5 AeroPress Recipes Worth Brewing (and How to Adapt Them)

The AeroPress is the most flexible coffee brewer you can buy. It’s part immersion brewer, part filter, part hand-powered press, which means you can make everything from a clean, pour-over-like cup to a thick concentrate for lattes, all in a couple of minutes.

That flexibility can feel overwhelming, so here are five dependable recipes, each with exact weights, grind, temperature and timing. Master the first one, then use the adaptation section at the end to make any recipe your own.

Before you start

All five recipes work with the AeroPress Original, the standard-size model. If you use the travel-friendly AeroPress Go, which has a slightly smaller chamber, scale the coffee and water down by about 20% and keep everything else the same.

You’ll also want:

• Fresh coffee and a burr grinder. A consistent grind makes the AeroPress easier to press and more predictable. A hand grinder like the Timemore Chestnut C3S is a popular budget match; see our best manual coffee grinders for more.
• A scale with a timer. Recipes this small are sensitive to a few grams.
• A kettle. Temperature control is handy, but not essential.
• Paper filters. Rinse each one with hot water in the cap before brewing to remove papery taste.

Grind sizes used below

Name	Feels like	Used for
Fine	Finer than table salt, like fine sand	Concentrate, short steeps
Medium-fine	Table salt	Standard and iced recipes
Medium	Between table salt and coarse sand	Inverted and longer steeps

Our grind size chart has photos and more detail.

Recipe comparison at a glance

Recipe	Coffee	Water	Ratio	Grind	Temp	Total time
1. Standard	15 g	225 g	1:15	Medium-fine	93 °C / 200 °F	about 2:30
2. Inverted	16 g	220 g	about 1:14	Medium	90–93 °C / 195–200 °F	about 2:45
3. Concentrate	18 g	90 g + top-up	1:5 before top-up	Fine	96 °C / 205 °F	about 1:30
4. Iced	18 g	110 g + 100 g ice	about 1:12 with ice	Medium-fine	93 °C / 200 °F	about 2:00
5. Light roast	15 g	240 g	1:16	Medium-fine	96–99 °C / 205–210 °F	about 3:00

Recipe 1: The standard AeroPress (upright)

This is the everyday recipe: balanced, clean, and hard to mess up. Use it with any medium roast.

• Coffee: 15 g, medium-fine
• Water: 225 g at 93 °C (200 °F)
• Ratio: 1:15
• Time: press at 2:00, done by about 2:30

1. Put a paper filter in the cap, rinse it with hot water, and screw the cap onto the chamber.
2. Set the AeroPress on a sturdy mug and place both on your scale. Add the coffee and tare.
3. Start a timer and pour 225 g of water in about 10–15 seconds, wetting all the grounds.
4. Stir three times with the paddle or a spoon.
5. Insert the plunger about 1 cm (half an inch) into the chamber and pull it back slightly. This creates a light vacuum that stops coffee dripping through while it steeps.
6. At 1:45, remove the plunger, give it one more gentle stir, and put the plunger back in.
7. At 2:00, press slowly and steadily for 20–30 seconds. Stop when you hear a hiss; pushing through the puck adds bitterness.
8. Unscrew the cap and pop the puck straight into the trash or compost.

The result is a full mug of coffee with more body than a pour over but cleaner than a French press. If you want a stronger cup, drop the water to 200 g. If it’s too strong, add a splash of hot water at the end.

Recipe 2: The inverted AeroPress

The inverted method flips the brewer upside down so nothing drips through during the steep. It gives you a true full-immersion brew, a little more body, and more control over timing. It’s the style many competition recipes use.

• Coffee: 16 g, medium
• Water: 220 g at 90–93 °C (195–200 °F)
• Ratio: about 1:14
• Time: flip at 1:45, press at 2:00, done by about 2:45

1. Insert the plunger into the chamber just far enough to seal, about 1–2 cm. Stand the AeroPress on the plunger with the open end pointing up. Make sure it’s stable.
2. Add the coffee and tare the scale.
3. Start the timer and pour 220 g of water. Leave a little room at the top for the cap.
4. Stir about five times to break up clumps.
5. Rinse a paper filter in the cap and screw the cap on.
6. At 1:45, carefully place your mug upside down on top of the AeroPress, then flip the whole thing over in one smooth motion.
7. At 2:00, press gently for 30–45 seconds.

Recipe 3: Strong concentrate (“espresso-style”)

An AeroPress can’t make real espresso; that needs about 9 bars of pressure from a machine. But it can make a short, intense concentrate that’s excellent in milk drinks or topped up with hot water. If you want the real thing, see how to make espresso at home.

• Coffee: 18 g, fine
• Water: 90 g at 96 °C (205 °F), just off the boil
• Ratio: 1:5 (before topping up)
• Time: press at 1:00, done by about 1:30
• Makes: roughly 50–60 g of concentrate

1. Assemble the AeroPress upright on a small cup or jug with a rinsed filter.
2. Add the coffee and tare.
3. Pour 90 g of water quickly and stir vigorously for 10 seconds. The fine grind and high temperature extract fast.
4. Insert the plunger and wait until 1:00.
5. Press firmly and steadily over about 30 seconds. There will be more resistance than usual; that’s normal for a fine grind.

How to serve it:

• Latte-style: pour into 150–200 ml of steamed or frothed milk.
• Americano-style: top up with 120–150 g of hot water.
• Iced latte: pour over ice and cold milk.

A darker roast suits this recipe best, because its chocolate and caramel flavors stand up to milk. If it tastes harsh, grind a notch coarser; if sour and thin, grind finer.

Recipe 4: Iced AeroPress

This brews a small, strong cup hot and presses it straight onto ice. It chills instantly and keeps the aroma that slow-cooled coffee loses. It’s ready in about two minutes, no overnight steep required.

• Coffee: 18 g, medium-fine
• Water: 110 g at 93 °C (200 °F)
• Ice: 100 g in the cup, plus more to serve
• Time: press at 1:30, done by about 2:00

1. Put 100 g of ice in a sturdy glass or cup. Set the AeroPress upright on top with a rinsed filter.
2. Add the coffee, tare, and pour 110 g of water.
3. Stir five times, insert the plunger, and wait until 1:30.
4. Press over about 30 seconds directly onto the ice.
5. Stir until most of the ice melts, then pour over a fresh glass of ice. Add milk if you like.

Because melted ice is part of the recipe, the brew itself is very strong on purpose. Fruity, bright coffees are delicious this way. If you’d rather make a big batch for the week, see our cold brew guide.

Recipe 5: Light roast AeroPress

Light roasts are dense and harder to extract, so they need hotter water, a finer grind and a longer steep to taste sweet rather than sour. This recipe leans toward clarity.

• Coffee: 15 g, medium-fine (a notch finer than Recipe 1)
• Water: 240 g just off the boil, 96–99 °C (205–210 °F)
• Ratio: 1:16
• Time: press at 2:30, done by about 3:00

1. Assemble upright on a mug with a rinsed filter (rinse two filters stacked together for an even cleaner cup).
2. Add the coffee and tare.
3. Pour 45 g of water (3 times the coffee’s weight) to bloom and stir gently. Wait 30–45 seconds.
4. Pour the remaining water to 240 g and stir three times.
5. Insert the plunger to stop the drip and wait until 2:15.
6. Remove the plunger, give it a gentle swirl, reinsert, and press slowly at 2:30 over about 30 seconds.

Expect a lighter-bodied, brighter cup with more fruit and floral notes. For more on how roast level changes brewing, see light vs dark roast.

How to adapt any AeroPress recipe

Every recipe above is a starting point. Change one variable at a time and taste.

If your coffee is…	Try this first	Then try
Sour, sharp, thin	Grind finer	Steep 30 s longer or use hotter water
Bitter, harsh, drying	Grind coarser	Steep 30 s shorter or use cooler water
Too strong	Add hot water after pressing	Use more water, e.g. 1:15 to 1:16
Too weak but not sour	Use more coffee	Use less water
Hard to press	Grind coarser	Press more slowly; don’t force it
Too much sediment	Use a paper filter, not metal	Grind slightly coarser

A few principles that make adapting easier:

• Grind and time go together. Finer grinds extract faster, so pair them with shorter steeps. Coarser grinds need longer.
• Temperature follows roast. Light roasts like 94–96 °C or even water just off the boil; medium roasts 92–94 °C; dark roasts 88–92 °C, and in an AeroPress they can go as low as 80–85 °C (176–185 °F), which tames bitterness.
• Ratio sets strength, not extraction. If the cup is both balanced and too strong, don’t change the grind; just add water. Our coffee to water ratio guide explains the difference.
• Pressing hard doesn’t help. A slow, gentle press gives a cleaner cup. If you have to lean your full weight on it, the grind is too fine.
• Filters change the body. Paper gives a clean cup; a metal filter lets more oils through for a heavier, French-press-like texture.

Brewing for two

The AeroPress makes one mug at a time, but you can stretch it. Brew Recipe 3 with 30 g of coffee and 150 g of water if it fits comfortably in your chamber, press it into a carafe, then split it and top up each mug with hot water. For regular brewing for a group, a French press or Chemex is more practical; see AeroPress vs French press.

Cleaning your AeroPress

Cleanup is one of the AeroPress’s best features. After pressing, unscrew the cap and push the plunger the rest of the way to eject the puck into the bin. Rinse the rubber seal and chamber under hot water. Once in a while, wash everything in warm soapy water, and store it with the plunger pushed all the way through or removed so the seal doesn’t stay compressed.

Next steps

• Compare the AeroPress with the classic full-immersion brewer in AeroPress vs French press.
• Want to learn gravity-fed filter brewing? Read how to make pour over coffee.
• Upgrade your grind with our best manual coffee grinders, which pair perfectly with an AeroPress for travel.