AeroPress Coffee Brewing Method Introduction - Comparison of AeroPress and Delter Press: Differences, Advantages, and Disadvantages

The AeroPress is more than a passing trend in brewing gear. Its appearance resembles no other brewing device, and the company that invented it is known not for coffee equipment but for frisbees. Yet today the AeroPress has not only become a beloved tool for drinkers around the world but has also given rise to the World AeroPress Championship (WAC) — and even a documentary film of its own.

The Origin of AeroPress

This small, two-piece brewer can quickly produce coffee with a rich, full body simply by pushing hot water through a filter. Unlike pour-over brewers, its invention was inspired by espresso machines — though it relies not on electricity or a lever, but on pressure applied by hand.

It shares some similarities with the French press, though the French press has never been especially popular in specialty circles. Its recommended water temperature and brewing time are also much lower and shorter than a French press's. In other words, while the AeroPress is now commonplace, it was genuinely distinctive when it debuted in 2005. Alan Adler, the owner of the company behind it, approached the invention from an engineering perspective. To solve coffee's bitterness, he looked for an answer in shortening extraction time.

To shorten extraction, he found that extraction had to rely on pressure. So he built a sealed space to increase the pressure generated by pushing, letting users brew more quickly. (These days there are many AeroPress recipes, some with extraction times longer than conventional brewing methods.)

AeroPress Gains Prominence in the Coffee World

At first, many in the specialty coffee industry were skeptical, seeing the AeroPress as a toy manufacturer's product rather than an innovative brewing device. Over time, that changed. Alan answered the doubters with brewed samples, and word spread. After all, the most direct proof that an AeroPress works is the flavor in the cup.

But with so many brewers on the market, why has the AeroPress become one of the most prominent?

Coffee is a global movement with brewing methods from all over the world, while the AeroPress can brew delicious coffee in just one minute and is easy to clean, portable, affordable, and versatile. There may be other reasons behind its popularity, but one is surely that it invites experimentation — which eventually grew into the dedicated World AeroPress Championship.

Brewing time, pressing time, coffee dose, coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature, upright or inverted, and so on. The AeroPress supports a wide range of methods, and those different approaches yield coffees with different flavor profiles.

AeroPress Champions from Around the World

The specialty coffee world holds many professional competitions, such as the World Barista Championship (WBC), World Brewers Cup (WBrC), World Latte Art Championship (WLAC), and World Roasting Championship (WRC), along with numerous green-bean evaluation events. But in 2008 a completely new competition appeared when someone designed a fun, light-hearted contest for the AeroPress — the WAC — in Oslo, Norway. Despite the enthusiasm, only three people took part at first, launched by Tim Varney and the renowned barista Tim Wendelboe. (They still run it today, together with Tim Williams.)

Like the AeroPress itself, however, the competition gained recognition and became well known in specialty coffee. By 2018, 3,157 people from 61 countries had attended in person, with 68,265 online viewers.

The AeroPress has many uses, and competitors keep finding new applications and refining existing methods — a very different direction from barista competitions that push espresso machines to their limits. WAC is a competition for everyone: anyone can enter, without the financial resources and green beans of a large coffee company. It is a contest full of creativity and experimental spirit, and those creative experiments inspire more delicious coffee.

Let's Brew a Cup of Coffee with AeroPress

This time we are using FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Little Tomato. Brewed by pour-over, its flavor features the bright acidity of dark plum and cherry tomato, with the sweetness of snow pear.

Coffee amount: 18g
Grind setting: EK43s setting 7 / 90% passing through a #20 sieve (finer than regular pour-over grind)
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:11 (approximately 200ml)
Water temperature: 90°C
Extraction method: Inverted press

Pre-wet two circular filter papers on the filter cap, then use water to make them adhere. (If you don't have circular filter paper, you can cut regular filter paper to size.)

1. Assemble the plunger and chamber, then push the plunger to around the 4 mark and invert it.
2. Pour in the ground coffee, add an equal amount of hot water, and start timing.
3. Use the stir stick to stir the grounds in the chamber for ten seconds. (Slow circular motion.)
4. Attach the filter cap with the adhered filter paper to the chamber.
5. Then attach it to your prepared container.
6. When the time reaches one minute, invert it and begin pressing downward to "press out" the coffee.

Extraction is complete, taking approximately 1 minute and 20 seconds. The inverted method is more consistent than the upright method, which significantly lowers the difficulty for beginners. The resulting Kenya coffee tastes sweet and sour, with a full, juicy mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The AeroPress is an immersion-style brewer, so it works best with beans that can stand up to longer contact with water. FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling is a natural fit. Roasted medium-dark and screened from premium PWN lots with repeated hand sorting, it pours with a thick, full body and a rich crema-like texture, carrying concentrated spice, caramel, cedar, and dark chocolate aromas. In an immersion brewer its low acidity and heavy body come through beautifully.

If you prefer something fragrant and light, FrontStreet Strawberry Candy is a lovely choice. This Geisha blend pairs a honey-processed Costa Rican coffee with a washed Panamanian Geisha, combining the best of Central American flavor. Immersion-brewed, it releases aromas of rose, citrus, grape, and raisin, and with milk added it turns into the scent of strawberry gummy. Either way, the AeroPress gives you plenty of room to experiment.