Ari's Picks

AeroPress Brewing at the Coffee Company

aeropress brewing system

Credit: AeroPress

Twenty years of brewing up beautiful cups of coffee

If you’ve never tried one of the “alternative brew methods” on the Big Brew Board at the Coffee Company, let me invite you here to try one. Each really does yield its own flavor characteristics, and if you have a couple extra minutes to wait while the crew custom grinds and brews your beans to order, I think you’re in for a treat! You really can taste the difference. 

Lately, I’ve been particularly enamored of what’s known as AeroPress brewing. Historian Timothy Snyder notes that “anniversaries take hold of the imagination, especially the round ones.” This is a “round anniversary” in every sense of the word—it’s about a round brewing tool, the coffee from which will be served in round cups. And this year marks the 20th anniversary of Alan Adler’s AeroPress. To this day, the AeroPress remains one of the best methods of brewing coffee yet to be developed.

By the time Alan Adler was 13, he had invented a new electronic measuring technology. He loved sailboats and aerodynamics, and, among others of his dozens of inventions, he created what’s known as the Skyro, a long-distance flying ring. Back in the early 2000s, Adler found himself repeatedly frustrated by how bad his experiences with home coffee makers were. A couple years and over 30 prototypes later, Adler released his work into the world when the AeroPress debuted at a show in Seattle in the fall of 2005. Adler figured out how to use air pressure to shorten the amount of time needed to brew and, in the process, cut down on bitterness and increase the flavor. 

Shortly after its introduction, AeroPress began winning raves and continues to have a big following two decades down the road. Last year, the World AeroPress Championship celebrated its 15th anniversary with over 5,000 people coming to compete in nearly 200 events! Matthew Bodary, long-time manager at the Coffee Company shares, 

I remember in the early days here at our cafe, around 2011, we served the AeroPress and were one of the first places in town you would see them around. People would sometimes meet it with apprehension. At first glance, it can look a little gimmicky. “The frisbee guy created a giant plastic-ish syringe thing that brews coffee?”… But the results spoke for themselves. It makes really tasty coffee consistently with minimal brewing fuss or cleaning. It’s also more or less indestructible. For that reason, it has developed a strong following among travelers, backpackers, campers, and people who just want to move on from breaking another glass French press. 

Maybe more than any other single-cup brewer I know of, the AeroPress rewards experimentation in recipe development. Dose, grind size, stirring and turbulence, brew time. With the AeroPress especially, you can get great results from a wide range of starting points. You also have that added element of applying gentle pressure. Some examples here. We do the “inverted” method in the shop to extend the full immersion brew time a bit. 

If you want to treat yourself to a terrific cup of coffee to kick off the New Year, swing by the Coffee Company in the next couple days and order some of your favorite beans brewed using the AeroPress method. I had a cup of AeroPress Roadhouse Joe the other day and it was so good. 

Have your brew waiting for you

P.S. If you want to start doing AeroPress brewing at home, we sell the brewers at the Coffee Company and the Deli!