WELCOME TO THE AEROPRESS.
In this blog, we talk about Aeropressing. It's versatile, fun, travel-ready, and, most importantly, makes great coffee.
WHAT IS THE AEROPRESS?
First, a simple breakdown of the Aeropress and some of its qualities:
- It is a full immersion coffee brewer, i.e. all water is in contact with the coffee at all times (at least most of the time)
- It uses time and pressure (the piston) to brew coffee
- In most recipes, it makes enough for 1 cup, but can be stretched to 2
- It is incredibly forgiving and has a wide "sweet spot" for making good to great coffee
- It is highly portable and perhaps the ultimate travel brewer
- It is very easy to clean (the inventor even refers to it as "self-cleaning", which is only a mild stretch)
Taking a step out of our specialty coffee bubble for a second and looking at this brewer with fresh, unaccustomed eyes, we have to admit - this thing is odd. It's a long tube... with a piston? And an odd shaped... paddle-like thing? And what are those numbers on the side? What is this funnel-thing with a huge hole even for?
If you've never seen the Aeropress before or ever tried to gift one to someone, you are probably familiar with this reaction. It's no Mr. Coffee brewer. It's no objectively beautiful Chemex. It looks oddly scientific, maybe a little intimidating, and perhaps wildly over-engineered for those who don't see why a cup of coffee is worth all this fuss.
But those that dive in tend to fall in love and each of its components makes more and more sense.
WHAT IS THE AEROPRESS FOR?
Again, it's strange to say this for a brewer that can appear so weird, but we really think the Aeropress is for every kind of coffee lover. You can find it as some people's only manual coffee brewer, or one of 20 coffee brewers in a hobbyist's collection.
You may be asking, How can that be so?
FOR THE COFFEE NEWBIE: FORGIVING AND SIMPLE
For someone new to coffee brewing, the Aeropress is a very attractive brewer because it is so forgiving and has a low barrier to entry. From this writer's experience, it was the first coffee brewer where I said to myself, "hey, I can make a good cup of coffee!". Furthermore, the process doesn't require other major purchases — like a gooseneck kettle — to get a really good tasting cup. A tea kettle or even a Pyrex measuring glass can do the trick. The same cannot be said for a pour over brewer like the V60.
Once you understand the basics of brewing, and what each of the many pieces does, brewing is a breeze, clean up is easy, and the effort to enjoyment ratio just feels right.
FOR THE COFFEE BREWING GURU (BREW-RU?): VERSATILE AND EXPERIMENTAL
Once you've locked in your techniques and invested in excellent prosumer gear, brewing can sometimes feel a bit... mundane. This is where the Aeropress's versatility shines.
New recipes are coming out all the time. One of the latest trends in coffee is something call no-bypass brewing. In simple terms, it means that all water used for brewing goes through the coffee and none of it "sneaks out" via other pathways. It's kind of amazing that you can do this in the Aeropress, even though this concept didn't really exist when it came out.
Then, there are 10 minutes recipes that simultaneously maximize extraction and challenge everything you thought about coffee brewing (we've tried it and it's pretty shocking how good it is). Finally, there are "espresso-like" recipes that give you something short and strong (some are VERY strong), and other recipes that use cold water.
All that said, if you're seeking something different, the Aeropress can probably do it. It can serve as a great way to get a new "look" at any coffee you are brewing and breathe new life into it.
FOR THE TRAVELER: LIGHTWEIGHT AND DURABLE
On the go? Want nothing to do with hotel coffee? Need something that's great for the campsite? Aeropress, Aeropress, Aeropress. It's plastic construction makes it (relatively) unbreakable and lightweight and its aforementioned low barrier to entry means you don't need a ton of extra gear to make it work. There are many manual grinders that have been specifically designed to fit inside the piston as well, such as the 1ZPresso Q2, that make traveling even more convenient.
No matter who you are, all it takes is a little patience and understanding and you're on your way to something great.
WHY WE'RE REEXAMINING THE AEROPRESS
It's been a while since we last wrote about the Aeropress, and since that time a lot has happened in the world of Aeropressing. Experiments have been done, theories have been tested, and a plethora of videos have been made all detailing the versatility and quality of this nifty little brewer. There are more recipes out there than any one person can truly toy with, nevertheless adopt.
So, we put our Kalitas and Chemexes back in the cabinet for a while and went to work on an updated guide for the Aeropress. And, frankly, we had a ton of fun doing it, because it's maybe the most fun brewer on the market, even after all these years.
You may select from our coffees: Guatemala, Colombia At Tehaleh, Ethiopia, or Colombia Cocaine 4 Project for a high-quality coffee experience