At Home AeroPress Brew Guide | Glen Lyon Coffee Roasters

There are two main ways to brew with an AeroPress: regular and inverted. Using the regular method, you set it up as the company intended, with the brew chamber on top of a cup or carafe and the plunger added after the water. With the inverted method, beloved of competitors and coffee professionals alike, you attach the plunger to the brew chamber and place it upside down on the scale. Once brewed, you screw the filter cap on and—carefully!—flip the whole thing back before plunging.

Inverted advocates say that, because no water drips through the filter before plunging, coffee made this way is fuller and better extracted. However, AeroPress itself warns against using the inverted method, saying the difference in taste is negligible but that the inverted method is risky and can cause burns. If you do try the inverted method, please be extremely careful, and perhaps watch a couple of videos on the technique before trying yourself.

What you’ll need:

An AeroPress brewer and a sturdy carafe or large enough cup (while you don’t need to use too much force, we find that a very delicate carafe or cup feels a little risky when plunging so something more solid is best)

AeroPress filters

Ground coffee (medium-fine)

Scale

Timer

Hot water just off the boil (or between 93 - 96°C).

Because the AeroPress is a smaller brewer, we usually recommend 15g coffee to 240g water using the 1:16 ratio.

Regular method:

Boil your kettle and, while that’s happening, set up your AeroPress: Add a paper filter to the cap and screw it into the main brew chamber, then place both onto your carafe or mug on the scale. Add some hot water to rinse the filter and pre-heat the brewer and the receptacle (remember to discard before brewing!)

Tare the scale and add 15g of coffee (your AeroPress came with a very handy funnel for this situation). Tare again.

Start your timer, and pour about 25g of water to saturate the coffee. After 45 seconds, pour in the rest of the water.
Add the plunger to the top, making a seal (this will stop water from dripping through the filter while it’s brewing), remove from the scale, and wait.

At 1:45, start to gently but firmly press the plunger all the way down.

Inverted method:

Boil your kettle. Meanwhile, set up your AeroPress: connect the plunger part to the brew chamber, lining up the silicone seal roughly with the number 4. Place the brewer on the scale with the open flared end facing upwards.

Tare the scale and add 15g of coffee. Tare again.

Start your timer and pour in roughly 25g of water, saturating the coffee. After 45 seconds, pour in the rest of the water until you have 250g.

At 1:45, place a filter in the cap and screw it onto the brewer. This step is extremely important when using the inverted method—don’t forget!

Carefully and quickly flip the AeroPress over and place on the carafe or mug (pro tip: you can turn your mug or carafe upside down and hold it in place while flipping to lessen the risk of spills).

Remove from the scale and if you haven’t already, place atop your carafe or mug. Then, gently but firmly press the plunger all the way down.

Notes:

The original AeroPress is quite small, making enough for about one cup. If you’re sharing with a friend, you can lower the ratio by adding double the coffee but the same amount of water to make a concentrated brew, which you can then dilute afterwards by adding more hot water.

If you find that your ground coffee makes a bit of a mess when pouring into other brewers like the Kalita Wave or the Hario V60, the AeroPress dosing funnel can be used for these too!