My Aeropress Recipe (Aug 2020)

I’ve read a LOT of aeropress recipes. A LOT of them. I’ve read about competition winners, inverted vs upright methods, bla bla bla bla.

Here’s what I’ve finally realized works for me:

1. Get good beans and grind them fresh just before brewing. Duh.
2. 14–16 grams of coffee for a cup. A couple of stops courser than the espresso setting on my grinder.
3. Water between 78-82C because my kettle isn’t precise.
4. Inverted setup. Fill the entire chamber with water except for a couple of millimeters at the top — so that it doesn’t overflow when you insert the stirrer.
5. Push the grounds around for a few seconds, just enough to ensure all the grounds are wet.
6. Rinse the stirrer, get a filter and set it up in the cap. Pour hot water to rinse the filter — maybe 10mL.
7. Screw on the cap.
8. Plunge straight into a mug. My bathroom scale tells me that I use ~15-17kg of force.
9. Enjoy!

The highlight of this recipe is that there’s no timer. I’ve tried using a timer and it always feels like BS. The time it takes to set up the filter in the cap and rinse it is sufficient for me. Just do it a few times and adjust to your taste. I think I brew for 2–2.5 minutes with the beans I’m using these days.

I find that I get a richer and more satisfying brew by using more coffee and shortening the brew time.