How to use an aeropress

What you’ll Need

18g Fresh Roasted Coffee – We recommend our Dark and Dangerous Blend
AeroPress
Grinder
Kettle
Scale
Paper or Metal Filter
Stirring Utensil
Hot Water (176-205 F)
Timer

What is the AeroPress?

For real coffee aficionados like us, having a magnificently tasting coffee brew is one of the main things that get us going in the morning and keeps us going throughout the day. And whether you’re in love with mocha, ristretto or a more concentrated shot of double espresso, you always want the best tasting coffee.

Unfortunately, making the best espresso can be a pain if you do not have the right equipment. In addition to being unbearably time-consuming, the subsequent messy clean-up can be stressful and may make you want to give up on your coffee making escapades altogether.

But wait. Before giving up, have you tried the AeroPress? This is a neat and innovative device that produces arguably the best coffee by simply using hand pressure and some creative design.

There are two methods of brewing using an AeroPress: the standard method and the inverted method. The standard method involves filling the device filter normally and plunging it directly into your cup. The inverted method, which is more popular among coffee enthusiasts, offers you more control over the immersion and brew time as there’s no water dripping down through the filter as you brew.

If you’ve been looking for something less stressful when it comes to making your coffee, the AeroPress could be the solution.

This is a neat device that’s creatively designed to work in a very simple way while producing fantastic coffee that’s arguably much better than these other complex devices. As long as you have hot water and fresh coffee grounds, the AeroPress will help you make a wonderful cup of coffee anywhere in less than two minutes!

The Invention of the AeroPress

Invented in 2005 by maverick engineer Alan Adler, the AeroPress is a revolutionary device that allows you to brew a great cup of coffee every time. This device is affordable and simple to use. It uses gentle air pressure to create a rich yet smooth flavor that’s devoid of bitterness and low on acidity. Once you’ve tried the AeroPress, you will not want to go back to those expensive instant coffee brewers that disappoint you.

AeroPress Brewing System

The AeroPress is designed with four main components. They include:

• The Chamber – This is made from tough, heat-resistant plastic.
• The Plunger – It fits on top of the chamber
• The seal – This is to make the device airtight
• The filter cap – This is to hold water and coffee grounds securely and in place

Other parts of this device include a funnel, a scoop, a stirrer, a filter folder, and 350 filters.

Advantages of Using an AeroPress

The AeroPress has been a huge hit with coffee connoisseurs because of its speed and efficiency. And if you like controlling every aspect of your coffee brewing process, the AeroPress is best the way to go.

Speed – Unlike drip coffeemakers where you have to soak the coffee grounds in hot water for several minutes, the AeroPress allows the hot water to come into contact with the grounds and immerse them immediately. Keep in mind that leaving your coffee grounds on the water for an extended period activates bitter chemicals, which make your coffee bitter and ruins much of it’s delicious flavor. So being able to control the exact immersion time with the AeroPress is key to making a great cup.

In essence, using the AeroPress is all about speed and efficiency so you need to make your coffee as fast as possible to avoid more toxins and bitterness.

Convenience – The fact that the AeroPress is compact, portable, easy to clean, and simple to use makes it much more convenient than other complex devices. This is a device that gives you the flexibility of using it at home, at the office or on the road. It’s also less of a hassle as you don’t need a complex mechanism to pressurize it or difficult-to-clean filters.

Efficiency – Being able to create a great cup of coffee in under 5 minutes is a great thing. With the AeroPress, you can achieve this speed of brewing. On top of that, there’s no messy cleanup or hassle in putting things away. So the effeciency of the AeroPress makes it a top contender for one of the best and most efficient makes around.

Affordability – Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on brewers that will disappoint, an AeroPress will cost you less than $30 and still make high-end coffee. It’s essentially one of the cheapest yet efficient coffee brewers on the market.

How to Use the AeroPress – Inverted

The AeroPress is an innovative coffee maker that only requires you to use your hand pressure to force water through the ground coffee beans. This is very different from drip coffee makers that rely on gravity to pull the water through the grounds.

To use the AeroPress, put coffee grounds and hot water into the cylinder and place the plunger on top. You should only stir if the coffee grounds are floating. Let it brew for a few minutes and then begin pressing the plunger slowly to force water through the
coffee grounds and filter into the cup below.

Let’s get deeper into the details.

Step 1: Preperation

• Take a paper filter from the filter bag and place it in the crevice of the plastic lid. Run some warm water through the paper filter to remove any filter taste and set it aside.
• Measure our 18g of fresh roaster coffee. Grind coffee to a medium coarse grind. Something a little more coarse than table salt is what we like. Each grinder will differ in grind size so you might need to play with your grinder settings to achieve the settings you desire.
• Take the rubber end of the plunger and insert it into the top of the AeroPress. The rubber plunger should be inserted just so that the full rubber plunger is fully inside, but no further.
• Turn the AeroPress upside down on your scale and pour the ground coffee into the AeroPress, leveling out the bed of coffee.

Step 2: The Bloom and Brew

•  In your kettle, heat the water to 176 F. Some people like hotter water and some don’t. Keep in mind the hotter the water, the stronger and more bitter the coffee will turn out. So start lower and adjust your water temperature to your liking.
• Pour in 100g of water, just enough to saturate the bed of coffee. Stir the coffee so all the grounds get soaked with water.
• Allow the coffee to “bloom” for 30-45 seconds. This releases CO2 gas from the coffee and results in better tasting and less bitter brew.
• After the bloom, pour the remaining water in the AeroPress and fill to the top. Do not stir or agitate the coffee.

Step 3 – The Press

• At 1:45 – 2:00 minutes in, stir the coffee making sure to fully saturate and soak any remaining grounds.
• Add the filter and lid to the top of the AeroPress and turn to secure it.
• Take the AeroPress flip it onto a coffee mug. It might take a bit of practice to master this flip without spilling some coffee but the key is to meet the press halfway with the cup and invert it right over the mug.
• Take the next 30 seconds to slowly depress the plunger into the AeroPress. It is important not to plunge too fast as this will result in a inferior tasting coffee. Take your time and slowly plunge the coffee out.
• Lastly, add hot water to taste. At this time, the coffee might be too strong for some, so feel free to add as much hot water as you need to thin it out to your taste preferences.

Step 4 – The Cleanup

• It’s always advisable to clean the device before settling down to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Unscrew the cap, push the plunger the rest of the way out to discard the used filter and condensed grounds in the trash.
• Wash and rinse the entire device out and set aside to dry
• That’s it! Easiest cleanup ever…

Other Brewing Methods

Handground.com has an excellent write up on various other brewing methods with the Aeropress. Try some of them out and see which ones you like. We recommend the inverted methods because we think it produces the best tasting coffee but we want to hear from you. Let us know what methods you like.

Making More Than 1 Cup of Coffee

Many people think that a drawback to the AeroPress is that it can only make a single cup of coffee. While this might seem right looking at the size of the AeroPress, it’s actually false. If you look at the side of the AeroPress, you’ll see number indicators going up to 4. You can actually make up to 4 cups of coffee in this device.

You do this by adding more coffee up to the desired number. You’ll need to play around a little bit with the desired water temperature, coffee to water ratio and plunging times, but adding more coffee will result in a stronger, more concentrated brew. You can then use that concentrated brew and thin it out with hot water resulting in a larger quantity of the same delicious tasting coffee.

Conclusion

When it comes to having coffee, there’s no doubt that we all want the best. While there are a lot of coffee makers out there, we often feel shortchanged by most of them as they give us cheap, low-quality hot water that we drink as coffee. We always end up heartbroken since we know that we deserve much better than what we get!

Fortunately, a relatively new device known as AeroPress is changing all this. AeroPress is a fantastic coffee maker that you’ll never look back if you know how to use it. The device is innovative, simple to use and clean, quite affordable, efficient, convenient, durable, portable, and above all, produces a great cup of coffee.

All you have to do is learn how to use and you’ll be in a better place as far as coffee making is concerned. Remember, you’ll get better at using it with every brew.

Punch today in the face with a great cup of coffee!