AeroPress Coffee - Ukrainian Recipe

Introduction

Struggling with getting the flavors that are mention on a coffee bag? This recipe will fix it.

As for every coffee recipe that I develop, there are a couple of goals I try to achieve:

• Stability (so that it will have a great flavor every time)
• Ease of use (as short as possible with the minimum amount of steps)
• Flavor oriented (so that you can perceive all of the flavors of Specialty coffee)
• Clarity (it will have a “clean body”, without small coffee particles)

And after a lot of attempts, I finally nailed it. And go even beyond, because it’s suitable for:

• AeroPress Go (shorter version)
• Paper and Metal filters
• Medium and light roast

Sounds like a perfect recipe, right? Let’s try it.

AeroPress - Ukrainian Recipe

Overall steps (I’ll describe differences soon, this is the base that will not be changed):

1. Insert the plunger into an AeroPress so that you don’t see the rubber part
2. Place it on scales. Add ground coffee and water
3. Mix till 30 seconds, then cover and flip on your carafe / cup
4. Start pressing from 1 minute. Target total brewing time of 2:00-2:30
5. Finish pressing right when hearing the beginning of the hiss sound. It’s when there is little to none water left and you’re pressing the air through. We don’t need to press the air here.

I usually place two hands on the plunger. And as I’ve measured on scales, I apply 2.8 kg of force that way. But if your AeroPress plunger doesn’t move when such a pressure is applied - press harder. The goal is to hit the total brewing time under 2:30.

Water temperature

The basic water temperature is 95°C / 203°F. Only decrease it when brewing light roast coffee which turns out too acidic. I usually decrease it to 90°C in such a case.

The Grind Size

The grind size is smaller than sugar. And similar or slightly smaller than pour over grind size. Here is the reference:

• Comandante c40 - around 15 clicks
• Kinu m47 - 2.5 (2 rotations, 5 numbers)

Adjust it by taste. If you start to perceive almonds and some unpleasant notes like drying and muted flavor - make the grind size bigger. 

Target the flavor to be intense enough to perceive all of the flavors. It will be like a pour over coffee, pretty light. But the intensity will be similar.

Medium Roast

Paper Filter

For a paper filter we use a 1:12.5 ratio with this recipe. 

• coffee - 12 g
• water - 150

But you can scale it. Just multiply the amount of coffee by 12.5. 

Metal filter

For a metal filter we use a 1:15 ratio.

• Coffee - 12 g
• Water - 180 g

This barely fits an AeroPress Go. 

If you’re using the classic version (with number 4 on the body) - you can use up to 15 g of coffee and 225 g of water.

Light roast

Paper Filter

For a paper filter we use a 1:12.5 ratio with this recipe. 

• coffee - 12 g
• water - 150

But you can scale it. Just multiply the amount of coffee by 12.5. The grind size in such a case should be a little bit bigger. To avoid unpleasant intensity. I use 2.8 on Kinu m47 (instead of 2.5).

Metal Filter

For a metal filter we use a 1:15 ratio.

• Coffee - 12 g
• Water - 180 g

This barely fits an AeroPress Go.

If you’re using the classic version (with number 4 on the body) - you can use up to 15 g of coffee and 225 g of water. 

The grind size is usually smaller than for a paper filter.

Explanations of difficulties with an AeroPress, observations

It is simply too flexible. There are a lot of ways to make a terrible or average cup of coffee in which you will perceive “blended” flavors. And the issue here is mostly not because of your coffee grinder.

Because of different sizes, we have a different temperature loss when adding the water. Especially, different amounts of water in the same brewer.

Paper vs Metal filters

I prefer metal filters. Specifically - from E&B coffee lab, model name D63UF3.5. But it works with any metal filter.

Metal filters give more flavor overall. And allows us to use a higher ratio. Why? Because it has a lower resistance (meaning, the pressure inside will be lower, so that we will not force the extraction of some unpleasant flavors). Also, it makes it possible for oils to go into the beverage. It makes the flavor way richer and complex.

As for the paper filters - they have a “thinner” flavor. And because we can’t just make the grind size smaller - we need to use a lower ratio. So that the grind size is relatively big, but 

Mixing

I started to approach the extraction like in my Hybrid Flow technique. The most of the extraction happens in the first part of the brewing. In fact, espresso works that way as well.

That’s why we mix the coffee right away, without waiting for it to “bloom”. We beat CO2 out of coffee so that the water can start the extraction. Because it prevents it.

And what’s the most effective way to dissolve CO2? Temperature. So we don’t wait till the water cools down.

Water temperature

If we use lower temperature - we risk getting flat flavors, featureless. Especially with the medium roast coffee. For light roast it could introduce more acidic notes, but don’t try to lower it too much for this recipe. I wouldn’t go below 90°C. You can add a little bit of water to dilute the coffee (like 30 g).

Pressing

I’ve tried pressing all the way, towards the end of the hiss. And it always makes the cup dirty. And introducing drying into beverage most of the time. That’s why I avoid using this.

Brewing time

Some coffee starts to introduce “dark flavors” with time. That’s why I prefer to have a good balance in the cup, without these flavors making the cup muted and flat. 

That's it. Enjoy the coffee.

Author: Viacheslav Druzhynin