Ive been experimenting with making cold drip with my Aeropress since seeing a tweet regarding the same by AndreasM.
Im only up to my second batch but the idea seems to work easily and it seems a cheap way to try it out without having to go to the expense of a ready made system.
Heres what Ive done so far with input from various people:
*Use 2 filter papers instead of one in the filter holder.
*Grind 50g (courser than espresso) and put into Aeropress.
*Use a lighter roast (filter not espresso) (Im still experimenting with my espresso beans - will buy something lighter soon).
*Put another filter paper on top of the ground coffee (folding the paper into eighths then trim about 2mm - then crease in alternate directions to help it fit flat into the chamber - the top filter paper helps spread the water across the top of the coffee - without it I got a neat little dent in the middle of the coffee and was worried it wasnt going to extract evenly).
*Use 500ml of cold water (the bottle in the picture is 600ml - its what I had handy).
*You need a small hole in the bottom of the bottle to let in air (I tried without the hole and it will soon stop dripping).
*I modified my first attempt by installing a garden dripper into the lid (see picture (excuse phone quality pic) - purchased from Bunnings).
I got 345ml out of last nights batch.
I thought I got a little more from the first one but didnt measure it exactly.
The grounds will hold at least 100ml of the water it seems.
I thought it would be good to keep the water cold as it dripped so I moved a shelf down in my beer fridge for some extra height and once Id put everything together and adjusted the flow rate, I sat the whole thing in the fridge to do its thing.
The dripper is a bit fiddly to adjust as its meant to run off hose pressure, but with a little fiddling you can set it between notches and get about a 1 to 1.5 sec drip rate.
My next change will be to the hole in the bottle to see if a larger hole will help make the adjustment at the dripper end less finicky.
The picture shows the bottle sitting in the Aeropress and a closeup of the threaded dripper. You can see the top filter paper sitting on the coffee.

Im only up to my second batch but the idea seems to work easily and it seems a cheap way to try it out without having to go to the expense of a ready made system.
Heres what Ive done so far with input from various people:
*Use 2 filter papers instead of one in the filter holder.
*Grind 50g (courser than espresso) and put into Aeropress.
*Use a lighter roast (filter not espresso) (Im still experimenting with my espresso beans - will buy something lighter soon).
*Put another filter paper on top of the ground coffee (folding the paper into eighths then trim about 2mm - then crease in alternate directions to help it fit flat into the chamber - the top filter paper helps spread the water across the top of the coffee - without it I got a neat little dent in the middle of the coffee and was worried it wasnt going to extract evenly).
*Use 500ml of cold water (the bottle in the picture is 600ml - its what I had handy).
*You need a small hole in the bottom of the bottle to let in air (I tried without the hole and it will soon stop dripping).
*I modified my first attempt by installing a garden dripper into the lid (see picture (excuse phone quality pic) - purchased from Bunnings).
I got 345ml out of last nights batch.
I thought I got a little more from the first one but didnt measure it exactly.
The grounds will hold at least 100ml of the water it seems.
I thought it would be good to keep the water cold as it dripped so I moved a shelf down in my beer fridge for some extra height and once Id put everything together and adjusted the flow rate, I sat the whole thing in the fridge to do its thing.
The dripper is a bit fiddly to adjust as its meant to run off hose pressure, but with a little fiddling you can set it between notches and get about a 1 to 1.5 sec drip rate.
My next change will be to the hole in the bottle to see if a larger hole will help make the adjustment at the dripper end less finicky.
The picture shows the bottle sitting in the Aeropress and a closeup of the threaded dripper. You can see the top filter paper sitting on the coffee.


Comment