Aeropress Brew Guide

While the aeropress might be a space age device, a marvel of engineering. It's not rocket science to use, it does produce out of this world results. This is my personal favorite for home brewing. This guide will cover the inverted method as I find it far easier to do, with better results.

Required Items

Aeropress
Filters
Kettle
Grinder
Timer (phone works great)
Container / mug
Stirring stick / spoon
Coffee (try the Chitter Chatter)

Step 1

Bring around 9oz (250 g) of water to a boil. Use between 15–19 grams of coffee (depends on how strong you like it). Then set to grind to a texture slightly finer than sea salt. Ground Coffee for Aeropress, slighty finer than sea salt

Step 2

Insert a paper filter into the AeroPress's detachable plastic cap. Wet the filter, which helps it stick to the cap, make sure you don't burn your fingers with the hot water.

Step 3

Assemble your AeroPress. Make sure the entire assembly is dry, since any residual moisture can compromise the device’s seal. Place it on the scale with the flared (opening) facing up. Tare the scale while you are at it.

Step 4

Use the included ground funnel and pour the grounds into the Aeropress. Make sure to not get any grounds the seal / lock area or it won't close right, and will leak on later steps.

Pouring Ground Coffee into Aeropress with funnel

Step 5

Start your timer. Add double the weight of water than you have grounds (e.g., for 15 grams coffee, add 30 grams water). The water should be anywhere from 185 - 200 degrees F.

first pour of water into aeropress

Step 6

Make sure the coffee is saturated evenly then let it sit for 30 seconds.

saturated coffee in aeropress

Step 7

Use the remainder of the hot water to fill the chamber

Step 8

At around the 1 minute mark stir the grounds. This is the fun step that everyone does differently. Some people say 10 stirs, some say 3 clockwise followed by 3 counter clockwise. Create your own superstition!

stirring aeropress

Step 9

Now it's go time, fasten the cap, make sure it's locked and get ready to flip it and land it on the top of your mug. Once on top you need to start applying pressure. They say around 30lbs of resistence. If it feels too easy your grounds are a bit to course, and if it barely budges your grounds are too fine. When you get the plunger low and you hear the hiss, it means almost all the water is released and it's done.

flipping over aeropress

pressing aeropress

Step 10

Now to build good habits, unscrew the cap, and you can push the plunger the final amount and shoot the spent puck right into the compost. Toss or save the filter (yeah you can save it, look it up). Then give the aeropress a quick rinse.

releasing aeropress puck

Step 11

At this point you're staring at an almost full mug of coffee, don't worry you didn't get cheated. That coffee is pretty concentrated. Give it a taste, or just fill up the remainder of your mug with the hot water, like they do with an Americano.

filling coffee mug with additional water

One other thing to note is that some folks don't like the aeropress because they perceive it only makes a single cup of coffee. It can actually be used to make a full liter, but to do 2 mugs use 30 grams of coffee, press it into a larger vessel, then dilute with water so it fills both mugs.