I came up with a ratio that works for me, does any one have anything better?

I know I'll never achieve true espresso, but a moka pot like drink without the burnt flavor would be my ultimate goal

Currently I am using 16 grams of finely ground coffee, 45 grams of water, to achieve 32 grams of near espresso drink.

Any tips to fine tune would be greatly appreciated

Ilove this recipe, https://aeroprecipe.com/recipes/2018-wac-2nd-place

It is from Xiaobo Zhang, 2nd place in the 2018 WAC.

Add 30g of coffee into chamber.
Add 100g of water in 15 sec.
Stir for 15 sec.
Add 70g of water.
Add 1g of very finely ground coffee (like espresso).
Attach filter cap, flip the AeroPress and press for 45 sec.
Top up brew with 50g of water.
Enjoy.

It's hard to press, but almost espresso like.

Seems like a lot of water for a "near espresso" recipe

BuzzedLightyear wrote:Seems like a lot of water for a "near espresso" recipe

True, but at 2.5-3.0% TDS it would be in the range of what a moka pot typically produces.


If you assume an extraction of 20%, your 16g of coffee means you'd produce 3.2g of dissolved solids. With 45g of water (plus the 3.2g of dissolved solids) you'd get 48g of liquid coffee with a strength of 6.6% TDS. But since you only get 32g of coffee in the cup the actual yield to the cup is only about 13% instead of 20%. You're essentially throwing out 1/3 of the coffee you've brewed along with the grounds. That's a downside of brewing a concentrate with an immersion brewer.

My own method for an espresso-like drink didn't use the Aeropress. Instead, for about five years I used a Bialetti Brikka. It's a modified moka pot that in my experience never produced the burnt flavor associated with moka pots. I got coffee of similar strength (5-7%) with plenty of undissolved solids like espresso has (but paper filtered Aeropress lacks).

Consider Cafflano Kompresso. At about 2x the price of Aeropress you can actually make a drink bordering proper espresso
With Aeropress you can get just a strong coffee

I think the Prismo recipe is pretty good: https://fellowproducts.com/blogs/brew-g ... -best-shot

It's fauxpresso, but in a milk drink it's good enough. Also easy to brew for several persons at once if you want. I stir for the whole minute, both to improve extraction yield (you might not reach 18% but close enough) and to make sure that there are no clumps. You don't have to have a Prismo attachment but it's neater and easier if you do (so you don't have to invert the aeropress)

BuzzedLightyear wrote:, but a moka pot like drink without the burnt flavor would be my ultimate goal

A little off topic but it's worth checking the Moka Pot threads as: If you start with boiling water in the Moka and then lower the heat when the Moka Pot is starting to emit coffee and pull it off the flame before it starts to gurgle you can avoid the burnt taste. After I tried that I put the Aeropress in the cabinet, and the small Moka (3 cup) became my traveling setup. BTW the 3 cup (really serves one!) is way different than the large Mokas.

vit wrote:Consider Cafflano Kompresso. At about 2x the price of Aeropress you can actually make a drink bordering proper espresso
With Aeropress you can get just a strong coffee

Looks cool, if not particularly durable, and can probably make an actual espresso. But can you still buy them? I don't see them for sale, at least not for ~2x $30.

Quite frankly with a medium to light roast coffee with a moka pot I've never had a burnt cup of coffee. Dial in the grind to a bit coarser than espresso and do not over fill it, stop at half way through the brew as suggested above and let the rest come through slowly.

With dark roast you might have to do some extra tricks but I have full stainless steel moka pots for that which seem to brew at lower temperatures for some reason. Wish I had a data logger with TC probes..

Some specialty roasters and baristas here in Italy brew withe the moka pot using boiling or at least 80C water to start with, stop the brew as above, and also add 1-3 ice cubes in the receiver for bypass. Not sure if all that is necessary and what the effect is after all but from my testing it sure ain't needed for light roasts, perhaps makes for more sour drink and thus maybe slightly under extracted.

Anyway my latest brew on a moka was 150g of water and 19g of very dense light roast ethiopian coffee. Three cup bialetti with the E&B Labs IMS screen and silicone gasket. Came out like a dense juicy pour over. Really good indeed.

I don't have an AeroPress (yet) but from what I've had in cafes it's close but slightly muddier in texture.

jgood wrote:After I tried that I put the Aeropress in the cabinet, and the small Moka (3 cup) became my traveling setup. BTW the 3 cup (really serves one!) is way different than the large Mokas.

There is some reason, physical one, for that. Couldn't say what but I've heard it before and my personal experience is that 2 or 3 cup moka pots are the best. Four cup is OK but above that it gets quite bad.

In Italy though the 1 cup moka pot is in reality for two people, 2 cup for three, 3 cup for 4 etc