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Right now I'm using a standard Aeropress and a Hario slim grinder. With the cold brew method (where you stir the ground coffee in cold water for a minute) I can get something very refreshing and tea-like, but with hot brew methods I've had very inconsistent results with the James Hoffmann method, the bypass method, and the pourover method, using supermarket medium roast decaf beans, as well as supermarket light roast beans. Sometimes I get coffee that borders on delicious, and sometimes it's worse than the coffee I can buy at Sonic. I'm using filtered water and I'm grinding my coffee twice, once at double the number of clicks and then again at the actual intended number, as I've heard that makes for a more consistent grind with the Hario slim. Still, I look at my ground coffee and see a wide range of particle size, so I figure the inconsistency of brew has to do with my grinder. I currently cannot afford a nicer grinder, so I'm looking to see if there are any other tricks I can do to get more consistent coffee. I know with cheap beans and a cheap grinder that there's an upper limit on how nice it can be, but it would still be nice to have a consistent 5-6/10 cup instead of the 2-7/10 range I've been getting. I do also worry that maybe I'm being put off by otherwise good brew methods by having unlucky grinds on days where I try them.

Danielle
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2 Answers2

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Try this:

Prepare the cap by applying a filter. If using a paper filter, sprinkle a little bit of cold water on it after putting it in the cap to prep it for the press. This will be a high pressure press by the end of it, and pre-wetting reduces the chances of the filter ripping.

Prepare 18g coffee ground medium-fine.

Invert the Aeropress and pull the plunger to the bottom of the 4 marker.

Add coffee.

Bloom with near-boiling water just to the top of the grounds and gently stir.

Wait 30s.

Fill to the top with near-boiling water. Screw on the cap and flip onto a mug.

Press slowly. The full press should take about 45s-1min. The medium-fine grind will create pressure that makes it easy to go slow.

Stop when the plunger touches the coffee grounds.

That should give you a solid concentrate to which you can then add water, milk, or flavorings if that's your jam.

R Mac
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First, your Hario is a fine grinder (no need to switch) but I recommend grinding in one pass per the manufacturer's instructions. (I bet two passes will get worse results since the particles won't fall through the grinder as designed.)

Second, try the AeroPress manufacturer's brewing instructions. They work well for me -- unlike all the other brewing techniques (inverted, extra hot water, etc.). It's like the AeroPress cold brew instructions except with hot water and 10 sec stirring:

  1. Put the filter and ground beans into the AeroPress.
  2. Add 1/4 cup hot water (175°F or 185°F, depending on the beans).
  3. Stir for 10 seconds.
  4. Press the water through (modest pressure).
  5. (Optional: Experiment with whether you prefer the results when pressing the air through into the mug. The air pushes out a "crema" that's I find is tasty when cold brewing but a tad bitter when hot brewing.)
  6. Add the remaining 3/4 cup of hot water to the mug. (This "bypass method" comes out MUCH tastier to me than pressing all or 1/2 of the water through.)

Third, James Hoffman has good tips on buying beans. E.g. find a local roaster, store, or coffee shop that treats coffee beans with freshness in mind and marks the bags with roast date. Buying single origin can be a good trick for finding quality beans since roasters and distributors don't bother to trace origins for lower quality beans.

Jerry101
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