Brewing Method: the Aeropress

I’ve been playing around with a couple different techniques lately - starting with the recipe used by DCILY’s Brian Jones in his bid for the World Aeropress Championship gold medal. See his recipe and recap here: DCILY Aeropress Technique

Brian, and many others, use an Inverted Aeropress technique. By simply flipping the Aeropress over and leaving the cap and filter off, you can immerse your coffee for a longer period of time.

Keep in mind, I still have a lot to learn, and I’m sure my preferred recipe will change quite frequently. After trying this method a few times, getting suggestions from other Aeropress users, and adding a bit of my own personal preference, I landed on the following recipe that I’m quite pleased with. I made this with Papua New Guinea from Stauf’s Coffee Roasters in Columbus, OH.

The technique:

1. Boil your water

2. Measure out 18.5 g of freshly roasted whole bean coffee

3. Place a filter in the Aeropress cap.

4. Invert your Aeropress (plunger sticking straight up, all numbers on your press should be upside down).

5. When water in the kettle is hot, pour a bit of water into the Aeropress, secure cap with filter, and flip on to cup. Press. (this rinses your filter and heats up your press. I think it’s best to do this pretty close to when you’re ready to brew, so the press is heated).

6. Remove the cap, make sure the filter is fit snug. Pull the plunger down so the top is just below the “4” mark. Put the press (inverted) on the scale, tare to zero.

7. Grind your coffee. Place in the press, tare to zero.

8. Start timer/stopwatch. Once the water has cooled to about 196 degrees Fahrenheit, pour 100g of water of the grounds, give it a quick stir.

9. Slowly pour 115g of water over the grounds. Scale should read 215g. One more quick stir to make sure all grounds are saturated. Cap the press with the filter.

10. At about 1:25, flip the press onto your mug, and begin pressing. Leave the last bit of water unpressed. Finish pressing at about 1:55.