a filter is used in the brewing process. When you plunge an Aeropress your brew "percolates" through a filter, leaving the grinds behind. By comparison when you plunge a French Press you are simply pushing the coffee grounds to the bottom of the carafe, there's no percolation. Percolation limits the amount of sediment and oils in your brew, giving the Aeropress a lighter mouthfeel than the French Press. This is neither good or bad, but just a matter of personal preference.
The Aeropress also uses a bit of pressure during the plunge which accelerates the extraction process and if you want your caffeine NOW, this is good news. The immersion takes 2 minutes, and with the set up, stir and "pressure plunge", you're done in an amazing 3 minutes flat!
Aeropress Instructions For Maximum Taste & Caffeine
The Aeropress comes with good instructions that can be found here, so we're not reinventing the wheel on those. Instead we're going to explain an alternative method, which we actually prefer because it extracts more flavor and caffeine from your coffee. It's called the inverted method.
- Insert plunger into chamber so it is firmly inside, at the number "4" level.
- Turn Aeropress upside down and set it on your counter. If it feels unstable check that the plunger is square inside the chamber and not at an angle. Your inverted device should now have:
-the plunger part sitting on the counter
-the lip of the chamber facing the ceiling - Pour 15g of coffee into the empty chamber.
- Pour 50ml of hot water on top of the coffee and stir for 5 - 10 seconds until evenly soaked.
- Start your timer for 2 minutes (It's important to use a timer so you don't under or over brew your coffee).
- Gently pour the remaining 150ml of water into the chamber.
- Wet an Aeropress filter (this helps it remain stuck in the filter cap, and some people think it removes a paper taste) and place it in the filter cap, then screw the filter cap with filter on top of the chamber.
- Once the 2 minute timer has elapsed, flip the Aeropress over and onto a mug, so the chamber lip, previously facing the ceiling, now rests on the mug.
- Plunge down with one hand while holding your mug with the other so it doesn't tip. You'll feel some resistance (this is a "pressure plunge") but it should not feel impossible, if it's very hard, your coffee is probably too finely ground. The plunge takes us about 15 seconds. You'll hear a hissing sound at the end as the last bit of air is pressed out of the chamber.
- Enjoy your coffee!
The Aeropress Recipe Hack For Two: Use 30g of coffee rather than 15g, to brew a more concentrated coffee. Split the brew into two cups and then add hot water to taste.
Bonus: Click Here For Fun Aeropress recipe Generator