# Struggle with Aeropress and Squaremile



## Joe the fish (Feb 12, 2014)

Hi all,

I am trying a new one from Squaremile, Sitio Laranjel Caconde, in the Aeropress, but I'm struggling to get something drinkable not sure if I have just found a coffee I don't like or what. Normally I enjoy everything from Squaremile. Has anyone tried this combination and care to share their technique? Currently on 15g coffee to full Aeropress grind about table salt or a smudge finer. With steep times tried from 2-4 mins without luck. Have gone from bland washed out and bright at 2min to more flavour but not really distinct and maybe verging on bitter at 4min.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Inverted? If so, dose with coffee & water, flip, swirl to wash any grinds off the plunger and now leave to steep (non-inverted). If you're not brewing right way up (from start to finish), then bitterness at 4 min isn't down to overextraction, your just hitting a flat spot...try 10, 20 30 minutes.


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## Joe the fish (Feb 12, 2014)

Cheers will give it a go with a much extended steep time. My usual method which has worked well for everything before now is inverted, coffee and water (15-16g and 85 degrees) leave 1min, stir, leave another 1-3mins right way up swirl and plunge.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

If the beans you have been using are darker roasted, or more soluble, then you may well need to finer/hotter/longer (maybe all 3) with the Squaremile.


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## Joe the fish (Feb 12, 2014)

Well appearance wise these appear very similar roast colour not that that counts for much, however most telling I guess is this is probably my first foray into chocolatey beans previously I have been more on the fruity side (Kochere was last) anyway a ten minute steep time with 93(ish) water on first taste seemed very similar to my 4min steep however as it cools I am definitely getting more chocolate and better mouthfeel but still some brightness at the end/after swallowing so guess I'm on the right track, guess the hugely different steep time took me by surprise.


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## AlexB (Mar 20, 2013)

I've found Aeropress tends to favour fruitier coffees (Kenya/ethiopia etc) over Chocolatey ones, but that may be down to personal preference and brew style more than anything.


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## fluffles (Sep 4, 2012)

I'm amazed by some of the steep times being talked about here. I grind at the fairly coarse end of aeropress grinds and only steep for a minute. I would expect upwards of 2 minutes to be over-extracted, no? A standard french press steep time is 4 minutes and that is at very coarse grind.


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## CallumT (Aug 23, 2013)

Sound like he issue could be the grind size, water temp and steep time.

I usually find a solid 90deg standard single dose v60 grind and 2 minute steep 30 second plunge with 17g D - 240g brew water

I usually vary temp dependant on solubility at home, in more commercial setting (if water is drawn from a boiler) grind size dose and steep time all make more sense to adjust.

Bear in mind water quality aswell


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Steeped coffee, assuming recently roasted & ground, tends to run up to a maximum level of extraction (20-23% immersion yield, maybe another couple of % for brewers that drain through the bed after extraction) then level off. It won't get anywhere near what you may find with drip/espresso/moka pot.

Grind doesn't seem to have as much of an impact on steep time as is widely assumed, grind only as coarse as you need to, to keep unacceptable solids out of the beverage. Grind size distribution can have an effect of limiting the level of extraction before the coffee gets to the max, if way too coarse. Of course, you don't need to extract it to the max, you can stop at any point as per your preference.

CBI advice from the early 60's was that a French press could be 4-6 minutes, Scott Rao suggests 3-5 minutes. But there are references of people steeping for 20 minutes minimum. You start tasting a cupping at ~4 minutes, not finish tasting. If my coffee is hot enough to enjoy with a given brewer at 30 minutes (Aeropress, Clever, Bonavita), then I give it 30 minutes in the knowledge I'll have a great cup at the end...if you want a quick brew, or to stop the coffee before that, taste as you go.

My steeps vary from 10 minutes to an hour depending on coffee, grinder, brewer - all to get to a comparable level of extraction.

Are your steeps syrupy sweet & like that from start to finish?

Think of it this way: Different beans have different densities & solubility, as do different roast levels & grinds. Beans can't read clocks & have no sense of time. Clocks can't see beans, or evaluate your brew. Expecting beans & clocks to get together & decide when your coffee is delicious is akin to expecting chickens & ironing boards to collaborate & give you the heads up on when an egg is perfectly soft boiled? 

Brew your coffee, make a note for that brewer, grind/grinder & bean how long it took to get to "delicious". Re-appraise when you change a factor.


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## Jon V (Feb 24, 2014)

Joe the fish said:


> Cheers will give it a go with a much extended steep time. My usual method which has worked well for everything before now is inverted, coffee and water (15-16g and 85 degrees) leave 1min, stir, leave another 1-3mins right way up swirl and plunge.


Hi Joe. I second trying the method Mark describes which he also gave to me. What I thought of as bitterness had gone by the end of the long steep. I found it makes for a very balanced, rounded cup.

I can still get some nice, but different, results with a coarser grind and ~2 minutes inverted with water ~1 minute off the boil.


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## Joe the fish (Feb 12, 2014)

Hey all, well my days playing ended up like this... I nudged grind back up a bit to my norm (I moved down while experimenting) upped water temp to 93, my go to Aeropress temp is 85, then steep time well I did everything from 1-5mins then as mentioned above tried longer at 10,15 and 20mins. At 10 I got some punchy chocolate aroma but still some brightness (unpleasantly so) 15 and 20 the chocolate became more subtle as did the brightness leading to it becoming a bit 'meh' but with a hint of toast in the after taste, again unpleasant. So after face booking my favourite barista who is a big Squaremile fan I ended up keeping temp and grind and dropping back to 1mim steep 30sec pour which balanced the bright and hinted at the chocolate without the final toast. I think both ways have potential and I'm not quite there but definitely caffine'd out! I will continue tomorrow with a tweak on the short steep, maybe grind maybe temp first and also the long steep grind first on that for sure. Oh and I'm still on 15g of coffee and 220g water. All in all pleased I'm getting there but a bit surprised to find myself going in circles with what I'm sure will be a lovely cuppa! Guess the fact it's going to end up quite far from my normal Aeropress start point explains the circling! My normal Aeropress start point is 15g, 220g 85deg for two mins +30sec pour


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