Coffee Codex - AeroPress Coffee

Introduction

Usually for these blog posts I’m at a coffee shop learning about something related to computer science, but today I’m doing an experiment with my own coffee.

For the last two years, I’ve had a manual coffee grinder (Timemore C2), but I got kind of tired of hand grinding every morning, so I decided to purchase a DF54, which has very good reviews at its price point.

The problem is that I don’t know what grind size to use, so I’m going to do some experimentation today. I’ll try three grind sizes: 45, 35, and 25. Note that on my DF54, the “true zero” is at -2. That means that the point where the burrs touch is two ticks past the listed 0, meaning someone else’s 45 is not my 45.

Coffee

The coffee I’m using is a Black & White Roasters Lasso y Vergara blend which is what I got in the mail this month.

It’s a light roast with hints of sweet citrus, red cherry, and milk chocolate.

Recipe

For my AeroPress recipe, I’m keeping it simple since I’m making three coffees:

• 11g coffee, ground at the size I’m testing
• 180g water at 200 degrees F
• Prismo metal filter with a paper filter spritzed with water
• Pour into AeroPress (not inverted)
• Stir 5 times
• Insert plunger and steep for 1:15
• Plunge

45 Setting

I’m starting out at 45, which is a coarse grind size.

This was very easy to plunge, with basically no resistance. I didn’t really taste the chocolate, and it tasted pretty acidic. However, I wouldn’t say it tasted bad. I would drink it again, but it was not amazing.

35 Setting

Now on to 35. I forgot to put the dosing cup in the grinder 🤦‍♂️.

After grinding again:

This cup definitely tastes richer and less acidic. It was still pretty easy to plunge despite a little resistance. I started to taste the fruit flavors, but still no chocolate.

25 Setting

Finally, let’s try 25, which is the finest grind of these three.

There was quite a bit more resistance in the plunge and much more fruitiness. Still no chocolate, but I did really like the taste of this cup.

With milk (and ice)

However, I typically don’t drink the coffee black. I almost always add milk and ice, so let’s try doing that.

Black:

With milk:

With milk and ice:

I find that I’m still able to taste the coffee with milk and ice, but I prefer the temperature and smoothness of adding milk and ice.

Preference

With the coffee black, I think all three cups are very drinkable. Overall, I preferred 25 since I was able to taste more of the flavors.

But with milk and ice, things changed a bit. 45 was a no; I found that it was way too diluted, and I couldn’t taste the flavors of the coffee. 35 and 25 were very close, but I slightly preferred 35, as it felt smoother with the milk.