I made some cold brew at dinnertime today, with the same recipe I’ve been using for most of the summer, and decided to measure the quantity of water used so that I can double the recipe more easily and accurately. Here’s the latest recipe. Note that a “scoop” refers to the scoop that comes with the AeroPress.

1. Set AeroPress up in inverted orientation and add 1 heaping scoop of drip-grind coffee
2. Add 200 to 220 grams room-temperature water (enough to fill AeroPress to about 1cm of the top)
3. Stir vigorously for 1 minute
4. Flip and press into a glass tumbler (30 seconds)
5. Add 2-3 ice cubes and a few drops of stevia to taste
6. Stir and serve

Doubled recipe:

1. Set AeroPress up in inverted orientation and add 2 heaping scoops of drip-grind coffee
2. Fill AeroPress with room-temperature water to 1cm from top and note how much was added by weight
3. Stir vigorously for 1 minute
4. Flip and press into a tall glass, small pitcher, or carafe
5. Top up to a total of 400-440 grams of water
6. Add several drops of stevia to taste
7. Stir, pour into tumblers, add ice, and serve

I’m still using Wellsley Farms Breakfast Blend pre-ground coffee to make this, but I’m almost out of it. Once it’s gone, I’ll try it with some Maxwell House Original Roast that we have in the cabinet.

I’ve been making a cup of cold brew, using this recipe, almost every day that I’m at home in the afternoon. Somehow, though, my bag of Wellsley Farms pre-ground breakfast blend never seems to run out. I still have a ton of it left. Today, though, I decided to shake things up:

• 15 grams Lost Dog “La Esparanza” medium/medium dark roast blend beans
• JX: 2 rotations minus 6 clicks (54 total clicks or 18 on the grind chart) for a medium to slightly fine grind

1. Set AeroPress up in inverted orientation with plunger inserted about 1cm, and add coffee.
2. Fill AeroPress to within about 1cm of the top with room temperature, filtered water.
3. Start timer and stir vigorously for 1 minute.
4. Flip AeroPress and press gently into an 8-ounce tumbler.
5. Add a drop or two of stevia and stir.
6. Add 2 or 3 ice cubes to chill.

This turned out pretty good. I think I like it a little bit better than the cold brew that I make with the pre-ground coffee, but it does seem slightly stronger. It would probably be fine with 13 to 14 grams of coffee, although I’d need to be careful playing around with the ratio since I’m measuring the water by volume and not weight. I’ve been using the stevia for a while now with this recipe, as I’ve found that I like a tiny hint of sweetness with cold brew. A little definitely goes a long way — a couple of drops is plenty.

Tomorrow, I’m going to try making a hot cup with these beans for the first time in a week or two. I figure I’ve got 9 or 10 cups worth of beans left, so I’ll see if I can get a good, repeatable recipe dialed in before I run out of them.

I started experimenting with making cold brew in the AeroPress last week at the beach. Here’s what I did today, and it turned out pretty good. I’ve been using the scoop and stirrer that came with the AeroPress.

1. Set AeroPress up in inverted orientation with plunger inserted about 1cm.
2. Add one heaping scoop of drip-grind coffee. AeroPress says this is about 15-16 grams, but I haven’t confirmed this. I have been using Wellsley Farms pre-ground medium roast breakfast blend, because I have a bag of it I’m trying to use up. Once it’s gone, I’ll switch to grinding whole beans by weight.
3. Fill the AeroPress to within about 1cm of the top with room temperature, filtered water.
4. Start timer and stir vigorously for 1 minute.
5. Flip AeroPress and press gently into an 8-ounce tumbler. Add ice cubes to chill.

When I was doing this last week, I used less water to brew, and then topped the glass up with water or milk after pressing. Today, with more water in the chamber, it seemed like the coffee got mixed up a little better, and there was less coffee “sludge” on the stirrer when I removed it. The finished product seemed a little more flavorful, although it was subtle, and I’m not sure I’d be able to tell the difference in a blind taste test. I didn’t really care for it with milk. The milk gave it kind of a watered-down taste, probably because I was expecting it to have a milk-like consistency, which it didn’t, because it’s mostly water. I wonder how it would turn out if I brewed it with all milk instead of water? Might be worth trying one of these days.

I brought my AeroPress on vacation with me, along with a big bag of Wellsley Farms Breakfast Blend pre-ground coffee, in hopes of using most of it up before its “best before” date in early August. After a few rather unsuccessful attempts to brew a good hot cup with the equipment available to me here, I decided to try the cold brew recipe from the AeroPress web site. I’ve tried making regular cold brew in a French press, which takes 24 hours and requires a coarse grind. I’ve also tried making pour-over iced coffee, also with the Wellsley Farms pre-ground beans. Both turned out pretty good, but I think the cold brew was slightly better. The AeroPress recipe produced a decent cup more quickly than the French Press and with less work than making pour-over iced coffee. I’ll probably experiment with this recipe a few more times this week. One thing that I noticed is that the long stir time allows more water than usual to drip through the filter before pressing. I might eventually try brewing this with the AP inverted (which would avoid the dripping) and see if it makes any noticeable difference.