How Should Parameters Be Adjusted When Making Dark Roast Coffee with AeroPress?

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Making Rich-Bodied Coffee with AeroPress

We have previously used AeroPress to make flavor-profile coffee, so today let's try how to make a cup of coffee with a rich, full-bodied texture using AeroPress!

AeroPress extraction is primarily based on immersion, so the resulting coffee tends to be quite balanced. However, I wondered: when using AeroPress to make a cup of dark-roasted coffee, how should we adjust the parameters to achieve a coffee that is both rich-bodied and balanced?

Experiment

Today's experiment uses 【FrontStreet Coffee Jamaica Blue Mountain】 beans. This is a washed Typica coffee from Jamaica's Clifton Mountain Farm. We typically choose a medium-dark roast to highlight its rich body and balanced characteristics of acidity, sweetness, and bitterness.

FrontStreet Coffee Jamaica Blue Mountain

Country: Jamaica
Estate: Clifton Mountain Farm
Altitude: 1310 meters
Processing: Washed
Variety: Typica
Roast Level: Medium-Dark

I first tried using my usual pour-over parameters, only changing the coffee-to-water ratio while keeping other parameters the same, using the inverted pressing method for extraction.

Parameters: Grind size BG 6M (50% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve), water temperature 85°C.

Coffee-to-Water Ratio 1:14

Add 16g of coffee grounds to the AeroPress, pour 223g of hot water and stir 5 times to ensure full contact between coffee and water. Continue stirring 5 times at the one-minute mark, then invert and press at 1 minute 30 seconds. Total time: 1 minute 50 seconds.

Flavor: The aroma has a subtle chocolate scent. The palate reveals milk chocolate, nuts, and cream flavors. As the temperature slightly drops, distinct tropical fruit acidity emerges with a slight astringency. Overall feeling is relatively refreshing.

Coffee-to-Water Ratio 1:13

Add 16g of coffee grounds to the AeroPress, pour 203g of hot water and stir 5 times to ensure full contact between coffee and water. Continue stirring 5 times at the one-minute mark, then invert and press at 1 minute 30 seconds. Total time: 1 minute 45 seconds.

Flavor: The aroma has chocolate notes. The palate reveals chocolate and nut flavors with some floral notes and a smoky sensation. As the temperature slightly drops, berry acidity emerges. The texture is relatively richer and fuller.

The FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain extracted at 【1:14 ratio】 shows distinct acidity and sweetness, with a relatively refreshing mouthfeel; while the FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain extracted at 【1:13 ratio】 feels fuller-bodied compared to the 【1:14 ratio】, with fruit acidity being less prominent. However, in terms of flavor, the chocolate and nut characteristics of both ratios are not very pronounced. So I tried adjusting the grind to a finer setting of BG 6A to see how the Blue Mountain flavor would turn out.

Parameters: Grind size BG 6A (54% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve), water temperature 85°C.

Coffee-to-Water Ratio 1:14

Flavor: The palate shows berry acidity, subtle chocolate, and tea-like notes with a faint fermented aroma. The texture is relatively thin with bright fruit acidity.

Coffee-to-Water Ratio 1:13

Flavor: The palate reveals dark chocolate, herbal notes, smoky sensations, and soft berry acidity. The aftertaste has nutty aromas with caramel sweetness. The texture is rich and smooth.

After adjusting the grind to BG 6A, although the fruit acidity became less bright, the sweetness was insufficient. So I continued adjusting parameters, setting the grind to BG 5R, which is my usual pour-over grind, to see how this would turn out.

Parameters: Grind size BG 5R (58% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve), water temperature 85°C.

Coffee-to-Water Ratio 1:14

Flavor: The palate shows soft fruit acidity with cocoa, nut, and cream flavors. The texture is on the thinner side, but the sweetness is noticeable.

Coffee-to-Water Ratio 1:13

Flavor: The palate reveals soft citrus acidity with cocoa and cream. Caramel sweetness is prominent. Overall it's well-balanced with a rich, full body.

After trying three different grind sizes and two coffee-to-water ratios, I found that when the grind was BG 6M, the FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain made with AeroPress, whether at 1:14 or 1:13 ratio, had more prominent fruit acidity and was overall more refreshing; when the grind was BG 6A, there were more distinct chocolate and nut flavors, with softer fruit acidity but slightly less sweetness; and when adjusted to BG 5R grind, the cocoa, nut, and caramel flavors were very pronounced, with outstanding sweetness.

Because I controlled the extraction time to within two minutes when making AeroPress coffee, the extraction time was relatively short, so I could use a finer grind to increase the contact area between coffee grounds and water, improving the extraction rate.

I suggest that when using AeroPress to make dark roast coffee, you might try using a medium-fine grind + 【1:13 coffee-to-water ratio】 with short extraction time!

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473