Aeropress Process

Thirty-three step guide to brewing a single serving mug of coffee with an Aeropress. This is a process in process; suggestions welcome.

Water

1. Empty kettle of old water
2. Run fresh, cold, Vancouver Canada tap water in kettle, 1/4 full (approx. 300ml)
3. Put kettle on element, 9/10 setting for electric
4. Place thermometre in kettle

Beans

1. Set out tools
   1. Scale
   2. Aeropress
   3. Paper filters
   4. Stir stick
   5. Shot glass
   6. Glass mug
   7. Beans
   8. Hand grinder
2. Place empty shot glass on scale, tare weight (set scale to zero)
3. Add beans to shot glass
4. Remove old bean remnants from grinder
5. Add new beans from shot glass to grinder (approx. 16g beans in this case)
6. Grind beans (approx. setting 6 from finest on the Hario Mini Mill) when kettle temperature reaches approx. 50ºC
7. Ensure all beans are ground

Brew

1. De-plunge Aeropress to inverted method (approx. lowest setting, i.e. #4)
2. Remove kettle from element when approx. 90ºC
3. Preheat and rinse Aeropress
4. Place filter basket and paper filter in mug
5. Pour Aeropress rinse water through filter into glass to rinse and preheat
6. Place Aeropress on scale and tare again
7. Add ground beans from grinder to Aeropress, ensuring all grounds exit grinder
8. Pre-infuse grind with approx. 20–30g hot (80–90ºC) kettle water, and stir
9. Steep preinfusion for approx. 20 seconds
10. Add remaining water for total of approx. 150–160g including grind (i.e. 136–146g water) and stir
11. Rinse stir stick
12. Steep Aeropress for approx. 60–90 seconds
13. Discard rinse water from mug
14. Screw Aeropress filter basket with paper filter onto Aeropress, ensuring very tight fit
15. Invert mug and place on top of Aeropress and flip together as one unit, ensuring tight grip on Aeropress plunger (or it may pop out of Aeropress main chamber from pressure)
16. Plunge Aeropress for approx. 20 seconds until brew water is completely pressed through grounds but before full air saturation (the hissing noise)
17. Remove Aeropress from mug, ensuring final water falls into mug
18. Plunge remaining distance on Aeropress into sink to create puck
19. Place thermometre in mug coffee
20. Eject spent Aeropress puck into compost
21. Rinse Aeropress and place in drying rack
22. Drink coffee when temperature approx. 50–65ºC

Notes IYI (if you’re interested):

• Beans this week are a special home-roast batch of Sweet Maria’s Columbia Vereda Pedregal medium-to-darkish from my friend, Jake
• It was difficult to film with one hand and brew with the other, so some steps may be slightly out of order, or the grams / time may be off—when in doubt to the process refer to the written steps, not the video
• I’m testing out this batch with the following numbers: 16g beans, No. 6 setting on the Hario mill (backed off from full-fine), 145g water at 85ºC, 1:20 steep + 20 second press
• Notice how I crouch low when pressing? It’s to view the extraction going into the mug—I’ve noticed the Aeropress can generate enough pressure that brew water will exit the side of the filter basket, possibly before passing through the paper filter. I watch the process closely and ensure I back off the pressure a bit so the brew returns to filter-passage only
• Many steps happen simultaneously, eg. I rinse my stir stick and return tools to their homes while the brew steeps, and of course grind while the water heats
• I use the rinse water from the Aeropress to heat the mug because it feels less wasteful then just throwing it out and pouring more hot water over the filter
• I sometimes re-use the papers filter for two brews
• Why not set the element to full power instead of 9/10? I guess it feels like full power is too ‘hot’ and may cause undue wear/tear on the kettle, as well as needing the extra few seconds to complete my grind in time
• I usually pull my kettle off the element when it hits 90ºC—by the time I preheat and rinse and pour the actual brew it’s usually around 86ºC or 87ºC and another couple degree are pulled out by the Aeropress itself, i.e. the grinds steep in primarily 85ºC
• My thermometre probably isn’t terribly accurate: I’ve noticed submerging depth can vary the reading by a few degrees, i.e. if I stick it one inch into the kettle water it reads say, 90º but if I submerge it to two inches it might read 92º
• The scale is a Hario V60 Drip / Pourover digital scale; the grinder a Hario Ceramic Mini Mill Slim