183ºF brewing water wins Eastern Aeropress Championship

#1: Post by **TomC** » February 7th, 2015, 9:57 pm

I love stuff like this. It's a constant reminder to challenge the rules once you think you've mastered them. A lot of Aeropress techniques endorse lower brew temp methods, including Adler's own.

I think I might still have some green Zonedegido sealed away somewhere in the freezer....

February 7th, 2015, 11:37 pm

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Convention is there to be challenged.

#3: Post by **VeniaCoffee** » February 7th, 2015, 11:48 pm

We have played with coarse ground / low temp (190ish) extraction in the past after a discussion that got us curious. Didn't see if this Aeropress winner used a natural, but we found that naturals did better this way as the fruitiness from processing really came through. Body was lacking, however, and tartness was a challenge.

Sometimes on the cupping table, I might like a coffee for what later seems to be because of its uniqueness compared to the others. Sometimes I wonder if the same thing happens in these competitions? Regardless, fun to see convention get challenged.

February 8th, 2015, 12:04 am

Insanely updosed, underextracted floral coffee. Probably was hard to recognize as coffee at that point and probably more like some incredible tea or perfume.

February 8th, 2015, 10:28 am

That's the basic gist of the traditional Japanese "nel drip" method that James Freeman describes in "The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee." Freeman describes that cup as syrupy but not heavy with a more intense aftertaste than espresso.

#6: Post by **bmock** » February 8th, 2015, 12:00 pm

It does seem odd to me that in a comp like this there would not be one coffee used across the board. Just like the other poster said sometimes to me on a cupping table the one that is "different" jumps out at me for its uniqueness. It seems like to me it would be like judging a beer comp and tasting and amber next to an IPA???

On another note, I thought it was very cool that all the top finishers were "home brewers" .

#7: Post by **another_jim** » February 8th, 2015, 8:05 pm

TomC wrote:A lot of Aeropress techniques endorse lower brew temp methods ... Insanely updosed, underextracted floral coffee. Probably was hard to recognize as coffee at that point and probably more like some incredible tea or perfume.

Regular aeropress coffee tastes excessively extracted, that is, with so much caramel, buffering and body that it will wow people who want comfort food, but leave coffee lovers who want clear flavor unimpressed. Maybe coarse grind, low temperature, and other means of underextracting are just the ticket?

February 9th, 2015, 1:51 am

Could be. I'd be curious (but currently too lazy to research) if they constrain the competitors to brewing up to but not exceeding a certain extraction, like the Brewer's Cup? If that's not the case, than why not updose and under extract your butt off? All you'd want are some striking, yet also unique florals and top notes.

If not, then I feel sorry for the entrant who submits something that is anything less than perfume and syrup cordials. You're a bright flamingo in a crowd of flamingos.

#9: Post by **bmock** » February 13th, 2015, 4:54 pm

Here is a link to some of the details from the competition that I found interesting(hopefully this is allowed.) Also cool to see that the winner roasted his own on a hottop.

It's from Prima's site:

https://prima-coffee.com/blog/video-201 ... ship-32000

February 21st, 2015, 11:30 pm

Honestly, I love my aeropress and can consistently get a good cup every time sticking to one method or another, but it intimates me that there are so many perimeters to experiment with....