Aeropress Away the Heat
We came across an Aeropress in our kitchen and decided to experiment with it. With weather pretty much having gone from winter and straight into summer, it's gotten rather hot lately. After seeing a post on Reddit about cold brewing with the Aeropress, we decided to give it a try and see what comes of it.
What is an Aeropress?
If the experiment turns out to be a success, then cold brew lovers would have an easier way to make batches of cold brew with one simple tool, an AeroPress.
What Is The Difference Between Cold Brew and Iced Coffee?
TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) the AeroPress was a success but the results might not be for everyone, here’s how we tackled this experiment:
Experiment Parameters
We gradually became less scientific about brewing as we went on. Our variables and results are listed below:
- 6 oz of cold water and 2 level tablespoons of coffee, espresso grind, 1-minute steep time, inverted brew - Relatively weak cup, somewhat tart.
- 8 oz of cold water and 4 level tablespoons of coffee, espresso grind, 1-minute steep time, inverted brew - Somewhat stronger cup yet more bitter cup, not quite to our tastes though.
- 6 oz of cold water and 3 heaping tablespoons of coffee, espresso grind, 2 ½ minutes steep time, regular brew - Looked like coffee, tasted like coffee, didn't melt any ice!
Analyzing the Results
So, was our experiment a success? We’d say, yes it was. It took us a bit of tinkering, but in the end, we managed to produce a drinkable cup of coffee using cold water and an Aeropress.
Now would we do it again? Maybe — the Aeropress is extremely easy to use and easy to clean up. I suppose that what I liked best was how potent and smooth the coffee was after adjusting the variables to our liking. It was too cold to melt much of the ice, so the flavor wasn't as diluted as a regular cold brew would be. It's definitely something to try if you want some cold coffee and happen to have an Aeropress laying around.