How To Brew with an Aeropress

The Aerobie Aeropress has taken on a well-deserved life of its own lately. Not only are there about a million recipes and “how to brew” options floating around on the internet, there’s even a World Aeropress Championship. In fact, a regional championship was just recently right here in Chicago! (I know – coffee nerds, right?)

The Aeropress is very often confused with a French Press. Aside from the fact that they both have the word “press” in the name, they are very different coffee brewing methods. The Aeropress brews more like espresso because it extracts the coffee under pressure. The French Press (or plunger as it’s known outside the U.S.) uses the press to filter out grounds. It doesn’t use it as a means of extraction.

So what’s the big deal?

Here are a few of our favorite points about the Aeropress:

• It’s super easy to use
• It’s all plastic so it travels well
• It’s small and stores easily in a desk drawer or a suitcase
• It’s super forgiving when you brew – not a lot you can do to mess this up.

I take my Aeropress with me whenever I travel – be it by car, by plane or when I’m camping. Our friend John of BrewingCoffeeManually.com showed us how to brew coffee when you’re outside and the Aeropress was one go-to brew method. I like it because it fits in my backpack. It’s also lightweight and doesn’t break easily. There was a period of time when brewing a super fresh Aeropress on an aero-plane was a thing (get it?).