The Perfect AeroPress Recipe - Even Works for Darker Coffee Roasts! — *Are you strong enough to use one hand to plunge? I’m not, that’s just for the photo*

The AeroPress coffee maker has quickly become my favorite brewer for a quick cup of coffee. After. many trial and errors I’ve come up with the perfect AeroPress recipe! Enjoy the perfect cup of coffee with your AeroPress and I guarantee you this also works for darker roasted coffee beans extracting rich and smooth flavors with minimal bitterness.

Servings: 1
Calories: 10 kcal
Total Brew Time: 1 Minute 35 Seconds

Skip Straight to the recipe :)

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What Grind Size for Aeropress Coffee?

In general, for AeroPress grind size, you’ll want to grind a medium to medium-fine grind size, that’s around the size of sand or table salt. I personally grind a medium-fine for my AeroPress grind size, and this AeroPress recipe will assume that you are using a medium-fine grind.

Grind size affects the taste of your final brew, too find and the water will drain too slowly causing what is known as over-extraction and making your coffee tastes wayyy too bitter. Grind too coarse and the water will drain too quickly causing under-extraction and a weaker brew.

Your preference may vary to mine, so feel free to test out different coffee grind sizes for this AeroPress Recipe.

Importance of Timing for the AeroPress

I’ll admit using the AeroPress can feel a bit stressful since the paper filter combined with the medium grind size doesn’t allow you a lot of leeway as the water drips through the paper filter rather quickly. This issue does get rectified with the Inverted Brewing Method or the flow control attachment but I’ll leave those things to another recipe.

Anyways, yes, timing is important and the AeroPress Recipe I’ve provided below will require you to be very time efficient, or at least to your best ability. So have a timer on hand, the stop watch on your phone will work fine.

Do I need a Coffee Measuring Scale?

Simple answer is No. The beauty of the AeroPress is that it has numbered labels on the plunger tube allowing you to roughly (not accurately) measure the water level when you are brewing.

Due to the approximation nature of the whole thing, I do recommend using a coffee scale to measure your water if you are a control freak and want the same exact results every single brew. But you don’t need to if you don’t want to.

AeroPress and Lower Water Temperatures

AeroPress Water Temperature — *The numbered letters on the AeroPress really comes in handy when you do’t have a scale*

The AeroPress greatly benefits from brewing at lower water temperatures. Lower temperatures means that the coffee bean’s flavors are extracted at a slower pace making for a weaker brew. Now that might sound contradictory to what a good cup of coffee should be but this actually works in favor for this AeroPress recipe.

The AeroPress works as a mix of a percolation brewer and a immersion brewer sort of like a French Press combined with a pour-over brewer. This also means that an AeroPress is great for brewing Cold Brew Coffee. Immersion brewing allows the coffee beans time to mingle with the water creating more complex flavors in the resulting cup of coffee.

Lower water temperatures also works well for dark roasts, as it avoids over-extraction making for a less bitter brew. Though you should keep in mind to adjust your water temperatures depending on the roast level of your coffee beans. Light roast 95-100°C, Medium roast 90-95°C, Dark roast 80-90°C.

My AeroPress recipe uses a water temperature between 80-90°C (180-194°F), perfect for medium to dark roasted coffee beans.

Using Darker Roasts with AeroPress

AeroPress Dark Roast Coffee — *Be sure to stir your coffee grounds so the coffee can release its flavors*

Most of the time it is recommended to use medium roasted coffee beans with the AeroPress but sometimes I like to have dark roasts and I often find that dark roasted coffee beans are harder to brew correctly.

A lot of the recipes I see online assumes you’re using light or medium roasts and so often times my dark roasted brews would come out very bitter, or weak in flavor.

The below recipe I’ve provided works for all types of roast but especially shines with dark roast. It’s basically perfect every time and works with all sorts of beans, from speciality, to super market beans, to Starbuck beans.

Recipe Ingredients and Equipment

AeroPress Coffee Maker (I use the AeroPress Go)
AeroPress Paper filters (results may vary with metal filters)
16g coffee (medium to dark roasts), medium grind size
Hot water (80-90°C / 180-194°F)
Scale (optional but not needed)
Timer
Stirrer

Perfect AeroPress Coffee Recipe

This AeroPress Recipe uses the regular brewing method as according to the instructions on the packaging (none of that fancy Inverted Brewing stuff).

1st Pour (5 Seconds) -Swiftly pour in hot water to the #2 line on your AeroPress, at the same time stir your coffee and water mixture with a stirrer.
Blooming (20 Seconds) - Leave your brew for 20 seconds allowing the coffee beans to bloom and release its flavor, do not cover.
2nd Pour (5 Seconds) - Pour in hot water to the #3 line on your AeroPress, now cover with your plunger to prevent dripping (push the plunger in a tiny bit for a secure fit).
Brew (55 Seconds) - Leave your AeroPress alone for 55 seconds allowing the coffee to brew.
Plunge (10 Seconds) - Plunge your plunger relatively quickly about 10 seconds into your cup.
Enjoy :) - There is your prefect cup of AeroPress Coffee! Enjoy~

Tips for this AeroPress Recipe

Wash your filter paper with hot water first to remove that artificial paper taste.
Your coffee is dripping too fast? Use 2 AeroPress paper filters to slow down the water drain. It’s honestly a bit wasteful but it works.
Want more control in terms of water Temperature? Light roast 95-100°C, Medium roast 90-95°C, Dark roast 80-90°C.