The inverted aeropress method

The aeropress is arguably the best travel coffee maker on the market. It is light, compact, easy to use, robust, and most importantly, makes a really good coffee.
Like most things, every one has their own opinion on the best way to use an aeropress. That's fine, every ones entitled to their own opinion, we just think ours is better suited, let us explain...

Boil our water

Firstly we need to boil some water, we use the Jet Boil Flash. With boiling speeds of just 100 seconds, there really is no reason to get your flint and steel out. 

Prepare our aeropress

'Concurrent activity' (that old chestnut), let's prep our aeropress whilst our water is boiling. We suggest using the 'inverted method', this allows us to immerse the coffee for longer to increase the extraction of the coffee getting a more full bodied taste. Simply turn your aeropress upside down, with the plunger fully extended but not totally out of the main body.

Grind coffee beans

The key ingredient is next... coffee! Time and kit dependant, we would always recommend grinding your own beans just before making your coffee. We understand not every one has the patience, kit, time, or even the motivation to do this so pre ground is fine (excuse the pun).

A small compact hand grinder such as the Rhinowares Grinder is a great asset to your coffee kit. We want to be making our coffee with no less than 14g of coffee, general rule of thumb is either a hand grinder full of beans or two tables spoons if you have pre-ground coffee. 

Pour over

Once we have our coffee prepared, we can bang it into our aeropress ready for our water which will now be boiled. We can of course carry a flask of hot water prepared at home prior to going out if we are on the move for just a day.

Ideally we don't want to pour our boiling water directly over our coffee immediately after boiling, try to leave this to stand and cool slightly for around 2 minutes will suffice, to reduce getting a bitter tasting coffee. Ensuring you have your aeropress on a stable surface, pour your water slowly over the coffee grounds evenly.

Leave coffee to stand

Along the side of the aeropress you will see numbers 1-4 along the shaft of the main body. This indicates how many 'cups' you can make, baring in mind these are short cups, a full aeropress will fill a 250ml mug. Once filled leave to stand for around 3-5 minutes, take in the aroma! 

Dampen filter

Whilst our coffee is brewing, use some of the remaining water to dampen our aeropress paper filter. This is to reduce the slight straw taste we may get from pushing our coffee through a dry filter. Once damp place the filter and cap onto the aeropress (still sat inverted) and twist slightly clockwise to secure.

Press our coffee

Now the push! We can talk equations all day about pressure x speed, but let's be honest, the margins are minimal. Just remember, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. We recommend using the palm of your hand or the underside of your forearm to apply pressure evenly and downwards on the press in a slow and controlled manner, whilst using your other hand to stabilise both the mug and the base of the aeropress, we don't want to waste all of that time now do we? Once the press starts to make a squelch noise towards the end of the plunge this is our marker to stop.

Avoid coffee spills

Can I drink my coffee yet? Not quite. Our top tip to reduce spillage and mess is to keep hold of the base and pull back slightly on the plunger to create an air suction. This will stop any drips from the bottom of the press when removing it, which then can be stowed away back into your kit to empty and clean back at home or camp. 

Drink coffee

Boom! And thats it, enjoy your hand made coffee. There is nothing quite like going through the process of making a coffee outdoors and enjoying it whilst taking in your surroundings. Enjoy!