The Ultimate AeroPress Recipe? Here Are 5 of My Favorites

The AeroPress is a legendary device. One of the cool things about it, is that you can brew it in so many different ways.

Every coffee professional/guru worth their salt MUST have created an AeroPress recipe. It’s like a rite of passage.

For that reason, there are hundreds, if not 1000s, of methods and recipes out there.

I have tried many over the years. And not all were equally successful!

But here are some of my favorite recipes.

Tim Wendelboe’s AeroPress recipe

This is a very classic and old-school recipe. Apparently, this is the method that the Norwegian coffee wizard Tim Wendelboe is using in his famous coffee shop in Oslo to this day.

I like how simple it is, and also the fact that it uses a slightly stronger ratio than most specialty coffee recipes. That means that it’s easy to get a tasty result, even though you don’t have a fancy, high-end grinder at home.

The James Hoffmann Recipe

This recipe was the culmination of the highly anticipated AeroPress series on James’ YouTube channel.

It was created by testing a lot of variables on-screen. The result was a simple, beautiful recipe.

This method is very different from how most people brew. But to my surprise, I found that it can produce excellent results with the right coffees.
It uses a 1:18 ratio, which is rare to see with immersion methods. However, due to the ultra-fine grind size, the resulting cup is still very full and rich.

I highly encourage you to give it a try. However, if your grinder isn’t top-notch, then you might want to reduce the ratio a bit (i.e., use 12 grams instead of 11).

World Aeropress Championship Technique by Wendelien van Bunnik

The World AeroPress Championship started as a small, quirky event for coffee geeks. Almost like a fun prank.

However, it quickly grew into an international event with local competitions all over the world.

In the first years, there were a lot of different approaches. However, from around the year 2015/2016, a particular way of brewing became dominant. This approach relied on diluting a concentrate made with ultra-high doses.

In daily life, this type of recipe would probably be seen as wasteful.

In the scope of the competition, however, this AeroPress technique turned out to be highly successful.

Maybe even a bit too successful.

In 2021, the organizers of the tournament had to change the rules to encourage some more innovation.

However, if you want to try a W.A.C. style brew just once, here’s the 2019-winner, van Bunnik’s recipe.

AeroPress for Two

Maybe I’m biased since I developed this recipe, but I feel it belongs in the list of essential AeroPress recipes. It fulfills a need that most people have sooner or later: to brew a bigger AeroPress batch – enough for two persons.

In the past, the most popular way has been to brew a concentrate and dilute it.

This has sometimes been known as the “bypass” technique. However, I’m not a fan of this brewing style since it changes the extraction significantly.

So instead, I came up with this method, where you can brew two cups while getting an excellent extraction yield.

This method isn’t just a gimmick; it really works! So I hope you’ll give it a try. I have a separate post (and video) where I detail all the small steps, but if you want the quick and dirty version, here it is

The most important aspect is that you learn a little technique, where you plunge 1 inch, and then when you start to feel resistance, tilt the plunger and remove it from the brew chamber. This way, you can add water to the brew chamber several times without disrupting the brew bed.

A Light Roast AeroPress Method for fruity coffee

This recipe is very easy and it tastes great once you have found the right grind size. Another key point to get it just right is to use the Aesir paper filter. I have already mentioned it a few times in this article, but the Aesir filter is really essential if you want to get the same flavor clarity that you get in a pour over.

I’m not sure who the inventor of this recipe is, but all clues lead to an anonymous Reddit user going by the handle Skelethon0703.

Whoever it was, this is a simple, easy recipe to have handy for those light roasts that you encounter.

Learn More: AeroPress Iced Coffee & Cold Brew Recipes