Read this easy-to-follow AeroPress coffee recipe & learn how to make an AeroPress cold brew within minutes & start your cold coffee experience.
What is Cold Brew Coffee?
For starters, we’ll explain exactly what cold brew coffee is, because, despite what some people think, it’s not just pour-over coffee that you put into a fridge for a few hours…
Cold brew coffee is coffee that is made by taking a coarse grind of coffee beans (the grind size is different when using an AeroPress - more on that later), then steeping those grounds in room-temperature water for approximately 12 to 24 hours. The finished product is a coffee concentrate, which you can then store in your refrigerator. Whenever you want to make a mug of cold brew coffee, blend this coffee concentrate with cold water, dairy milk, almond milk, or another mixer, along with some ice cubes, and enjoy!
Cold brew coffee is growing more and more popular, and despite what you might think, it’s not just a trend for mustachioed, flannel-wearing hipsters in New York coffee shops. A cup of cold brew coffee offers a smooth, sweet, rich flavor, all with nearly 70% lower acidity than traditional hot coffee. This makes it better for your gut, helping to keep pH levels balanced, since traditional coffee is extremely acidic, and can cause inflammation.
In addition, cold brew concentrate can be used to make a cup of cold brew coffee at any time, and keeps in your fridge for up to two weeks, so it’s a great way to have coffee on hand 24/7, and not waste time brewing a pot of coffee every morning.
The only problem is, traditional cold brew coffee recipes require you to steep the grounds in room-temperature water for 12 to 24 hours. That’s a pretty lengthy brewing time, and it’s the main reason why people steer clear of cold brew coffee recipes at home.
Luckily, making cold brew with an AeroPress is much, much faster.
With our AeroPress recipe, you can make a delicious cup of cold brew coffee in only two minutes!
So, if you’re wondering how to make cold brew coffee with an AeroPress, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive in.
Why Cold Brew Coffee?
There are a lot of reasons people prefer cold brew coffee over traditional hot coffee, and it’s not just because of the cool hipster aesthetic. As we discussed above, cold brew coffee offers a sweeter, smoother flavor than traditional hot coffee.
Another major benefit of cold brew coffee is that cold brew concentrate can be stored for up to 14 days without going bad, and you can make a single cup at a time, so it’s much less wasteful. No more pouring out half a carafe of coffee after accidentally brewing too much (don’t worry, we’ve all done it).
In addition, cold brew coffee is very versatile. Just because the name is “cold brew” doesn’t mean you have to serve it cold. You can drink your cold brew coffee either cold or hot. Simply boil some water (or heat water or milk in the microwave) and add it to your cold brew concentrate to make a “hot” cup of cold brew.
How to Make Cold Brew with an AeroPress
The AeroPress coffee recipe for cold brew is quite simple. There are only five main steps, which we’ll go over below.
1. Prepare Your AeroPress
For starters, you’ll need to make sure your AeroPress is set up properly. If you're an AeroPress newbie, you can learn everything you need to know about How to Use AeroPress Coffee Makers in our dedicated blog post.
Make sure your AeroPress is clean and dry, and ensure you have a fresh filter properly placed inside. Just like with any other style of coffee, you can use both traditional paper filters and reusable metal filters to make cold brew coffee with an AeroPress, whichever you prefer.
(Pro Tip: Rinse your filter with hot water after putting it in place. This can help it stick to the cap better, and wash off any papery flavor).
2. Add Ground Coffee
Unlike with normal cold brew coffee recipes, if you want to make cold brew coffee with an AeroPress, you want to use a fine grind size, not coarse. Add one rounded scoop, if you want to make about one cup of coffee (8 oz). This should come out to approximately 16 grams of coffee grounds.
“If the drip-through while stirring is more than about 3 mm, you might want to try a finer grind or use slightly more coffee… Large quantities of drip-through reduce brew strength,” AeroPress inventor Alan Adler told Perfect Daily Grind. “Some people worry about even small amounts, but I’ve researched this and determined that less than 3 mm has no detectable reduction in strength.”
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The finer grind size is crucial to bring the process of steeping the coffee down to only a few minutes, instead of the usual 12 to 24-hour brewing time. The finer the grind, the faster the flavor and aroma compounds will be extracted from the coffee.
3. Add Water
Be sure to use room-temperature water for your cold brew coffee. It should be lukewarm, not too hot, not too cold. Add water up to the 1 mark on your AeroPress.
4. Stir
This step is perhaps the most important. Stirring the coffee is critical to begin the flavor and aroma extraction process. Aim for a stir time of about one minute. Stir your coffee grounds gently, in a smooth, circular motion
5. Press
Now it’s time to make the coffee! Press down gently on your AeroPress just like normal, pushing the water through your coffee grounds. “Pressing gently is the fastest press,” said Adler. Pressing too hard or too fast will push the coffee particles into a barrier, making it even harder to press. If you begin to feel too much resistance, pause for around 10 seconds before resuming. Once you’ve performed a full press, remove the coffee grounds and filter from your AeroPress and clean it out.
6. Add Your Mixer of Choice
Now comes the fun part! The cold brew coffee concentrate you’ve created can be mixed with hot water, cold water, milk, or anything else to create a nice cup of cold brew or a delicious cold brew latte. If you’re having your coffee cold, pop in a few ice cubes to keep your drink cool for longer.
Tips and Tricks to Make Cold Brew Coffee with an AeroPress
Let’s hear from the experts! Here’s the key to brewing cold brew coffee with an AeroPress, according to AeroPress themselves:
The key is the long stir time and using a fine grind of coffee. Optimizing the contact between the surface of the coffee grounds and the water quickly enables delicious flavor extraction from the grounds. It's harder to extract flavor using room temperature water but the brisk one-minute stir overcomes that challenge.
One more benefit: This cold brew recipe means you can use your AeroPress to brew a delicious coffee beverage even when you don't have access to hot water!
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is AeroPress good for cold brew?
AeroPress coffee makers are great for making cold brew coffee. They take the lengthy cold brew steeping time of 12 to 24 hours and cut that down into only a couple of minutes! If you’re looking to make cold brew coffee quickly and easily, then using an AeroPress is an excellent way to go about it. You get that delicious smooth cold brew flavor in a mere fraction of the time.
How do you make cold brew with AeroPress?
You’re in the right place. Simply follow the cold brew AeroPress coffee recipe above to make the perfect cup of AeroPress cold brew. AeroPress coffee makers allow you to make cold brew concentrate in as little as two minutes, while the normal process of making cold brew coffee can last up to a full day since the coarse grounds need time to steep.
Why does my AeroPress coffee taste bad?
There are a variety of reasons why your AeroPress coffee might taste bad. You could be pressing too quickly, you could be using the wrong coffee-to-water ratio, or you could be using a grind size that is too coarse or too fine (usually the latter). The baseline answer is that you’re probably doing something wrong. Head over to our How to Use AeroPress Coffee Makers blog post to learn exactly how to use an AeroPress.
What is the best ratio for cold brew coffee?
There is no one “best ratio” for cold brew coffee, but the general consensus is that a 1:5 proportion of coffee grounds to water will allow you to brew a nice balanced coffee that you can enjoy without any mixers. That said, be sure to simply take this as a starting point, and experiment by adding more or less water and more or less coffee to find the perfect ratio for yourself. That’s the beauty of making your coffee at home, you get to brew a cup that’s just the way you like it!
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