What does AeroPress brewing borrow from espresso machines?

The AeroPress pushes hot water through a filter by hand rather than by pump or lever, and that idea was borrowed from espresso machines. Launched in 2005 by a company known for frisbees, it brews quickly, travels easily, and cleans up fast. Its inventor, Alan Adler, targeted bitterness by shortening extraction time, which in turn required pressure to complete the brew.

Brewing is noticeably cooler and shorter than a French press, which is why the device found a home in specialty coffee and sparked its own World AeroPress Championship and a documentary. In practice, a dose, a grind setting, a coffee-to-water ratio, and the inverted method are the variables that decide the cup, so dialing them in matters more than the gadget itself.

The AeroPress, a uniquely shaped brewing device, came from a company whose main product was frisbees, yet after its launch in 2005 it quickly swept through the specialty coffee world, even spawning a dedicated World AeroPress Championship (WAC) and a documentary. Using manual pressure, producing coffee quickly, and being easy to carry and clean, it has become a daily choice for many coffee lovers. This article will cover the AeroPress's original invention intent, its differences from the French press, the development of the WAC, and then move on to the actual brewing process, using "Front Street Kenya Little Tomato" as an example to give the dose, grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature, and inverted pressure operation steps, helping you consistently recreate a cup of coffee that is bright and balanced in acidity and sweetness with a full, juicy feel.

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The AeroPress is not a passing fad. Its appearance is very different from common brewing equipment, and the company that launched it actually did not mainly make coffee gear, but frisbees. Yet today, the AeroPress has not only been added to the daily equipment lists of many coffee lovers around the world, but has also given rise to the World AeroPress Championship (WAC), and even a documentary centered on it.

This small device, made of two parts, can quickly make a cup of rich coffee. Simply put, the principle is pushing hot water through a filter. Its inspiration came from espresso machines, except that the pressure is not provided by electricity and a lever, but by human hands.

The AeroPress is also somewhat similar to the French press, although within the specialty coffee circle, the French press is not especially popular. At the same time, the recommended brewing temperature and time for the AeroPress are noticeably lower than those for the French press. In other words, although the AeroPress is now quite widespread, when it first entered the market in 2005 it was indeed a rather distinctive brewing method. Alan Adler, the owner of the AeroPress company, initially designed it with an engineer's mindset. To address the problem of coffee bitterness, he chose to start by shortening the extraction time.

To shorten the extraction time, he found that pressure had to be used to complete extraction, so he created a sealed space and generated pressure by pushing, allowing users to finish brewing faster. (However, as it has developed, AeroPress brewing recipes have become very diverse, and some recipes even have longer extraction times than regular brewing methods.)

In the early days, many specialty coffee professionals were skeptical, thinking the AeroPress company was just a toy manufacturer rather than a creator of an innovative coffee brewing device. But as time went on, this view began to loosen. Alan responded to the doubts with actual brewed coffee samples, and word gradually spread. After all, the most direct way to judge whether the AeroPress works is to let the flavor in the cup speak.

But with so many brewing devices on the market, why has the AeroPress become one of the most standout among them?

Coffee is a global activity, and there are rich and varied brewing methods around the world. The AeroPress can make quite delicious coffee in about a minute, while also being easy to clean, easy to carry, affordable, and suitable for many scenarios. Perhaps there are other reasons for its popularity, but a key point is that it allows a great deal of brewing experimentation, which in turn gave rise to the dedicated World AeroPress Championship.

Brewing time, pressing time, coffee dose, coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature, whether to use it upright or inverted, and so on... There are many ways to play with the AeroPress, and these different approaches lead to coffees with different flavor directions.

There are many professional competitions in the specialty coffee world, such as the World Barista Championship (WBC), the World Brewers Cup (WBrC), the World Latte Art Championship (WLAC), the World Roasting Championship (WRC), and various green coffee evaluation competitions. In 2008, a brand-new competition appeared: someone in Oslo, Norway, designed the AeroPress into a relaxed and fun competition, the WAC. Despite the considerable buzz, only three people participated at the time. The initiators were Tim Varney and well-known barista Tim Wendelboe. (Today they still run the event together with Tim Williams.)

Like the AeroPress itself, this competition gradually became more famous and widely known within the specialty coffee circle. By 2018, 3,157 people from 61 countries had attended the competition in person, and online broadcasts reached 68,265 views.

There are many ways to use the AeroPress, and competitors constantly explore new methods and make fine adjustments to existing ones, which is completely different from the direction in barista competitions of pushing espresso machines to the limit. The WAC is an event for everyone, and anyone can participate, even without the deep pockets and green coffee resources of a coffee company. It is full of creativity and experimentation, and these ideas and experiments in turn inspire more delicious coffee.

Below, let's brew a cup of coffee with the AeroPress.

The bean chosen this time is "Front Street Kenya Little Tomato." The flavor presented in pour-over has the bright acidity of smoked plum and cherry tomato, along with a pear-like sweetness!

Dose used: 18g Grind setting: EK43s setting 7 / 90% passing rate on a No. 20 sieve (finer than regular pour-over grind) Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:11 (about 200ml) Water temperature used: 90°C‍‍‍‍ Extraction method: inverted pressure

You can place two round filter papers on the filter cap in advance, then wet them with water so they stick.(If you do not have round filter papers, you can also cut them from regular filter paper.)‍ ‍‍‍‍‍ 1. Assemble the plunger and the chamber, then press the plunger down to around mark ④ and invert it!‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ 2. Add the ground coffee, then pour in an equal amount of hot water and start timing! 3. Use a stirrer to stir the coffee grounds in the chamber for ten seconds. (Slowly in circles.) 4. Attach the filter cap with the filter paper to the chamber. 5. Then attach the prepared container.‍‍‍ 6. At one minute, flip it over, then begin pressing downward to "press out" the coffee.

The extraction is now complete, and the whole process takes about 1 minute and 20 seconds. Compared with upright pressure, inverted pressure is a bit more stable and can greatly reduce the difficulty for beginners. The Kenya brewed this way tastes bright and balanced in acidity and sweetness, with a very full juicy feel, and performs very well.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.