As ashamed as I am to admit, that cover picture took me over an hour to do. The AeroPress is one of the newest coffee brewing contraptions on the market, and has quite a well deserved reputation based on the quality of coffee produced and its versatility. There are two main ways to brew with an AeroPress, the normal way, and the inverted way. In this article, I will be describing the inverted method, which is better in every single way when compared to the former, being that it does not leak all over the place.
To make coffee with an AeroPress, will need an AeroPress, about one cup of 200 degree Fahrenheit filtered water, and one black scoop of coffee beans, which equates to two tablespoons.
The first step, is to start heating your water. During this process, assemble the press by sliding the smaller section into the larger one about a half inch or so, then grind the coffee on a fine-medium. One of the pros of the AeroPress, is that you can really use any grind size you want, and any amount of water, as the biggest variable is time. When using a finer grind, a shorter brew time, such as 30 seconds or so, is recomended. When using a more coarse grind, simply add a few seconds to the overall brew time.
In this instance, I am using parking lot coffee. Yes, I literally found a half pound of fresh locally roasted coffee outside my work the other day, and was pretty surprised at how good it is, even for a lighter roast.
Once the water is heated properly, wet the filter while sitting inside the plastic housing, and put it to the side. There are a few different filters available for an AeroPress. The most widely used ones are typical circular paper filters, but there are a wide variety of metal ones on the market with varying hole size.
Dump the ground coffee in through where the filter section screws on, and then add the water, filling the press to around where the "1" marking is, and then attach the filter. Allow 30 seconds to a minute to pass, and then place the press over a sturdy mug, and plunge. In this case, I am simply using the tea mug as a scapegoat, as I planned to pour the coffee into a different cup after I brewed it.
While the amount of coffee brewed may not be a lot, it is indeed quite strong when compared to other brewing methods, meaning it can easily be diluted with water without losing flavor, similar to an Americano.
And as for the cup I chose to use, it is the lovely ceramic mug, with a sea otter sticking out of it that kisses your nose with each sip.
