The Ultimate Aeropress Recipe: Brew Like a Champion

When it comes to brewing the perfect Aeropress coffee, where should you start? The World Aeropress Championships, of course.

While I haven’t been invited (yet), I’ve studied the winning recipes from the last 15 years and combined their best elements into one ultimate formula. The result? A no-fuss method that delivers championship-level coffee without getting lost in the details.

What You’ll Need

Before you begin, gather the essentials:

1. Aeropress – set up using the inverted method.

2. 18g of ground coffee – a medium-dark roast works well.

3. Spoon – any spoon will do.

4. Filtered water – clean and fresh.

5. Kettle – ideally with temperature control.

6. Digital scales – for accurate measurements.

Step-by-Step Brewing Guide

1. Set Up Your Aeropress

Use the inverted method, placing the plunger at the number 4 mark (so the rubber seal cuts across the middle). This gives stability and a clear starting point for your measurements.

2. Measure and Grind Coffee

Weigh out 18g of coffee. For consistency, grind to a medium-coarse level — think table salt or granulated sugar.

3. Start the Brew

Add 50g of water at 94°C (or boil and wait two minutes). Stir gently to saturate the grounds and allow the coffee to bloom for 30 seconds.

4. Second Pour

Add another 50g of water, bringing the level to the midpoint of the number 2 on your Aeropress. Stir gently in a north-south-east-west pattern for 10 seconds.

5. Prepare and Flip

Rinse your paper filter to avoid papery flavours and ensure a good seal. Screw the cap on, press out any excess air, and carefully flip the Aeropress over onto your mug.

6. Press and Dilute

Press gently, stopping just before the hiss. You should end up with around 70g of concentrated coffee. Add 100g of hot water and 30g of room temperature water to fine-tune the flavour.

7. Adjust to Taste

• Prefer it hotter? Add more hot water, less room temperature water.

• Want it stronger? Reduce the dilution.

• Too bitter? Dilute with a little extra water.

Why This Recipe Works

This method borrows the best elements from years of Aeropress championship recipes, with three key principles:

• Precision blooming for maximum flavour release.

• Layered water additions for balanced extraction.

• Temperature adjustments for tailored strength and sweetness.

It’s simple, flexible, and designed to get the best from your beans.

Experimentation Is Key

Great coffee brewing is never one-size-fits-all. Adjust and tweak this recipe to suit your own taste — and don’t be afraid to experiment. That’s the real beauty of the Aeropress: it’s endlessly versatile.

Now it's time to put it to the test with freshly roasted beans. Explore our coffee subscriptions for planet-conscious coffee delivered on a schedule that suits you.

Happy brewing — and who knows, maybe your version will be the next championship winner.

I Brewed 3 World Championship AeroPress Recipes — Then Blind Tested Them on My Wife

Every year, the World AeroPress Championships bring together the most creative — borderline obsessive — AeroPress brewers on the planet. The winners don't just make great coffee, they bend the AeroPress to their will with tricks like ice spears, dual grinding, chopstick stirring, and bypassing water like they're mixing a cocktail.

So I brewed the last three world championship winning recipes and put them to the ultimate test: a blind taste test with my wife, who thinks bloom is something flowers do and that morning coffee shouldn't involve scales, water temperatures, or bypassing.

The Three Contenders

George Stanaker — 2024 World AeroPress Champion

1. Set up the AeroPress inverted, plunger at the 4 mark, with 18g of ground coffee.

2. Pour 50g of 96°C water over 5–6 seconds. Bloom for 30 seconds.

3. Pour another 50g of water over 5–6 seconds.

4. Stir gently in a north-south-east-west motion for 10 seconds.

5. Rinse the filter and place the cap on the AeroPress.

6. At 1:20, gently vent air from the chamber for about 10 seconds, swirl, flip, and place on the server.

7. At 1:35, press gently for 30–40 seconds until 76–79g has been extracted.

8. Add hot water to bring the total up to 130–135g, then bypass with a further 20–30g of room temperature water.

Taye Whiput — 2023 World AeroPress Champion

1. Add 16g of ground coffee to the inverted AeroPress.

2. Pour 100g of 89°C water.

3. At 30 seconds, stir for 5 seconds using one side of a chopstick.

4. At 45 seconds, add the remaining 2g of coffee.

5. At 55 seconds, stir again for 5 seconds.

6. Press down slightly to remove excess air, then seal.

7. At 1:35, flip and press for 30 seconds, finishing around 2:05, for a yield of about 75g.

8. Bypass with room temperature water to 115g, then bypass with hot water to a total serve of 155g.

Jibby Little — 2022 World AeroPress Champion

1. Grind 18g of coffee twice and sift to remove the fines, then place into an inverted AeroPress.

2. Pour 94g of 90°C water.

3. Stir gently 35 times, then screw on the cap and push out the remaining air at around 1:30.

4. Flip and press for around 30 seconds, from roughly 1:40 to 2:10, for a yield of 58–64g of concentrate.

5. Pour the concentrate over stainless steel ice balls.

6. Bypass with 90°C water to reach a total brew of 150g.

The Blind Taste Test

Three glasses, three stickers, no labels, no bias. Here's what my wife made of them, tasting completely blind:

• Coffee A: Nutty, light, with notes of caramel and sweetness. Her clear favourite.

• Coffee B: Less aroma, sweeter, citrusy and lemony, tea-like with a lighter body. Her middle pick.

• Coffee C: Timid and quiet, with what she described as "a far off distant orange" — like an orange you can see in the distance but can't quite reach. Her least favourite, though none of the three were bad.

The reveal: Coffee A was Taye Whiput's 2023 winning recipe. Coffee B was George Stanaker's 2024 winning recipe. And Coffee C — the most complicated of the three, with double-grinding, sifting, 35 precise stirs, and stainless steel ice balls — was Jibby Little's 2022 winning recipe.

Why This Matters

The most elaborate recipe didn't win. The extra effort behind Jibby Little's ice-ball method made for a fascinating brew and a lot of fun to make, but on the day, the simpler, punchier recipe took the crown.

Experimentation is still the key to good coffee — pushing your boundaries and trying something different, like ice balls, is the only way to find out what works and what doesn't. You might not want to brew like a world champion every single morning, but every now and then, it's worth the detour.

Happy brewing.