Aeropress Coffee Makes Great Travel Coffee but Also Great Coffee At Home
Discover why the AeroPress coffee maker is perfect for travel and home use, offering café-quality coffee anywhere with simple preparation and versatile brewing methods.
When you travel with an AeroPress: One of my favorite things about my preferred coffee maker is that you can put it in a suitcase or backpack and take it on trips. When you reach your destination—whether that’s a hotel in Chicago, a campsite on a mountain, or your mother-in-law’s house—as long as you have brought coffee beans and can get hot water, you will have what you need to make a great cup of coffee.
The AeroPress looks like a big syringe without a needle: You put ground coffee and hot water in it, stir the mixture, wait a short time, then push down a plunger to force brewed coffee through a paper filter and into your mug. It’s fast and simple compared to pour-over coffee, which needs more careful attention. If you use good beans, you can make coffee at home that’s as good as what you get in cafes.
You can use the AeroPress in many different ways: It is very flexible and lets you try many brewing styles. You can make coffee that tastes like what comes from a French press, automatic coffee maker, cold brew, or pour-over method. With a special part called a flow control cap, you can even make something similar to espresso.
Most people find a way they like and stick with it: The basic way, created by the inventor Alan Alder, uses a filter and cap on the brewing chamber. You put it on a mug, add grounds, start a timer, pour water over the grounds, stir, and push the plunger down when the time is up. You control the grind size, water temperature and amount, and brewing time—the main factors that affect coffee taste. My current favorite is using medium-ground dark roast, brewing for two minutes with water at 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
I like using what’s called the inverted method: You put the barrel on top of the plunger for brewing, then when time is up, you put on the cap and filter, turn it over onto your mug, and push down. It needs some skill and careful handling, and the company that makes it does not recommend this method because spills can happen. However, once you learn how to do it, this way is clean and gives you good control.