How to use an Aeropress

The Aerobie AeroPress makes “smooth, fast, easy” coffee with easy cleanup. This coffee maker can prepare one to two cups of coffee at a time, depending on how you prefer it. The process is quick and with the micro filters it prepares a very clean cup of coffee. Aerobie markets it as “espresso” and “the absolute best cup of coffee”, two descriptors that almost make it worth avoiding. However, it makes an excellent cup of coffee if you ignore the brew instructions on the box. What I mean is that they recommend brewing an “espresso” and then watering down to have an “americano”. It is certainly not espresso, as espresso is optimal (according to the nice work done by Illy) between 195-205 degrees and under 9 bars of pressure. See above if you want to know what espresso is. So, we recommend that you ignore the brew instructions that come on the box. Try out one of the techniques below and then experiment to get it just right for yourself.

Recipe #1: BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS TECHNIQUE, AS IT RELIES ON FLIPPING NEAR BOILING WATER!!

  1. Heat 200 grams (7 ounces) of water to around 200 degrees.
  2. Grind 17 grams of coffee, using a medium grind. Pour the grinds into the Aeropress placed upside down, with the plunger used as the base.
  3. Saturate the grinds using all of the water. At this point you can fit the filter into the screen. Quickly saturate the the filter.
  4. Stir gently at 30 seconds.
  5. Screw on the screen with the filter attached. Preheat your mug if you have extra hot water.
  6. Flip the Aeropress onto a cup at 50 seconds.
  7. Begin plunging slowly and steadily, attempting to take about 10 seconds, to finish by 1 minute total.
  8. Enjoy!

Recipe #2: THE NO-FLIP TECHNIQUE.

  1. Heat 275 grams (9.5 ounces) of water to around 200 degrees.
  2. Place a filter inside the screen and screw it onto the Aeropress. Saturate the filter with hot water, with the Aeropress on the mug you will use, in order to preheat it.
  3. Grind 20 grams of coffee, using a fine grind.
  4. Saturate the grinds using all of the water. It should pour up to the 4. You may have a little left over.
  5. Stir immediately, being gentle.
  6. Fill up with any remaining water if necessary.
  7. Place the top piece into the Aeropress and let it sit until 1 minute has gone by from when you intially saturated the grinds.
  8. At 1 minute plunge slowly enough to finish at 1 minute and 30 seconds.
  9. Enjoy!

We suggest that you adjust the grind, the dose, the amount of water, and the extraction time in order to suit your tastes and the environment. There is no right way to make an Aeropress (but plenty of wrong ways)!