How to Brew with an AeroPress
Paper filter and gentle pressure, so you get the clarity of a pour over with more body. Almost any method works, which is why there are a thousand of them. This is the one to start from.
At a glance
- Coffee : water
- 1:14
- Active time
- 2 min
- Total time
- 4 min
- Makes
- 1 cup
- Serve
- Hot
- Kit
- AeroPress
Ingredients
Note: The chamber holds about 250 ml. If you want more coffee than that, brew it strong and dilute in the cup.
Method
-
Assemble and rinse
Put a paper in the cap, rinse it with hot water, and screw the cap onto the chamber. Stand the whole thing on a sturdy mug.
Rinsing washes out the paper taste and warms the mug.
-
Add coffee and water
Tip in the 16 g, then pour the water to the top of the chamber, all at once. Give it one gentle stir to wet everything.
-
Steep for ninety seconds
Put the plunger in just far enough to seal, which stops it dripping through while it steeps. Leave it.
Steep 1:30 -
Press slowly
Push down with steady, even pressure over about thirty seconds. It should take effort but not a fight.
Stop when you hear the hiss of air. Pushing past that point forces the last, harshest liquid out of the puck.
Press 30 seconds
Why this works
The AeroPress is an immersion brewer with a paper filter and a gentle shove at the end, and each of those three things contributes something. The immersion gives you even extraction without any pouring skill. The paper takes out the oils and the fines, so the cup is clean. The pressure is modest, around one bar at most, which is nowhere near espresso but enough to push water through a fine grind quickly.
That combination is why a finer grind works here than in a press. Normally a fine grind in an immersion brew means a muddy, over-extracted cup, because the fines keep extracting and end up in the drink. The paper catches them.
Pressing slowly matters. Fast pressure compacts the bed unevenly and forces water through channels, which is the same problem espresso has. Thirty seconds of steady push gives an even extraction and, incidentally, a much easier job for your arm.
Stopping at the hiss is worth the discipline. Once the liquid is through, the last thing you can squeeze out is whatever was clinging to the most exhausted grounds, and it is bitter.
Variations
- Stronger, like a concentrate: 20 g to 120 g, steeped a minute, then topped up with hot water in the cup.
- Iced: brew at 18 g to 150 g and press straight onto 100 g of ice.
- Longer steep: two to four minutes with a coarser grind gives a rounder, less bright cup.
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Questions
Standard or inverted?
Standard is simpler and safer, and the difference in the cup is small. Inverted stops any drip-through during a long steep, which matters if you are steeping for several minutes. Both are covered on this site.
Can I use metal filters?
Yes, and the cup gets heavier and slightly silty, closer to a press. Paper gives the clarity the brewer is known for. A metal filter is a different drink, not an upgrade.
Is AeroPress coffee espresso?
No. Espresso runs at about nine bar; an AeroPress manages around one at best. What it makes is a strong, clean filter coffee, and it can make a very good concentrate for milk drinks.
Why does mine take so much force?
Too fine a grind, or too much coffee for the water. Go a step coarser. If it is genuinely immovable, check the paper has not folded over on itself in the cap.