If you want to start making good coffee at home but do not want a fragile glass brewer or a lot of technique, the AeroPress is the easiest place to begin. It is a plastic tube and a plunger. It makes one cup at a time, takes about two minutes, travels well and survives being dropped. Most importantly, it is very forgiving. Small mistakes that would ruin a pour-over barely show.
What an AeroPress is
An AeroPress has three main parts:
- The chamber, a clear tube marked with numbers, where the coffee and water go.
- The plunger, which fits inside the chamber and pushes the coffee through.
- The filter cap, which screws onto the bottom and holds a small round paper filter.
You put coffee and hot water in the chamber, let it steep briefly, then press the plunger down. The pressure pushes the coffee through the paper and into your mug. The paper catches the grounds and most of the oils, so the cup is clean, like a pour-over, but with some of the body of a French press.
A simple recipe to start with
This is a good everyday cup. You do not need a scale, but one helps.
- Heat the water. Bring it to the boil, then let it sit for about a minute.
- Rinse the filter. Put a paper filter in the cap, screw it on and pour a little hot water through. This removes the papery taste and warms everything.
- Add the coffee. Stand the AeroPress on a sturdy mug and add one AeroPress scoop, or about two level tablespoons, of medium to fine ground coffee.
- Add water. Pour hot water up to the number 3 or 4 on the chamber.
- Stir. Give it ten seconds of gentle stirring so all the coffee is wet.
- Wait. Put the plunger in just far enough to seal the top, and leave it for one minute.
- Press. Push down slowly and steadily for about twenty to thirty seconds. Stop when you hear a hiss.
That is it. Taste it black first. If it is too strong, top it up with a little hot water.
Press slowly and stop at the hiss - forcing the last of it through only adds bitterness.
How to adjust it
The AeroPress is easy to tune because it only has a few variables. Change one at a time.
If it tastes sour or thin
- Use a slightly finer grind.
- Steep for longer, up to two minutes.
- Use water closer to the boil.
If it tastes bitter or harsh
- Use a slightly coarser grind.
- Steep for less time.
- Press more gently.
If it tastes weak
Use more coffee rather than steeping for longer. Steeping longer mostly adds bitterness. More coffee adds strength. Our guide to the coffee-to-water ratio explains how much to use.
Strong coffee and milk drinks
The AeroPress can also make a short, concentrated coffee. Use the same amount of coffee with a fine grind, fill only to the number 1 or 2, steep for a minute and press. You get a small, strong shot.
It is not espresso, but it is strong enough to make a good milky drink. Top it up with steamed or frothed milk for a homemade latte, or pour it over ice and cold milk in a Karachi summer.
Looking after it
The AeroPress is the easiest brewer to clean.
- Unscrew the filter cap over the bin.
- Push the plunger the rest of the way. The used coffee and filter pop out as a neat puck.
- Rinse the rubber end of the plunger and the cap.
Do not store it with the plunger pushed all the way into the chamber. Over time it squashes the rubber seal. Keep the plunger out, or only just in. If your tap water is hard, rinse and dry it properly so mineral spots do not build up on the chamber.
Which coffee to start with
Because the paper filter makes such a clean cup, the AeroPress is good at showing off a coffee's flavour. Bright, fruity coffees taste especially clear in it.
Colombia is a good first choice. It tastes of orange and plum, clean and bright where Brazil is round and heavy. In an AeroPress those fruit notes come through clearly, especially if you drink it black. For a Medium roast, start with the recipe above exactly as written.
If you mainly want milky drinks, Brazil Rio Minas is nutty and milk chocolate, low in acid and better with milk. If you want something fruitier still, Ethiopia Sidamo tastes of blackberry, orange and chocolate.
Make your first cup
Follow the recipe once as written, taste it, and change one thing next time. Within a week you will have a cup you like and know how to repeat it. To start with a coffee that shows what the AeroPress can do, order Colombia ground medium for an AeroPress, delivered across Pakistan with cash on delivery.