# Aeropress method specifics



## jkb89

Hi folks,

Recently opened a bag of Rave's colombian suarez and having trouble getting a decent brew out of the aeropress.

I've followed Rave's method and Foundry's but don't think either suit the Suarez that well? I've read it's meant to be a great bean if done correctly. Could anyone point me in the right direction of a method they've had luck with?

I don't have a temperature controlled kettle (I just wait while I'm grinding before pouring), and am using the porlex grinder (5 clicks from 0 currently, can change if people suggest altering).

Last night (inverted) I used:

15g coffee, 30ml water stir for 15s, further 170ml water, lid on, wait 1.5mins, press and dilute 1/2 and 1/2 with water. Was ok, but seemed to be lacking - again, I'm not exactly sure what it was lacking but it didnt quite hit the spot!

Thanks in advance,

Joe.


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## foundrycoffeeroasters.com

Hi Joe. Difficult this one but I'd suggest a first step of trying to get away from diluting your brew with water. If you increased your second pour to 210g ish, you should be able to get a drink that doesn't need the water. You may find that you need to reduce the brew time by 20 seconds or so too.

I struggled to get a decent brew with the porlex to be honest. The particles are really inconsistent, particularly at the coarser settings.

I don't know about the particular bean that you are using but maybe you should try extracting more? If it's lacking something, it's probably worth trying to get more out of it, grind finer, and/or increase temperature.


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## jjprestidge

jkb89 said:


> Hi folks,
> 
> Recently opened a bag of Rave's colombian suarez and having trouble getting a decent brew out of the aeropress.
> 
> I've followed Rave's method and Foundry's but don't think either suit the Suarez that well? I've read it's meant to be a great bean if done correctly. Could anyone point me in the right direction of a method they've had luck with?
> 
> I don't have a temperature controlled kettle (I just wait while I'm grinding before pouring), and am using the porlex grinder (5 clicks from 0 currently, can change if people suggest altering).
> 
> Last night (inverted) I used:
> 
> 15g coffee, 30ml water stir for 15s, further 170ml water, lid on, wait 1.5mins, press and dilute 1/2 and 1/2 with water. Was ok, but seemed to be lacking - again, I'm not exactly sure what it was lacking but it didnt quite hit the spot!
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Joe.


Less coffee (14g) ground finer. 210g water added all at once. 1.5 minutes, invert then 30s extraction. Stop when you hear hissing sound and discard remainder.

JP


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## fluffles

jjprestidge said:


> Less coffee (14g) ground finer. 210g water added all at once. 1.5 minutes, invert then 30s extraction. Stop when you hear hissing sound and discard remainder.
> 
> JP


Agree - keep it simple. I don't get why some people bother with bloom and other complications with the aeropress.


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## Dallah

I think if you are missing a certain "something" it sounds like you are missing body and that might very well be down to overdiluting the brew. Also the Aeropress generally produces a very smooth brew with little (if any) bitterness. If your palate is used to the bitterness, that may be the missing "something." If you have an iPhone, Beloved Robot has a handy dandy app simply called Aeropress Timer, which has a number of championship recipes and it guides you through the process and times everything. I also tend to use 17g per Aeropress shot. A lot of recipes call for less but I find that less than 17g produces an empty hollow tasting shot.


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## MWJB

ridland said:


> A lot of recipes call for less but I find that less than 17g produces an empty hollow tasting shot.


There's not really any reason why this should be, 17g on it's own has no bearing on strength or extraction, you can use less coffee and still hit typical strength & extractions. I struggle to get really good cups with anything much over 14g & use as little as 10g.

Keep your bung clean, replace it when pongy.


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## fede_luppi

Why aeropress champions during the last years are going back to the classic method rather than the inverted?


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## correctdose

My method is as follows. I always do it inverted.

Method I use is one I got from Pact coffee. But in my experience more important to use a consistent method. There are hundreds of recipes out there, but actually aeropress has a pretty wide range of good outcomes.

Dose:

16g coffee ground slightly finer than pour over (thinking fine table salt, it is setting 5h on my vario but every machine is different)

Pre-clean and heat: fill aero press with boiling hot water straight off boil, swoosh round and then put on cap and plunge out. Makes sure no nasty oils left and cleans paper taste from filter in one go.

Water:

I always use water on the cool side, I have found it is much more forgiving. Usually around 85C. If you don't have thermometer can hack this by boiling kettle, taking lid off and leaving for about a minute

Bloom - 45 seconds, with just enough water to cover the coffee, about 35g.

Brew: 1 min, with water filled up to top. One stir. (About 240g total water volume), put cap on towards end

Plunge at 1:45, all done by 2 mins

Usually I don't dilute all that much, just a small pour of water to kind of loosen it, bit like a good whisky.

Hope it helps.


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## jeebsy

MWJB said:


> Keep your bung clean, replace it when pongy.


Lols


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## chipbutty

I pretty much follow Union's recipe as it's simple and uses the full 250g capacity for a decent sized drink. Sometimes I drop the 30 second stir and brew for a total of 1:30m. I use a Thermopop thermometre.

I actually hated the Aeropress until I dug it out again recently and gave it another go.


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## DoubleShot

chipbutty

Nice, simple to follow video. Thanks for posting.

Great username btw!


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## chipbutty

Cheers. I like a nice cup of tea with my Chipbutty


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## DoubleShot

Here's another Aeropress video for you:


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## malling

I usually use 14-15g of coffee (fine grind), 30seconds bloom with a 15 or 30seconds stir with 30g of water, then add 210g of water and

let i brew for 40-50seconds, flip it over and let it sit for an additional 10sec. And plundge at 1.20-1.30 it takes an additional 20-30sec.

temprature 92c


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## DoubleShot

With so many fine adjustments possible, does it get frustrating when you're adjusting one or more of the following: method type, dosage, amount of water, temperature of water, stir time, length of bloom etc in order to get a nice tasting cup of coffee using an Aeropress? There's probably no shortage of shared recipes that one could follow I guess as a starting point for a beginner?


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## malling

if you find that there is to many parameters, you could just use a basic procedure

14g og coffee

240g of water

92c

rinse the filter and preheat the aeropress upside down - remove the water - put the coffee in - add 240g of water and let it brew for 1,5min. - flip it over and plunge.

this way you should only focus on the grind setting, when you feel comfortable with it, you can start playing with the other parameters.


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## chipbutty

Then there's your choice of filter and how hard to press  I do find the Aeropress a little finicky. However I've had much better results recently by keeping things very simple, 17g coffee and topping it up to 250ml and steeping for 1:30m followed by a 45 second press.



DoubleShot said:


> With so many fine adjustments possible, does it get frustrating when you're adjusting one or more of the following: method type, dosage, amount of water, temperature of water, stir time, length of bloom etc in order to get a nice tasting cup of coffee using an Aeropress? There's probably no shortage of shared recipes that one could follow I guess as a starting point for a beginner?


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## jeebsy

DoubleShot said:


> With so many fine adjustments possible, does it get frustrating when you're adjusting one or more of the following: method type, dosage, amount of water, temperature of water, stir time, length of bloom etc in order to get a nice tasting cup of coffee using an Aeropress? There's probably no shortage of shared recipes that one could follow I guess as a starting point for a beginner?


I found it massively frustrating until I did similar to what Malling suggested, decided on basic parameters and then only changed grind. Playing about with several things at once is a fool's errand


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## DoubleShot

Right you are, stainless steel filters can cost almost as much as the entire Aeropress kit!


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## Orangertange

Has anyone tried the ims filter yet? Looks very nice


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## DoubleShot

If any manufacturers etc wish to send me a free stainless steel filter to try, I'm more than happy to do so!


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## Mint_Sauce

I've been trying to bite my tongue but I'm actually making an app to address this kind of problem. I had the exact same issues, too many variables and by the time I thought I had it dialed I'd run out of that coffee and the next one would be different! So, I present (a work in progress) Mister Barista!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.henleyb.aeropressbrewer

Hope it's of use, all suggestions appreciated. If you want your recipes in there, I can add them just fire me a PM.


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## Coffee Dog

I started off with Hasbean's method, but lately I've been using less coffee (14g) coarser grind and longer brew time (2.30s). So easy and painless to experiment with and always a good brew.


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## fede_luppi

Coffee Dog said:


> I started off with Hasbean's method, but lately I've been using less coffee (14g) coarser grind and longer brew time (2.30s). So easy and painless to experiment with and always a good brew.


After trying all kind of methods for one year I ended up using exactly the method described on the video, except I don't dilute afterwards. I found water temperature crucial, with 83-85ºC as the perfect temperature for my grind and brewing time. This temperature produces a more complex coffee, extracting all the flavours; otherwise is just a boring cup. One tip: I first pour the water I will use to fill in the Aeropress into my mug. This warms up the mug, and drops the temperature instantly roughly to 85ºC, to pour from the mug to the Aeropress at the perfect tempeature.


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## DoubleShot

Which kettles are people using to get these precise temperatures? I know there's a few different ones on the market with digital controls available at a wide range of prices.


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## jeebsy

You can use a regular kettle and a thermometer


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## malling

I'm personally not too fund of the underdeveloped cup that where the norm a couple of years ago.

I never go as high as 17g any longer, 13-15,5 is where I find the coffee I'm drinking to perform the best, it's a bit more demanding to brew, but when it is succesfull you'll get a Wonderfull cup of coffee


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## fede_luppi

I bought a 4 pounds thermometer on ebay like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Milk-Frothing-Thermometer-Perfect-Coffee-Maker-Temperature-Jug-Clip-On-Steel-Pod-/380919363384?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item58b0903738


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## fede_luppi

And wait until you get the desired temperature. This is when my tip to use the boiling water to warm up the mug and drop the temperature of the water comes in handy, reducing the waiting


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## MWJB

You can extract all the flavour in an Aeropress at any temp from off boil to room temperature, it's just one of the variables, not a magic bullet.


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## DoubleShot

Well this is good news, saves shelling out £70 to £100 for a new kettle. Already have a handheld digital laser temperature gun (Heston style!), might as well just use that with existing kettle.


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## fede_luppi

MWJB said:


> You can extract all the flavour in an Aeropress at any temp from off boil to room temperature, it's just one of the variables, not a magic bullet.


Yeah, that's why I said that the temperature I use is "the perfect temperature for my grind and brewing time", a method similar to the one on the video we were discussing


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## chipbutty

I do lust after the BonaVita variable temp kettle! For the Aeropress a bog standard kettle and thermometer will do. What I have found though is buying cheap thermometers is a false economy as they rarely last for long. More than likely because they aren't fully waterproof, the steam from the kettle being the biggest culprit. I recently bought a Thermopop which is waterproof and it's thin enough to fit the holes in the top of my Hario Buono kettle.



DoubleShot said:


> Which kettles are people using to get these precise temperatures? I know there's a few different ones on the market with digital controls available at a wide range of prices.


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## Coffee Dog

fede_luppi said:


> After trying all kind of methods for one year I ended up using exactly the method described on the video, except I don't dilute afterwards. I found water temperature crucial, with 83-85ºC as the perfect temperature for my grind and brewing time. This temperature produces a more complex coffee, extracting all the flavours; otherwise is just a boring cup.* One tip: I first pour the water I will use to fill in the Aeropress into my mug. This warms up the mug, and drops the temperature instantly roughly to 85ºC, to pour from the mug to the Aeropress at the perfect tempeature*.


This is what I used to do at work.

I didn't gauge the temp this morning, I just let the kettle cool whilst I was grinding away with the Porlex. But yes, I aim for 85ºC when I used my cheapo thermometer.









I dilute at the end as I like a full cup of coffee !


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## foundrycoffeeroasters.com

chipbutty said:


> I do lust after the BonaVita variable temp kettle! For the Aeropress a bog standard kettle and thermometer will do. What I have found though is buying cheap thermometers is a false economy as they rarely last for long. More than likely because they aren't fully waterproof, the steam from the kettle being the biggest culprit. I recently bought a Thermopop which is waterproof and it's thin enough to fit the holes in the top of my Hario Buono kettle.


Whilst I'd agree that a temp kettle is far from essential, I find the best thing about it is that you don't need to rush any more, the hold feature makes the whole thing a much more relaxed process. It's also good to be able to experiment with different temps as the results can be quite different.


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## Coffee Dog

I'm just waiting for our current kettle to go bang


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## jeebsy

I'm drinking so much more brewed with that kettle now. As Lee said being able to hold the right temp makes everything so simple.


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## foundrycoffeeroasters.com

Coffee Dog said:


> I'm just waiting for our current kettle to go bang


Can't you buy a little bit of Semtex on eBay or something? - I have to say that I wouldn't be able to use the bona vita for everything. It's not the quickest to boil and the capacity is a bit limiting if you need to boil water for cooking or whatever.


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