I could not sit on this any longer, a Friday video a brewing guide for the aeropress.
I am super pleased with it, with more to follow very soon. I’d love to hear your feedback through the normal channels.
There is also a guide below and a download pdf version here
Absolutely amazing! Even though Im using my Aeropress for a long time now, Ive still found this guide amazing. Perfect job! Lookin forward to other ones! 🙂
Excellent!
Guide 2, how to use the Aeropress according to the standard instructions or – what differences are there in the cup between the designed ‘espresso’ method and the inverted method.
Perfect timing! Got an aeropress for my birthday today, been experimenting all day and this is really handy.
I used to use the inversion method, until I realized that you can just put the plunger in and NOT press down and the coffee does not pass through the filter.
So stir, put in the plunger, wait 30 seconds, then plunge.
Try it anyway…see what you think.
Steve – I swear, you are ready for a show on Food Network. Outstanding!
Brilliant guide, excellent graphics. I’ve just started using the inverted method and so far have only once not put the filter cap on properly.
Very very awesome. I loved it!
Great instructions!
My aeropress has the blue tint to it – and I imagine yours does too, Steve, as we’ve had them a while. But I think the new ones are colourless (non-polycarbonate) plastic? Or have those not reached the market yet over here?
Roland rip up the standard instructions there rubbish 🙂 And aeropress doesn’t make espresso what ever the box says 🙂
Anth A it was just for you I promise happy birthday
Hi Christine I have tried it that way, I just prefer the inverted method gives me more control on the stir and less fiddley
Hunt I think my moment may have passed but this is more fun anyway
PJ yes there the clear ones now, not sure of the benefits but the look great.
I don’t use the standard instructions but would still be interested in a comparison between the suggested very fine grind very fast extraction compared to your slower extraction pretend it is hi-tech french press method. 😉
I also use Christine’s method as I find it less fiddly than the inverted method.
Not sure why I would make an instructional video on the aeropress instructions, this is my chosen method. If you want to compare just follow them out the box. If your brewing your French press in 30 seconds I best get that video done double quick 🙂
When you have spilt one putting in the stopper I think both are slightly fiddly but was asked for my method
I brew french press for about 4 minutes with a coarser grind, well fielded 🙂
I know that there are people who use the aeropress to brew for about 3 or 4 minutes, the instructions say a lot quicker than you or I do.
My method is similar to yours with 20g of coffee, fill to the top with water (which is probably about the same ratio as you without measuring), stir till I’m absolutely sure all the grounds are wet (which is probably about 10 seconds), put plunger in and wait a bit (probably about 30 seconds) and press. I get about a mug full and I don’t dilute. It works for me and means that I get a good mug of nice coffee without a lot of fuss. Aeropress is the least fuss method I use.
I’m just interested in the differences in the cup for different brewing parameters. More of a ‘Why To’ rather than a ‘How To’. Why 30 seconds rather than 15 or 120 for example. I only mentioned the standard instructions because they are very different to your method (and mine) and I thought that they may be a good way to show the effect on the cup of adjusting brewing parameters.
An excellent guide as it is of course. It is especially reassuring for me that I’m not doing it completely wrong 🙂
That’s a great video, thanks for making it. I’ve been brewing with an Aeropress for about a year now and don’t invert. I’ve thought about it lots but then I always forget and end up doing it in my usual method, but I think I’ll give it a go this week. If I remember.
The low tempratures that you recommend are quite suprising as I remember you suggesting a higher temp on hasforum. I’ve always used brew water between 91 and 94 and believed that there was a general consensus that these higher tempratures were needed for a fuller extraction. This video though, along with 3 of the top 4 in the world aeropress championships using water below 85, has left me thinking that an appraisal of my current methods is needed.
I can see how a complex, delicate coffee like the square mile yirg might benefit from a lower brew temp but have difficulty imagining how the body and sweet chocolatey goodness of a coffee such as cachoeira would come through though.
I do tend to brew for around a minute ,so might the lower temperatures only really benefit a slightly finer grind/shorter brew time?
Anyway, great video. I love the paper tastes nasty/pacman part.
Haha, well 6AM Christine sometimes has trouble with “the flip!”
🙂
Andrew: The lower temps are from a lot of practice mainly from the aeropress champs but also for playing since (I kind of got the aeropress bug). Things do change the more you learn, and my early temps were mainly based around experiences with other brewers I had been using in the past as my starting point, and getting to lazy to do the tests I have since done.
Its a wide brush that you have to paint with in a two min video and there are occasions that raising the temp might help some. But on the whole I have found that this works with 99% of coffees as still the best result. One of the test coffees was the Brazil Cachoeriea which came out very well.
But as I have said my recipe if you like maybe not right for you, but I got battered with people asking for me to show “my way” so that’s what these are doing.
just tried a guatemalan at 83 that i would normally brew at 92/93. although the intial bloom didn’t seem convincing, the cup was amazing with all the flavours coming through perfectly and not a hint of sourness. wow, this is the way forward.
Thanks Steve,
Have previously been using the method (or variation of) proposed by the guys at Tapped and Packed. However I often find that I pick up the tastes more when dosing less, 16g, but obviously lose a bit of body. I was therefore interested to hear about your diluting down post plunge, so may up dose but increase water.
Great video, I’m going to have to share it with some friends.The tip about washing the paper filter is way under rated and not mentioned nearly enough in the instructions that I’ve read other places. And you also reminded me that I needed to get a replacement filter cap. Somehow mine disappeared.
Steve, love the video and pdf guide – really, really helpful.
I’ve been Aeropressing for over a year now, (onto my second lot of fliters), and never tried the inverted method…..not sure I will…. but timings, paper rinsing and grind advice will be heeded immediately!
Cheers,
Jon
Nice instructions, i’m still not sure about the correct grind particle size to use..
I learned to brew coffee in Colombia during the 20 years or so that I lived there. Basically, in a fired-clay jug, about 2 tablespoons of (recently) ground coffee (not too fine!) per reasonably-sized cup add hot water and leave with lid on for several minutes, then add a few drops of cold water and serve. I’ve never felt like doing it any other way even after returning to the UK
Great Aeropress vid! It did amuse me in its complexity, though.
Here’s what I do:
1) Buy beans from HasBean and ask for a grind that’s a little finer than their Jug grind (see step 6 below).
2) Put paper filter into the screw cap and attach.
3) Put two scoops of coffee into the chamber, on top of the filter paper. Place on top of a mug.
4) Fill with hot (not boiling) water up to the number 2 mark.
5) Stir for 10 secs.
6) Press. Takes about 8-12 secs depending on grind. Everything I’ve read about the Aeropress says that it shouldn’t be hard work to press down. If it is, the grind is too fine. I worked with Steve for a good while to find a grind size I was happy with that gave an 8-12 sec plunge.
7) Top up the mug with hot water to about halfway.
8) Clean the Aeropress.
9) Enjoy a great coffee!
It took me a while to fine-tune this process but the whole thing takes me about 3 mins now. It always draws comments at work too. I’ve never detected the taste of the paper filter, either, but I’m no tasting expert. I’ll have to try wetting it first and see.
Ha ha – 8 and a bracket turns into a smiley.
If ordering ground coffee from HasBean to be brewed in an Aeropress (as I will be towards Christmas for a present) what is the ‘correct’ grind size to select?
Roland, I order the Espresso grind but sometimes it can take a bit of effort to plunge all the way through if you don’t give it a good stirring. I found the filter grind was a bit too coarse and the water ran through to quickly after stirring.
But I guess with the inverted method it wouldn’t be as much a concern as the water would start flowing until you turned it over to plunge.
I think the Aeropress is fantastic though, you really do get some great flavours coming through with it.
Beauty of the aeropress means the range will work, for me I’d go for filter style .
I’ve more or less always followed the guide that came with the press, and never really been disappointed. I also don’t dilute. I like it strong, very strong. I will try wetting the filter first though, and just for the lulz have a go at inverting.
And for the record, I have knocked over my aeropress precisely once in over a year of use, and it was disastrous. Those grounds got everywhere.
Small point: The steps are out of order!
You probably want to start heating your cup BEFORE brewing the coffee… Then it will be hot when the coffee has finished brewing.
Heat is dispersed very easily in the cup popping it in while its brewing works just fine and fills that void of waiting 🙂
Great video (and pdf), thanks!
Regarding the amount of water, do you have a weight for what you consider 3/4 full?
I tried around 17g water : 1 g grounds, which was about 289g water for your aeropress method. The resulting coffee wasn’t watery, per se, but it definitely had too much water. Do you have a suggestion?
I figure if you are weighing the beans, might as well weight the water too (if your scale is able).
Oops, I forgot to mention I consider 1g = 1ml of water, which should be pretty accurate for filtered water. I really should get a liquid measuring cup.
I am trying to understand the crema that comes from espresso machines. Is it mostly the disolving of the co2 in the water that makes the crema so rich or are there other things that the aeropress does not do that is necessary for the forming of crema? i did the math and to develope 9 bar pressure in an aeropress you would need 638lbs of downforce with the plunger being that wide! does the much higher pressure extraction also change the pull?
Hi Daniel
Creama is a very complicated thing and wouldn’t begin to try to explain it here, but it a mix of oils emulsions and lipids in coffee.
But the aeropress is NOT an espresso maker for me at all but its own method. and something very different and unique
Casey, I plan to update the video some point to include the weight too, it was my bad
I love this so much. Thanks for posting it. Beautifully made video and infographic. Have you played with the coava disk? Would you change anything using it?
I have used it a lot nathan, and it doesn’t change so much, apart from maybe a little courser
Good vid!
Is the updated version coming out any time soon? I’d like to know how much water are you using. Can you post the amount here?
OK OK the video is updated with the quantity not 3/4 full due to public demand 🙂
Very cool video, Steve!
Do you do the graphics yourself?
Hi Will we work with a local company to help us with the difficult stuff
Hi and thanks for the great and entertaining video.
Have you guys tried the Clever Coffee Dripper and done a video for that as well?
Bye from NYC
Adam
Hi Adam
I have and plans for it one day, these take a lot of effort and time to get sorted but more planned for the future
Great guide/video, but only thing that threw me off was the 85 degree water. Gotta remember that not everyone assumes you’re talking about Celsius! Might want to mention that if you ever decide to do another one or people here in the U.S. are going to be scratching their heads when they make some luke warm coffee…lol. 😉
Enjoyed your Aeropress method and with experimentation of temperature and time/stirrring/dose/brewing etc. and am enjoying supermarket ground coffee like nothing before but now bought a Mahlkonig Vario W grinder and the difference in the cup using the same beans (I was buying the same ground coffee as the beans I am now grinding) is astonishing.
The grinder is probably overkill for Aeropress but the flavours this technique can bring out are amazing.
You seem to be a fan of the Mahlkonig but not much is written about the “W” variety.
As a home use grinder, this has opened my eyes to a new horizon in coffee. The steel burrs are not for espresso but that’s a different style of coffee; if you’re after espresso then they offer ceramic burs.
Stephen
Please point me in the direction of coffee beans that suits the Aeropress and the Mahlkonig Vario W
Hey MJ
Not a huge fan of the Vario W just don’t get why build in scales are a good idea, when you can buy scales. But like the vario as a grinder for sure
Pointing you in the direction of some coffees, drop the site an email with your likes dislikes and any coffees you have tried you loved or hated and either me or Chris will make you some recommendations
Hi. Thanks for the guide. The PDF link doesn’t seem to be working?
you can find it here
http://www.hasbean.co.uk/blogs/brew-guides/5952485-aeropress-brew-guide
Many thanks
So got linked here for the great aeropress coffee video.
…Then found out you’re a Sunderland fan.
#sadface
We all have our cross to bear Andy