Brew Guide: Aeropress Bypass Recipe

The Aeropress is one of the most famous brewing devices in coffee. This recipe has the pedigree of taking a finalist position at the world Aeropress competition. It uses the Aeropress’s advantages over its competition: the ability to concentrate.

Why would you want a concentrate?

A concentrate  does a lot of things. One, it allows you to adjust your coffee to a strength you prefer. If you want to bring more focus to the delicate, aromatic fruity flavours you can dilute the concentrate a little more. If you prefer a more rich, luscious chocolatey coffee then you might find yourself adding a little less water.  

By diluting the concentrate, you help alleviate some of the inherent bitterness from the coffee that sometimes hides the flavours you want. 

The Recipe:

Dose: 35 g | Water Weight: 150 ml | Bypass: 160-200 ml 

Preparation:

1. Have a kettle ready with at least 500 ml of water, a scale and a grinder.
2. Weight out 35 grams of coffee. We will be grinding on a medium setting using our Single Origin coffee. This time of the year we always have wonderful Rwanda coffee that is fresh and delicious. This year it’s a coffee grown by KivuBelt Coffee in the Nyamasheke District.  
3. To achieve a medium-coarse grind, we recommend #20 on Baratza products or 6 on the Fellow Ode. This would be about what you would use for your Chemex Coffee Brewer.
4. We will be setting our kettle for 96℃ degrees.
5. We will then want to rinse the paper filter with hot water. We do this to remove the paper taste and to heat up the brewer. We will then discard the water. We use the water to heat up our mug.
6. You should now have 35 grams of ground coffee, hot water, and a brewer ready to be used. 

1. Place your Aeropress Inverted on your scale and tare it.
2. Add your coffee to the brewer and start your timer.
3. From 0:00 to 0:15 add 150ml of water.
4. From 0:15 to 00:45 seconds stir. 
5. Put the filter cap in place.
6. At 1:15m flip the Aeropress and start to press. 
7. At 1:45m, stop pressing. You should now have around 90ml of concentrated brew with a TDS of 4.00.
8. Add 160g - 200g of hot water to taste.