An Aeropress
1. It’s quick and easy to use.
Making coffee with an Aeropress is as easy as grind, pour and press.
Use 20g of coffee or two scoops just over 1/2 full (included with the Aeropress.) Or, simply fill the top chamber just below the "one" line.
Put the filter in the cap, run some hot water through it and secure it to the bottom chamber.
Add finely ground coffee to the bottom chamber.
Add hot water to the chamber (215g) and give it a stir, or fill the top chamber almost to the brim and pour it in.
Put the plunger into the bottom chamber, partially assembled so it makes a seal and wait 45 seconds.
Press the plunger down. This should only take about 20 to 30 seconds. If it’s too hard to press down, the grind is too fine, and if it pushes down too easy, the grind is too coarse.
You get a cup of freshly brewed coffee in about a minute and 15 seconds.
2. It can also be very complicated if you want it to be.
The great thing about the Aeropress is that it can be as complicated as it can easy, so much so that there is a world competition for who can make the best coffee with an Aeropress. You can also brew the coffee in it inverted, whichsimply means you flip the brewer upside down and try a brewing method that way; some people prefer it, some don’t.
- My personal favorite recipe that I have experimented with is:
- 1) 17g of coffee to 270g of water.
- 2) Pre-wet filter and put the coffee in the bottom chamber.
- 3) Pour 50g of 195-degree water and stir for five seconds.
- 4) After 30 seconds, pour the rest of the water in, stir for five seconds and assemble the plunger partially into the bottom chamber.
- 5) At one minute press down, with total pressing time about 30 seconds.
- You can also do this recipe inverted with 15g of coffee to 230g of water.
3. It’s cheap.
- The whole Aeropress pack costs about $30 and includes:
- -The Aeropress (top chamber, bottom chamber, filter cap)
- -A coffee scoop
- -A funnel for pouring coffee into the bottom chamber, which doubles over to fit the bottom part of the chamber so you can brew into cups that are just a little too small for the Aeropress
- -A stirring paddle, which is designed to be able to stir the coffee without damaging the filter
- -A filter holder
- -350 filters (a pack of 350 filters is about $5.)
This nice little chart by the folks over at Dear Coffee I Love You is a nice price comparison between an Aeropress setup and a K-Cup brewer set up.
You can check their argument as to why the Keurig is awful, too; not just because it makes bad coffee, but because it creates excessive waste.
4. It creates minimal waste.
You can buy metal filters for the Aeropress for about $10 (that’s two packs of regular filters), which is reusable. A reusable filter means that the only waste that comes out of this is the spent coffee grounds.
5. It’s self cleaning.
Because the plunger makes a seal against the bottom camber’s walls, it makes sure that no grounds get stuck to the sides. You just take off the cap, push the spent grounds out into the garbage and rinse the thing out. It’s ready to brewagain.
6. You can use it for tea.
You can use it for more than brewing coffee. It works great with loose leaf tea. I recommend a metal filter for this.
7. It’s durable and portable.
The Aeropress is made out of BPA-free plastic, which means it’s really hard to break. So if you knock it off the counter, it won't shatter into a bunch of pieces. It’s also super compact, lightweight and easy to fit into any travel bag with a hand grinder. It’s great for camping, too.
