- Beans: Starbucks house blend medium roast
- 18 grams coffee, 210 grams water (1:12)
- 205° water
- Medium-fine grind (JX: 2 rotations minus 6 clicks)
- Our Favorite Aeropress Recipe
Reused 2 paper filters (this was maybe their 4th or 5th cup). Started timer and pour at the same time. 20 seconds or so to pour. Steeped 40 more seconds (60 second total bloom per recipe), stirred 10 seconds. Flipped at 1:30 and pressed all the way through the hiss, ending at 2:00. I have had good results with these beans and this recipe in the past, but it turned out bitter today for some reason. Could be that I forgot to pre-wet the filters.Will use new, pre-moistened filters next time, and may stop pressing a little earlier, although that has not been an issue in the past.
Just an update: I brewed another cup of this after dinner with the following changes: I poured slightly faster (about as fast as I could go with the gooseneck kettle without overshooting), I used 2 new paper filters pre-moistened with warm water, and I stopped pressing as soon as I heard air escaping. Same overall brew time (60 second bloom which includes pour time, 10 second stir, flip and press at 1:30, finish at 2:00). Turned out perfect! I doubt the pour speed made any difference, so maybe it was the dry filters? Who knows.
Brewed this today, and it turned out bitter again. It occurred to me that I got my best results with this recipe when I used our cheap electric kettle, vs the Fellow gooseneck kettle I’m using now. The cheap kettle does not have a temperature control, and though I don’t know for sure, I suspect the water temperature I was using was lower. Next time I try this, I’ll knock the temperature down a few degrees and see what happens.
Brewed again with the exact same recipe and 90°C water (about 194°-195°F), so about 10° cooler. A little less bitter than yesterday (not a bad cup of coffee actually) but for some reason, still not quite the best cup I’ve gotten out of these beans. I could always go down to 85°C, but maybe the next step will be to make the grind slightly coarser. However, I’m almost out of these beans, which will limit further experimentation unless I pick some more up at BJ’s.
I’ll also note that I brewed both yesterday’s and today’s cups with reused paper filters. I have a hard time believing that new vs used actually makes a difference, but maybe I’m wrong?