Somewhat bewildered by the millions of Aeropress recipes on youtube, I’m wondering if daily users end up settling into a reliable, simple process that’s similar from person to person.
In particular, I note that my method (basically a french press) is vastly different from the one in the instructions which is ground much finer, uses less water, and starts dripping through the filter immediately.
Anyway, here’s me:
- 12g mild-roast (coarse ground a touch finer than most people would use for a french press, done with a C2)
- inverted
- one filter paper, not washed, but damp enough to stick
- fresh boiled water (so probs 95°+) 180g
- stir enough to break up the floaties
- push the plunger in far enough that the liquid is almost at the top before I put the filter on
- tip over and start plunging at 1:30, finish by 2:00
- into ~70g warmed milk
I’d love to hear yours.
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unpopular opinion. The beauty of the aeropress is it doesn’t matter.
I was like you when I first got my press. All the recipes were overwhelming and I worried entirely too much about figuring out my favorite. This was a barrier to what, to me, is the true beauty of the brewer.
- As an immersion brewer it is super forgiving. Give it anywhere from long enough way up to like 5-6min and it’s pretty much the same.
- Do you like flipping tubes of boiling water around? Then do inverted. Do you prefer to keep your skin? Do conventional and use the plunger to make a seal an hold the water in. They are the same.
- Do you want to brew concentrate and cut it or pour all the water through. Again are they a touch different? probably. Will I notice if I am not blind tasting 2 side by side cups? No
If what you enjoy is something you can constantly fiddle with, the aero press is great because the recipes are endless. BUT if what you want is a good cup of coffee, accept that this brewer makes it easy, travels well, doesn’t need a goose neck kettle or even a scale if you brew to the volume of a known mug.
Can confirm. The AP is far more forgiving than some other methods such as a moka pot. If you use the right amount of water and grinds, and you let it extract for more than a few seconds, the details don’t really matter all that much. If you’re really experienced, you should be able to taste the difference between two recipes, but these tend to be tiny differences that don’t really matter when all you really want is a cup of good coffee in the morning.
However, there is another area where the AP shines: flexibility. By adjusting the recipe, you can make a single cup for yourself or 4 cups just as easily. If you need even more more than that, you need a to go XL or use a pour over.
lol - you are probably right, I’m over-thinking it. The coffee I drink every day now (with an acceptably small amount of fiddling around) is reliably excellent. Perhaps I don’t need to watch the Aeropress movie ;-)
15g, inverted, wet filter, hand grinder to between espresso and pour over grain size. No stir, water all at once, fast. Wait until grains start to fall +2mins, plunge.
If you’re into Aeropress and want to experiment, check out the Aeromatic app. It has dozens of recipes and uses a timer to step you through them. You’ll need a scale. It also tries to account for the grind size you get from your particular model of grinder. I’m not sure how accurate its compensation is, but it should get you in the ballpark.
I’ll have to check out Aeromatic
Inverted brew method, very dark roast, fine grind, about 1.5 spoons (the one that came with the press), didn’t measure the weight. Fill with boiling water to the highest fill line, stir, let it settle for a minute. Stir again, wait another minute, put the cap on, set a cup on top, rotate the whole thing, and then slowly but firmly push the plunger down.
I’m guessing by the time I start pushing we’re at about the 2:10-2:15 mark. Press right through the hiss until completely dry (maybe 15 secs), open, knock the puck out, rinse the press under cold water.
By the time I’m done cleaning, the coffee temperature should have dropped a few degrees, so I can start sipping gently.
I follow this guide:
Same
One aeropress scoup of mostly Lairds functional focus blend.
Similar process I leave the preground coffee as is. No probe, do fresh boiling water, plus added metal filter with the paper filter.
Wait 10-20 mins for language to make sense again
mine’s just about the same except i tend to push the grind size down as much as i can, up to the point it tips toward bitter. and that seems to depend significantly on the particular coffee itself, i expect both for flavor/roast reasons and for innate properties of the variety. i start around 20 on the encore and if thats tasting fine, go 2 clicks finer each time until it doesn’t, then back off by one. and it’s grind one or two clicks finer with an aged bag vs a fresh one.
I don’t know how many grams of coffee I use. I aim to make coffee concentrate equal to 4 shots of espresso roughly using the Reverse Hoffman Method.
Steep time depends on beans. Espresso roast 1.5 minutes, longer when it’s a light roast. Not using a timer, mostly watching for the bloom and adding more water when it’s done.
I extract right onto ice and add a moderate amount half and half to taste. I call it a slow release Americano.
I don’t keep track of how much water or its temperature really. Just a cup microwaved until barely boiling and usually don’t use it all. Similarly I don’t spritz the beans with water, just haven’t bothered yet.
Can you clarify what you mean by “Watching for the bloom”? I’m an espresso boy, I don’t generally get to see what’s happening in the brew chamber, so I’m unfamiliar with what that term actually means. I’ve watched James’ videos pretty religiously, but it’s your comment that’s made me realise I don’t know what that actually means!
Bloom is the grounds offgassing carbon dioxide. The darker the roast, the greater the bloom. When you’re brewing in a filter or a French press you can watch the grounds bubble up and expand as the gas is released.
Perfect, that makes it clear thanks. Explains why I have to time it in the espresso
When looking at the various recipes out there, I often wonder how much of this is just AeroPress superstition, and how much of it actually matters. For example, wetting the filter, pre-heating the gear and all the different stirring styles. Seems like those things could produce a different result, but I’m not experienced enough to taste the difference. Therefore, I just do what makes sense from the perspective of chemistry.
- Finer particle size increases the surface area, which in turn, speeds up the extraction.
- Higher temperature speeds just about everything in chemistry, so I guess it should apply to solid-liquid extraction too.
- Relying on diffusion to take care of transportation is painfully slow. The concentration gradients take forever to spread even a few centimeters, so stirring speeds things up a lot. I mean, there’s a reason why most lab scale and industrial scale reactors come with a mixer.
- Adjust the extraction time based on variables 1, 2 and 3.
As a side note, concentration difference matters too. Using previously made coffee to extract more soluble materials into it, is obviously going to be a lot slower than using clean water. This is why a pour over makes a lot of sense, as far as extraction yield is concerned. Incidentally, you can adapt the AP for that as well, but then you would need to balance between grind size clogging up the filter. Generally not worth it IMO, but it is an interesting experiment. It could be worth it if all you have is an AP, but you need to make coffee for a larger audience.
Your last point about concentration could also explain @Uninformed_Tyler’s thoughts about the AeroPress being somewhat forgiving. Most of the extraction takes place when the water is clean, then the rate of extraction drops off quickly and then idles along for a bit - so the cut off time is not so critical.
Also the temperature plays a big role. There’s no risk of having 200 °C steam passing through the grinds. Quite the opposite really. You’ll start with roughly 99 °C, but that drops quite quickly into a more forgiving territory.
Theoretically, pressure is another important variable, but since most methods just use atmospheric pressure, so there’s nothing you can do about it.
If you end up with bad coffee, it usually means your measurements are way off. Some people also end up doing the extraction on the kitchen floor instead of inside the cylinder, which isn’t ideal for the temperature.
