How to Make Coffee with AeroPress: The Traditional Method

I’ve already done a “how to” article for the inverted AeroPress method.

You can find that here if you’re interested.

It’s a very nice way to brew coffee with AeroPress.

But I haven’t done a how to for the “traditional, regular or normal” method.

So today we’ll look at how to make coffee with AeroPress: the traditional method.

*I receive commissions from purchases made through product links in this post. I sincerely appreciate if you use my links if you decide to buy something and help me in this way! And if not, no problem. To learn more click here. Coffee cheers!*

 

If all this lingo is confusing and you don’t know much about AeroPress, no problem!

Read on and I’ll do my very best to explain everything clearly!

AeroPress is my favorite coffee brewing method. It’s an all-around amazing coffee maker.

There are two main ways – and probably the only ways as of yet – to brew AeroPress, the traditional method and the inverted method.

As I said, I explain the inverted method in another article so I’ll skip that explanation now.

The traditional method is the one written in the directions on the side of the AeroPress box.

But of course in this article I’ll give you all the tips and tricks to make it the best it can possibly be!

That’s what I’m all about here at this website, just trying to help my fellow coffee lovers make your home-brewed coffee the best it can be.

So whether you’re here as a beginner with AeroPress and just need a tutorial about how to use it, or you’ve been using it for quite some time and want some tips and tricks to make AeroPress better, here you go!

Let’s jump right into the step-by-step guide for AeroPress!

Step 1: Heat The Water, Grind The Coffee

Step 1 when you’re brewing coffee is always to heat the water. That way you can get other things ready while the water is heating.

You’ll want the water temperature to be about 195° F, 90° C.

This is an ideal temperature for AeroPress.

There is much debate about this. Some people say you should have it at the standard 200° for coffee. In my opinion this is a bit too hot specifically for AeroPress.

On the directions it says you should have the temperature at 175° or thereabouts.

Again, this seems a bit too low. You could go to 190° F or even 185° but I wouldn’t advise going lower than that.

A simple way to get your water at a good temperature is to let it boil, and then wait at least 30 seconds before pouring.

Grind the coffee beans while the water is heating.

The coffee beans should be ground on a fine-almost-medium setting.

On a scale from 1 to 10, if 1 is espresso fineness and 10 is French press, they should be ground on either 2 or 3 for AeroPress.

Step 2 – Rinse The Filter With Hot Water

After the water is done heating, before you put the coffee grounds in, screw the filter in place under the main chamber and give the filter a rinse with hot water.

This does a few things.

It rinses away any excess paper on the filter that would otherwise go into your coffee along with the coffee. It also just makes a more clean, tasty cup of coffee.

Step 3 – Put The Coffee Grounds In And Place It On The Cup

After you rinse the filter, pour your coffee grounds and fill to the number 1.

You can also weigh out 17 – 20 grams of coffee grounds and put that in if you prefer to weigh out your coffee.

Then place the AeroPress on your coffee mug.

Now you’re ready to pour. But don’t pour it all in at once!

Step 4 – Bloom The Coffee

Pour in just enough water that the coffee grounds become damp and nearly or barely submerged with water, but don’t fill up the AeroPress.

What you want to look for is bubbles that come from the wet coffee grounds and then stop pouring the water.

This technique is called blooming your coffee.

After you see some bubbles come from the wet coffee grounds, let it sit like this for 30 seconds.

Then after your coffee is bloomed you can pour the rest of the water.

I wrote an article about this interesting technique you can read here.

Step 5 – Pour The Rest Of The Water And Stir

This one sounds simple enough, but it needs a bit of further explanation…

There’s plenty of debate about how much water to put in exactly. In my opinion it doesn’t really matter, especially if you’re just going to add more water after it’s brewed.

It really depends on how strong you want your coffee.

Here’s the short and simple: pour the water up to number 3 on the AeroPress, stir it for 10 seconds, let it sit for 30 seconds.

That’s 40 seconds total that the coffee is fully steeped in the hot water.

The AeroPress instructions say to let them steep for about 10 seconds, and I’ve heard people say to steep them for up to two minutes.

In my opinion, steeping them for somewhere around 30 seconds to a minute is a good amount of time.

I really don’t think it makes much of a difference after the minute mark how long you steep them.

You can certainly steep them for 10 seconds like the instructions say, but even espresso in a proper espresso machine brews for 27 seconds ideally.

This is why in my opinion, somewhere around 40 seconds is an ideal time. *

Plus, it just tastes delicious that way!

Step 6 – Press It

Press the plunger all the way down, letting it up two or three times like a piston.

I’ve tried different methods of plunging the coffee and what I’ve found to work best is if you push it down until you feel too much pressure, then let it come up again.

This will probably happen either two or three times. The motion would be similar to a piston.

If you do it right, it shouldn’t necessarily just press down with one easy swoop. It should have that resistance.

Step 7 – Clean And Enjoy 🙂

Let the AeroPress sit on the cup for a short moment, maybe 10 to 30 seconds.

Then empty the AeroPress espresso puck into the trash (or use the grounds for your garden or something else), wash all the parts down with water, and enjoy your coffee!

For cleaning with each use, I like to wipe down at least the AeroPress stirrer and the black rubber bottom of the plunger, because these pieces are where coffee sticks to.

I just wipe them off with my finger under running water.

It’s also a good idea to wash the AeroPress with soap and water every week or so, or after maybe every 10 uses.

Enjoy is the key word!

AeroPress is my favorite coffee brewing method after all.

I hope you found this article helpful and that you will be brewing AeroPress coffee with ease and great flavor!

If you have any questions about this or how to brew AeroPress, please feel free to post them in the comments section and I’ll be more than happy to answer them for you.

Enjoy your AeroPress. And if you’d like to see more information about this awesome coffee maker and more great tips, check out their website here!

Coffee cheers!

 

*I have timed how long it takes for the how water to empty through an AeroPress and if you only stir it once, it takes approximately two minutes for the water to drain before you have little to none left to press.