What is the correct/best grind when using the AeroPress?
Tried and tested, the AeroPress Coffee Maker is one of the most versatile coffee makers currently on the market. It has the ability to brew hundreds of delicious recipes - so much so that there is now a World AeroPress Championship!
The nature of the AeroPress allows for tasty coffee to be brewed wherever you choose, whether that be that on top of a mountain, or an overnight stay in a hotel that you know is going to serve you mediocre coffee at the buffet breakfast… There's also the AeroPress Go, a smaller version of the brewer which is perfect for travelling.
Invented by Aerobie’s star engineer Alan Adler, the AeroPress was invented to brew espresso-style coffee without shelling out a fortune on a fancy coffee machine. In practice, AeroPress espresso is a bit of a myth, as you won't be able to replicate the high pressure that a traditional espresso machine creates.
Instead, the AeroPress has been adopted by the specialty coffee community as a way to brew clean and tasty immersion brews in multiple different ways. If you've not brewed AeroPress coffee before, it's got all the clean body of a pourover coffee thanks to the paper filter, with the immersion and ease of use of a French Press.
So, if you are looking for a brewer to add to your coffee corner or just starting out on your coffee journey, the AeroPress Coffee Maker is a great no-fuss option. You'll be brewing great coffee with little hassle, minimum spend, and it's a brewer that all of us at Rounton Coffee would highly recommend (especially for gifts)! When it comes to brewing recipes, you are literally spoiled for choice but as a starting point, this is the way we like to brew with the AeroPress at The Granary.
A few fundamentals to get us started:
- You need to start with great coffee. (You only get out quality if you start out with great quality)
- Water: Clean, soft water (for best results use filtered water)
- You will need a set of digital scales.
- Try to grind your coffee beans just before brewing (more on this later).
- Use the coffee weight to water ratio of 60g coffee to 1ltr of water.
- Total brew time should be no longer than 2 minutes.
- Sit back, relax and revel in your success.
How to use your AeroPress
To start, fill your kettle with filtered water and get this on the boil. Straight off the boil is fine: the hotter the water, the more flavour you will extract, especially with lighter roasted coffee.
- Weigh out 20g of whole coffee beans.
- For this brew method, you will need a grind that is slightly finer than a conventional cafetière grind. We use the Wilfa Svart grinder set with the line on the 'A' of 'AeroPress'.
- Grind your coffee.
- We will be using the inverted AeroPress method for this brew: pull the plunger of the AeroPress to the end of the chamber, leaving the plunger tucked slightly into the brew chamber.
- Remove the filter cap from the brewer and add your filter paper.
- Turn the AeroPress Coffee Maker upside down. Place it on your scales and add your ground coffee.
- Add your hot water into the brew chamber and fill right to the top.
- Whilst the coffee is steeping, add wet your filter in the filter cap.
- After 2 minutes, give the grounds a good stir using the stirrer.
- Pop on the filter cap and twist into place.
- Place your cup on top of the brewer.
- Flip the brewer over (be careful at this point)
- Place the cup on a sturdy surface and apply pressure to the plunger until you hear a slight hissing sound.
- All the coffee should now be in your mug.
- Remove the AeroPress from the cup, remove the filter cap and then pop out the puck of coffee.
- A quick rinse of the brewer.
- Now sit back and enjoy your delicious cup of freshly brewed coffee.
It is really as simple as that. A delicious brew in under 3 minutes. As mentioned above, there are many ways to make AeroPress coffee - that's what we love the most about this brewer. So, I would suggest you get the kettle back on and get experimenting!
Need more help brewing? here is a link to our AeroPress YouTube video if you want to explore more. Shop AeroPress products here.
Happy brewing,
Burts