Brewing basics, 5 minute read, October 2026

How to make AeroPress coffee at home

Medium-fine grind, a short steep, a slow press. Here's the standard method, and how to adjust it.

The AeroPress is a plastic brewer shaped like a big syringe. You put coffee and hot water in the chamber, stir, and press the plunger down to push the coffee through a small paper filter into your mug. It's quick, forgiving, light enough to travel with, and easy to clean. The cup is clean and strong, and you can add hot water to make it closer to a regular mug of coffee.

What you need

An AeroPress with its plunger, chamber, filter cap, and paper filters
Whole beans and a grinder
A kettle. A thermometer or a temperature-control kettle is nice, but not required.
A kitchen scale that reads in grams (most can switch from ounces)
A timer. Your phone is fine.
A sturdy mug

The starting recipe

Coffee: 16 to 18 g (about 0.6 oz) for one cup, which is what the maker suggests for the water filled to mark 4
Water: Fill to mark 4 on the chamber. If you weigh it, that's roughly 200 to 240 g, about 7 to 8 fluid ounces. Retailers often use a ratio between 1:13 and 1:15.
Water temperature: 185°F (85°C) per the maker. If you can't control the temperature, boiling water works, and many guides go as cool as 175°F (80°C) for a softer cup.
Grind: Medium-fine, between table salt and sand
Steep: 30 to 60 seconds
Press: 20 to 30 seconds, slow and steady

Step by step

Rinse the filter. Put a paper filter in the cap, twist it onto the chamber, set the chamber on your mug, and run hot water through it. Pour out the water. This removes the papery taste and warms the mug.
Add the coffee. Put the chamber back on the mug and add the ground coffee. Give it a gentle shake so it sits level.
Add the water. Start the timer and pour water up to mark 4, or to your target weight on the scale.
Stir. Stir gently for about 10 seconds so all the grounds are wet.
Steep. Insert the plunger just far enough to make a seal and let it sit until the 30 to 60 second mark.
Press. Push the plunger down slowly and steadily, over about 20 to 30 seconds. Stop when you hear a hiss. That's the plunger reaching the grounds.
Pop it out. Unscrew the cap and push the puck of grounds into the compost or trash. Rinse and you're done. Add hot water to the mug if you'd like it lighter.

The upside-down method

You'll see AeroPress guides that flip the brewer over, plunger side down, so the coffee steeps without dripping through. The maker, AeroPress, discourages this. It says the flipped brewer is less stable and can spill hot liquid on you, and it suggests its Flow Control Filter Cap if you want to steep longer without dripping. This guide sticks to the standard upright method.

If it doesn't taste right

Change only one thing at a time, so you know what made the difference.

Sour or thin: the coffee is under-extracted. Grind a little finer, use hotter water, or steep a bit longer.
Bitter or harsh: the coffee is over-extracted. Grind coarser, use cooler water, or shorten the steep.
Weak: use more coffee (try 17 to 18 g, or 0.6 oz), or grind a little finer.
The plunger is hard to push: the grind is too fine. If it drops with almost no resistance, the grind is too coarse.

Tips that make a bigger difference than gear

Buy fresh beans. Look for a roast date on the bag, not just a best-by date.
Grind right before you brew. Ground coffee goes stale within minutes, not days.
Write down what you did. Dose, water, grind setting, and time. When a cup turns out great, you'll be able to make it again.

This guide describes a widely used starting method, not a single correct way. The AeroPress is famous for how many recipes exist, so treat the numbers as a starting point and adjust to your taste. Based on AeroPress's own instructions and published guides, including Prima Coffee and Home Grounds.