# Aeropress - Milky Coffee!!



## JimG (Nov 4, 2014)

OK, I think I'll probably get flamed for asking this, and my profile blocked, but I'll take the chance! And sorry in advance for the long post...

Firstly, I'm very new to the whole coffee making lark, but I have been enjoying and appreciating the consumption of good coffee for around 9 months now.

Previous to this awakening I always used to drink lattes, as I was never really that fond of coffee, and having it milky diluted the horrible flavour I used to taste when anyone dug out an old bag of whatever was on offer in the supermarkets to make "posh coffee" Cafetiere (French Press?)

So 9 months ago a friend took me to a place called The Monmouth Coffee Company just outside Borough Market, London. I cringed at the thought of having to endure a coffee, and requested a hot chocolate or a latte. He bought me a flat white and I've never looked back! The experience, the creamy mouth feel, the natural sweetness (I don't take sugar) and perfect drinking temperature has turned me into a coffee snob! I now get close to violent when I see my milk being forgotten and over heated or frothed; or If I try to explain a flat white to a "Barista" and get the response, "Oh, just a milky coffee then?"

So now I want to try and do the best I can myself. I'm saving for a Rancilio Silvia and a Mignon, but in the mean time I got an Aeropress for Christmas and I am about to buy a Rhino hand grinder. I buy my coffee from my local Flying Coffee Bean in Tonbridge. I buy Volcano Mount Blend and FCB grind it for me to a sand like consistency.

I've been following an inverted method: 2 scoops, fill right to the top, stir for 10 seconds, brew for only around 30 seconds total and press. Water temp 80c. I use large 400ml mugs and fill around half of the mug with whole milk and heat for a minute in the microwave. I'm trying to achieve a large flat white or a strong latte. (I know it's not right because I'm not steaming the milk but you get the gist). So far, the flavour is nice (doesn't taste like Cafetiere coffee) but I want it a bit more flavour as the milk is diluting it slightly too much. I don't want to reduce the milk as I need the calories, sometimes this is all I get for breakfast! Also I've read a lot of the recipes on here and many people use a lot less coffee.

1. Am I using too much coffee?

2. Is the water too cold? (I chose this from the Aeropress guide)

3. Should I be brewing for longer?

4. What makes the coffee taste stronger, more grounds, hotter water, longer brew time?

5. Costa Baristas (ducks for cover) say they use a triple espresso portafilter but only pass 10 seconds of water through it "To get a strong dose and the best of the coffee flavour". I'm confused by this. If I used less water in my method, would I get a stronger tasting coffee?

Hopefully someone can help. Or direct me to a thread where I can learn what variables to adjust to get certain results.

Thank you all.

Jim.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Welcome to Coffee Forums UK Jim

Firstly, ignore what the Costa baristas tell you

Try a slightly higher temperature and have a look at the Aeropress videos on brewmethods.com

You will not be able to achieve a Flat White but just call this coffee+milk

Try a slightly finer grind than sand. It will extract better (more surface area to play with). With a coarser grind you will need to steep for longer


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## James811 (May 10, 2014)

1. Yes maybe, I use one scoop (16g or so) and fill the aeropress

2. Maybe, once boiled leave for about 30seconds and fill

3. I brew for 3 minutes inverted

4. All of them

5. No idea

hope that's helped you a little


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

@James811 Re: 4 - less coffee can be better than more - it depends on how you grind that adjusts the strength


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

1. Yes. An Aeropress scoop is around 14g of coffee, 2 scoops is around 28g...a lot for a single mug. However, if you are trying to produce 400ml of drink, then maybe this will work, was this roughly the size of your drink at Monmouth (I'd suspect this was made with a single portafilter's worth of coffee, maybe 18g plus or minus a couple of g)?

Buy some cheap 1 or 2kg scales from e-bay or a roaster, that read in 0.1g resolution. This will make your measurements much more consistent.

2. Maybe, maybe not, depends on the coffee, I'd typically aim a bit hotter.

3. you can try longer brews, when you stir the coffee & water together you get a sudden leap in extraction, then the rate tails off if coffee is not flowing through the bed (e.g. you put the stopper in the top of the Aeropress). Try longer, try finer grind too.

4. More grounds makes coffee stronger, always. However, grind, temp & time drive the flavour development/richness (which also affects strength).

5. 10 seconds of water could be any weight within reason, personally I wouldn't want a 10 second shot. In Costa they tamp a puck of coffee then pass clean hot water through the puck (percolation), this allows them to hit strengths that your Aeropress (immersion) cannot.

Let's break this down into a practical plan.

You want a 400g drink. That's equivalent to roughly 2 flat whites (depending on where you go).

Let's say a nominal flat white is made with 18g of coffee grinds, 2-2.5 that weight in finished beverage coffee (so ~40g of shot), plus 110-140g of milk. 150-180g of flat white (can be nearer to 300g in Costa). Ratio of grinds to finished beverage is in the region (but not limited to) ~10:1 (10% grinds to beverage).

Grind fine, add the 18g coffee & 67g of water (water at 3-4 times coffee grounds weight - keep this constant) to the Aeropress, stir & put in the plunger. Sort your 140g of milk, when ready press the coffee into a cup & top up with the milk.

To get your ~400g at 10% will take a lot of coffee for 1 sitting (40g). I don't suggest that you do this, aim for a weaker drink (7 or 8% grinds to beverage) or perhaps work to more like 22-23g grounds max, that would give you ~330g of beverage at 7% ratio. 400g of beverage at 6% would require 24g of grinds, ~85g brew water, 315g milk.

Hope this helps, shout if any Q's.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

''a triple espresso portafilter but only pass 10 seconds of water through it "To get a strong dose and the best of the coffee flavour" ''

Christ!


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## JimG (Nov 4, 2014)

Wow, what an amazing response from you all! Lots of great advice to be getting on with. Looking forward to getting my grinder so I can play around with the levels.



MWJB said:


> Grind fine, add the 18g coffee & 67g of water (water at 3-4 times coffee grounds weight - keep this constant) to the Aeropress, stir & put in the plunger. Sort your 140g of milk, when ready press the coffee into a cup & top up with the milk.
> 
> To get your ~400g at 10% will take a lot of coffee for 1 sitting (40g). I don't suggest that you do this, aim for a weaker drink (7 or 8% grinds to beverage) or perhaps work to more like 22-23g grounds max, that would give you ~330g of beverage at 7% ratio. 400g of beverage at 6% would require 24g of grinds, ~85g brew water, 315g milk.


I was following you till this point...67g of water doesn't sound like a lot. Is the purpose of this to deliver a really strong shot of coffee 'concentrate' so to speak?


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## JimG (Nov 4, 2014)

Glenn said:


> @James811 Re: 4 - less coffee can be better than more - it depends on how you grind that adjusts the strength


A finer grind seems to be the common theme here. Will definitely try this.


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## JimG (Nov 4, 2014)

garydyke1 said:


> ''a triple espresso portafilter but only pass 10 seconds of water through it "To get a strong dose and the best of the coffee flavour" ''
> 
> Christ!


I know. I wish I had the knowledge to call out their B.S. I'm on the road a lot so have to rely on varying coffee outlets most of the time. I always try and find an independent in the first instance, but even then I've had some really crap coffee. I sometimes wonder why people bother trying to provide a service they clearly know nothing about.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

JimG said:


> I was following you till this point...67g of water doesn't sound like a lot. Is the purpose of this to deliver a really strong shot of coffee 'concentrate' so to speak?


Hi Jim, this ratio (67g) to 18g of coffee should produce 40g or so of 'almost espresso strength' coffee (you could vary it some, maybe up to 5x ground coffee weight?), in reality espresso shots may be a little shorter & much stronger...but you won't hit that with the Aeropress. But, yes, a strong, concentrated base for your milk drink, to help punch through.


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## JimG (Nov 4, 2014)

Thanks MWJB, maybe I'll grow out of the milk thing one day, and learn to appreciate my coffee as it comes!


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## JimG (Nov 4, 2014)

Have tried a different method today based on the advice given. I used only 1 scoop but hotter water (90c) and brewed inverted for around 1:30 before slowly plunging. The result tastes as strong as what I was doing before, which is good as it means, just using 1 scoop, my coffee will last twice as long! I'm still waiting for my grinder and I'm out of coffee now so will have to get some more today and ask for a finer grind this time.

Thanks for everyone's help so far, keep any ideas and tips coming.


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## James811 (May 10, 2014)

When I started I tried 1 minute up to 5 minutes at 30 second intervals over the course of an afternoon and found my preference to be around 3 minutes.

Maybe try something like this and see what you prefer, and let's face it, it's fun


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