Coffee. The second most important driver in todays tech world, after cocaine of course*. In the morning you drink it to shake off the tiredness from a restless night of sleep. During the day you drink it to be able to keep staring at the screen without crashing your forehead into it. At night it makes it possible to meet that one dreadful deadline. And so it begins: the circle of overstimulation.
I know, a great way to start an article about my love for coffee. But for me to enjoy something it’s important to be conscious about it, especially the problematic aspects. And I do enjoy coffee, a lot. So much so that, a few years back, I decided that I didn’t want to drink bad coffee anymore. That’s where my journey into the world of third wave coffee began.
I’m not going to write about what third wave coffee is nor about how I personally shifted away from viewing coffee as a purely functional compound towards enjoying every step of producing a juicy cup (Ok, basically that is third wave coffee). Being at home you can have your expensive portafilter machine or a fancy pour over setup but what if you’re not at home? Here comes one small but very amazing device into play:
The AeroPress
Just as a little heads up, the coffee will taste only as good as the beans you put in.
All you need for the AeroPress is hot water, ground coffee, paper filters and a spoon (or basically anything that you can use for stirring). It is lightweight, easy to pack and clean and can produce a world class cup of coffee.
In the last couple of years, when I transitioned into working 100% remote, I started to use the AeroPress more and more when not at home. I brought it with me when visiting my parents, on camping trips, on vacation. Basically everywhere I went, my AeroPress came with me.
How to use it
There are, of course, a lot of resources out in the wild on how to brew a coffee with the AeroPress. Sadly I have neither the skills to produce a good video, nor the capability to capture high quality images. To make my life (and of course yours) easier please take a look here to get a basic understanding of how to use the AeroPress. Assuming you’ve already familiarised yourself with this machine you can start learning about the Inverted Method. Otherwise my recipe won’t work.
💡 Tl;DR
I’m to lazy to write out an explanation, so please go to the official Aeropress website for one.
Alright, long story short, what do I do: I use 15gr of medium/fine ground coffee** to 200gr of boiling water.
- Wet the paper filter (inside the filter cap)
- Put in the coffee and top it with all of the water. After around 40 seconds I stir a few times with a spoon
- Screw on the filter cap and release the excess air
- Flip it and place the AeroPress on a cup (at around 1:00)
- Let it steep for 30 seconds, at 1:30 plunge for 30 more seconds
There you have it (hopefully) a juicy cup of coffee, a bittersweet mug of bean juice, a wholesome cup of joe, your morning jolt. Whatever you wanna call it, you can have it after only about five minutes of your time.
And that is the beauty of the AeroPress.
* idk
** When you have a grinder, start by a very medium grind setting and go more fine until the coffee doesn’t taste anymore*