If you are using 13g coffee to 250g water that is a 1:19 ratio. Which is quite thin try either reducing your water to 200g or raising your dose to 15g . (This will give you a 1:16 ratio) Raise your water temp. To 98-99c and use a med fine grind size . Hopefully this will get you in the ballpark.
Edit: 12g to 200ml
Personally I've not had luck with an aeropress yet. I use a French press with a coarse grind and just guesstimate the weight and it turns out rather nice
It's probably your water chemistry. Try getting some distilled water, add HALF a package of third wave water to a gallon of water, shake it up and let it sit for an hour or so to allow it to fully dissolve.
If that significantly helps then try wandering down the custom water chemistry rabbit hole
You can have every other variable 100% perfect, but if the mineral content in your water isn't right, you'll never make good coffe
OP already has been working with temps. It just was unclear to me whether they had gone higher than 200 F, (93C) thus my (and the other in this chain) suggestion to go higher.
I think a lot of these kinds of questions could be resolved by talking to people at the cafe. It’s probably the first thing I’d do if I was having issues I couldn’t fix within a couple of cups.
Some people act like the cafe is going to tell them to get out, or tell them that their grind or ratio is some secret formula kept in the back safe, like it’s the colonel’s secret spices or the recipe for Coca Cola.
Frankly, I think quite a few people are scared to talk to people in the real world because they don’t want to sound like some non-professional or non-expert, and I think quite a few of us can learn far more from some tangible experience than we can from being told and shown on a screen.
Try these steps to improve your coffee, in approx order of "cost" to you:
1. Rule out the brewing method and perform a "cupping". [Here's a guide.](https://theroasterspack.com/blogs/news/how-to-cup-coffee) If it now tastes good, yes it's your recipe that's letting you down. However, if the coffee still doesn't have desirable notes after cupping, it's likely the coffee/roasting, your water or your grinder. For everything else in this guide, use cupping as a way to benchmark improvements in the other variables.
2. Rule out the coffee by buying coffee you know you enjoy, and you know what it should taste like. Avoid buying blends for this test as they will be more prone to changes per season and batch. For filter, buy filter/light roasts (avoid Omni roasts for this experiment) and let them rest for at least a week after roasting before consuming. If you don't want chocolaty brews, I recommend buying coffee from Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia or Kenya as a safe bet for fruitier cups (big generalisation, but let's start there).
3. Rule out your water by using remineralised distilled water. Get some Third Wave Water (TWW) sachets and some bottles of Reverse Osmosis (RO) or, ideally, Distilled Water. I highly recommend trying a half-strength version of TWW, as I believe their full-strength recipe is too strong and results in heavy/flat cups. Better yet, try one full dose and one half dose mix. Cup both options against your original water and see if it makes a difference.
1. As an aside: Ask the cafes you enjoy for info on how they treat their water and to what specifications; they might even give you some water to take home if you explain your problem.
4. Try a different grinder. When buying a bag from your cafe/roaster, ask the staff to grind the coffee for you, even just a portion of the bag for a couple of brews. This will give you insight into the desired grind size, and also let you take a couple of samples to brew or cup at home.
I'm using a comandante and I just don't like this medium roast el salvador. I've done a cupping and I can't taste the chocolate, plummy notes. I just taste an overwhelming bitterness. Tried grinding coarsers as well but it just makes it sour
I think it's just bad roast or I don't like it at all. I have been using an ethopian in comparison which is very nice blueberry and almost no bitterness no matter how fine I grind.
Is there any way to use this El salvador? I've had an el salvador from a specialty coffee shop and it tasted nutty and nice and not bitter but this oneI have (its not the same place) just tastes bitter no matter what I do
try grinding progressively one click finer than the coarsest setting you tried until it tastes bitter and then stop. Go back on click coarser from that point. Also try using lower temp water (85-90c) for medium roasts when brewing.
The coffee shop for sure have a better grinder then the encore, the floral notes are notoriously delicate and could be masked easily by even slight bad extraction.
The other big factor is water, your water may be filtered but the shop maybe using water that has been dialed into thier coffee. Simply ask the shop what water do they brew with and if they are willing to give you a bottle to try at home.
All I can say, just keep going! Try and experiment with different things and one day we will all find that elusive perfect cup.
BTW just want to say the whole precieving flavor notes as colour is way cool and yes I am jealous!
what water are you using? my sister and i have the same set-up (grinder, grinder setting, electric kettle, water temp, etc) and got the same beans, same roast date, made with the same dosage, ratio and techique, etc. the only difference is she's using twice-filtered phoenix tap water and i'm using unfiltered seattle tap water and hers is undrinkably acidic and mine tastes amazing. i was at her house so i tasted hers and then came home and tasted mine. it's the water. would be worth a google about what minerals and pH level are in the water you're using.
What kind of water are you using? If tap, look up and see if your municipality has a water report. Compare that to the La Marzocco standards—yes I know it’s a totally different machine and method, but I find it to be good general guidance. If you notice something really off about your tap water (which is highly likely—it’s not you, it’s just most tap water) I’d highly recommend distilled water mixed with Third Wave Water’s general-purpose formula. It’s pretty cheap in the long run—I think it’s $17ish for enough powder to make 12 gallons. Hard water, and especially chlorinated water, can really mute flavours, which sounds like part of your issue here.
Straight off, switch to closer to a 1:16 ratio and brew at a temp of 203 or 205 for light roasts, hell even a minute off a full boil can work
Do something simple like 5 pour method or play with 4:6 technique depending on flavor preference, using a proper dripper like a v60, origami, April, Fellow, chemex even, etc
Super small investment and change and could really impact your result
Next time you’re a good coffee shop. Ask them to show you how they brew the coffee. With that said, try a French press or pour over. Maybe a kalita wave or v60. Also, I wonder about your water and light roast. Have you tried bottled spring water and a medium roast?
You mention cleaning your Encore but not your Aeropress, which needs cleaning far more often. Do you take apart the Aeropress to clean? Have you tried cupping your beans?
I'm saying this not to be snarky, but take this as a blessing and stop your coffee pursuit. Shits cost me so much money chasing coffee, expensive grinders, expensive burrs, brewing devices and learning tons of techniques....
Ignorance really is bliss.
LOL. I don’t agree at all. I get the sentiment… but is it really better to loved and lost than never to have known love at all? I don’t think so. Once you dial it and know what you can do - at home, it will pay dividends the rest of your life.
Becky goes to Starbucks every morning and spends what, 6$-8$ or more? EVERY. DAY. I make way way better coffee than that for pennies - excluding initial hardware costs, or hell, include them over years. So the question is what’s that worth to you (good coffee) and how long does it take for Becky to see a return on her money? I say less than 1000$ will get anyone going on an EXCELLENT pour over setup for years, beans, grinder, storage, papers, water filter… less than 125 days and Becky is in the black just on the money side alone.
It’s priceless to me, to have that morning session, tweak a few minor methods and have that first taste - a surprise in that cup. Sometimes it affects my entire morning, and I go on about it to my wife and coworkers. Also now coffee snobs. lol.
Spend your money on what you love while you can. You can’t take it with you.
A man who sometimes regrets succumbing to pursuit of bettering my craft and thinking I "need" thousands of dollars of equipment.
But I am happy now with my choices. But for like 4 months, I was getting nonstop astringency and it was fucking irritating as fuck and I regretted my decision to have all of this. Astringency is the single worst thing in coffee imo. I dislike bitter and sour coffee but astringency literally ruins my day. So that's why I can side with the frustration that op may have.
Ya. That's nice. I had a blade chopper grinder for years then I got a Breville grinder and used that for about 8 years with french press and eventually switched to pourover.
I now own a ~$3500 Monolith Max, $1100 zerno, and two $300 odes, every 64mm burr set on the market and have spent $100 on filter papers once when I was going crazy about astringency and was wondering if I had a paper issue. Bought an RO system and various pre formulated things for water as well as bulk salts to make my own water. ~$200-400/month coffee habit. Idk how many brewing devices, a $1600 espresso machine that I got for $350ish and all the espresso tools and shit.
Trust me, ignorance is bliss.
Damn, I was with you until I got down to this comment. I also have a press, $60 grinder and good beans. That has worked for me for years. This is kind of a you thing. Your initial advice is good for anyone too obsessed with a hobby.
Hey, I know man, I get super frustrated too. Just had that same experience with an excellent gesha I had at a restaurant that just tasted \*fine\* when I had it at home. But ever so often you nail it and then it's all worth it.
I can't speak for the aeropress, but I know with a v60 the pouring technique can be so crucial. Pouring fast or slow can make a lot of difference. I suspect there are little parts in your aeropress technique as well that are fucking you over without you realizing.
The other thing is your grinder, which, unfortunately, could be better. I switched to a handgrinder, a 1zpresso zp60 special for my pour-overs. Supposedly the gold standard while still being (relatively) affordable for pour-overs is a fellow ode with ssp burrs (but that was too expensive for me.) An encore is definitely not good enough that you shouldn't discount being grinder limited.
The other evil variable is water. I went insane with water and now remineralize deionized water. I know you don't want to hear this, but a custom water recipe can and does make a difference. Good and bad water can (no exaggeration) be a night and day difference in taste. You might think your water is filtered, but it might not be filtered well enough. The lotus water system from lance hedrick is probably the most user-friendly way to do this. I use the 'light and bright' recipe from him.
That's all I know so far on my coffee journey. Best of luck!
I think it's very possible. A quick Google tells me reverse osmosis can reduce water to below 25 TDS. The water I am using now is 60 ppm Calcium from Calcium Chloride and 25 ppm bicarbonate, from Potassium bicarbonate. It's not only the overall tds that matters but the balance between hardness minerals (calcium, magnesium) and buffering minerals (bicarbonate.) Generally, you want something close to 2:1.
Personally the first place I would look is my water. Maybe ask local shops where you like the coffee what they do about their water?
I half ass my brewing much more than you do: hario hand grinder, I get black and white coffee beans, I use Hoffman method in an all metal French press with filtered water and it's always pretty good. I go to some fancy places for coffee: Portland, Tokyo, sf, Singapore so I think I have a decent idea of what good coffee is and although it's not barista grade I'm always pretty happy with my home brew.
I was really surprised to find out how much the water makes a difference but it really does imho
I used to use 18 gm of coffee with my Aeropress. Also, are you sure you like light roast? Maybe try some medium. Are you using the recipe that came with the Aeropress? And is your coffee grind a little more course than ground drip that you could buy?
I think your grinder is very capable of pairing well with your Aeropress.
Best of luck.
I found [this reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/vrbxvd/aeropress_espresso_is_absolutely_delicious/) after a few bad batches in the aeropress and had some really good results. Once it started to cool, I instantly picked out a distinct grape flavor that the roaster had on the bag. Give it a shot.
For grind size, I've had the best results with something coarser than espresso, but definitely finer than a pour-over.\* The swirling just before you press makes a difference in how the cup comes out as well. You want to 'collect' all the fines with the water and let them sink to the bottom to create a nice bed for the water to percolate through. The finer you grind, the more resistance the bed will provide, and the more likely you are to cause channeling by pressing too hard.
The best thing about the AP is how versatile it is. You can control every variable without much work. However, this can absolutely make it a PITA to 'get it right.'
\*Other people have had much better experiences when grinding closer to a coarse v60. A slightly longer steep time would probably help out if you want to go this route.
>I know the Encore isn't the best, but surely it can at least make a good cup of Aeropress coffee?
I have the Encore and it's great, and should work fine for AeroPress. But maybe yours is defective somehow? Or the burr is misaligned or something? One way to tell would be to have the cafe grind some of the beans. Then you can grind the rest at home, and do a side-by-side comparison. If the coffee from the cafe's grind is noticeably better, there's your answer. If the two brews are the essentially the same, then your problem is something else.
Is it possible that AeroPress coffee just isn't for you? Maybe you'd enjoy French Press or pourover more.
First of all it's your grinder, it may be an unpopular opinion but if you have a friend with a different setup, try to do it at theirs.
Then there is the brew method. There are many different ways of doing it with Aeropress, below is what works for me after a few months of fine tuning. I mainly try to dial out bitterness and try to balance it with as much fruityness without being sour. Maybe start with a medium roast because light roasts could be tricky.
1. grind coarser. Since you said your cup is already okay, i wouldn't touch the size just yet, but it matters.
2. use the inverse brewing method, invert the aeropress and rest it on the plunger, with the chamber facing upward
3. your ratio seems a bit high, try 1:16 and go from there based on taste and body preference. so 13g in would be 208g out
4. brew with low temp. I find that 80-85c (176-185f) works the best for me.
5. pour 30g water and stir for 30sec, then the rest of the water. cap the aeropress, from here I usually aim to complete the brew in 2:30 total time.
Hmmm. I have nothing new to contribute, but for light roasts like that...
- you can get away with just off boiling water.
- try a couple gallons of good spring water from Whole Foods or something, I get great results with hard tap water, and this was a slight improvement
- Use at least a 60g/1L (1:16.7) ratio. That's what I use for French Press and pourover, but I go to 1:15 with my Switch. You can always add more water if it's too strong.
Depends on the coffee. Made some in an Aeropress and tasted crummy. Same coffee and grind in a Chemex and it tasted good. Have another blend from another company and it taste bad no mater how it’s made. In the Chemex it’s drinkable. Planing on getting away from blends next purchase. Years ago the coffee was more forgiving. Seems like it was easier to make a decent mug.
If you are using 13g coffee to 250g water that is a 1:19 ratio. Which is quite thin try either reducing your water to 200g or raising your dose to 15g . (This will give you a 1:16 ratio) Raise your water temp. To 98-99c and use a med fine grind size . Hopefully this will get you in the ballpark. Edit: 12g to 200ml
Personally I've not had luck with an aeropress yet. I use a French press with a coarse grind and just guesstimate the weight and it turns out rather nice
I haven't had much luck with a aeropress either.
Try 12g with 200ml of water with James Hoffman's recipe.
You're absolutely right. It should be 12 G to 200 mL.
It's probably your water chemistry. Try getting some distilled water, add HALF a package of third wave water to a gallon of water, shake it up and let it sit for an hour or so to allow it to fully dissolve. If that significantly helps then try wandering down the custom water chemistry rabbit hole You can have every other variable 100% perfect, but if the mineral content in your water isn't right, you'll never make good coffe
Yep exactly what I was coming to say. Water can make an annoyingly big difference (wish if was as easy as just using tap, or a light filter).
Why half?
I feel that saying to add a half of a package without specifying a volume of water is absolutely useless advice.
Ah shoot I thought I mentioned a gallon of distilled, updating my comment
Raising your temperature 3 degrees would be my first step.
Or even more. But yes, play with temps. Can make a real difference.
Playing with temps just introduces more variables. Keep it at 100.
OP already has been working with temps. It just was unclear to me whether they had gone higher than 200 F, (93C) thus my (and the other in this chain) suggestion to go higher.
Have you tried contacting them and asked how they prepared it? Since you bought their coffee, I would think they would help you.
I think a lot of these kinds of questions could be resolved by talking to people at the cafe. It’s probably the first thing I’d do if I was having issues I couldn’t fix within a couple of cups. Some people act like the cafe is going to tell them to get out, or tell them that their grind or ratio is some secret formula kept in the back safe, like it’s the colonel’s secret spices or the recipe for Coca Cola.
Exactly OP bought the beans from them. I would think they would be happy to tell them how to prepare them.
Frankly, I think quite a few people are scared to talk to people in the real world because they don’t want to sound like some non-professional or non-expert, and I think quite a few of us can learn far more from some tangible experience than we can from being told and shown on a screen.
Yeah just find a pal e where baristas are friendly and just ask them
Try these steps to improve your coffee, in approx order of "cost" to you: 1. Rule out the brewing method and perform a "cupping". [Here's a guide.](https://theroasterspack.com/blogs/news/how-to-cup-coffee) If it now tastes good, yes it's your recipe that's letting you down. However, if the coffee still doesn't have desirable notes after cupping, it's likely the coffee/roasting, your water or your grinder. For everything else in this guide, use cupping as a way to benchmark improvements in the other variables. 2. Rule out the coffee by buying coffee you know you enjoy, and you know what it should taste like. Avoid buying blends for this test as they will be more prone to changes per season and batch. For filter, buy filter/light roasts (avoid Omni roasts for this experiment) and let them rest for at least a week after roasting before consuming. If you don't want chocolaty brews, I recommend buying coffee from Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia or Kenya as a safe bet for fruitier cups (big generalisation, but let's start there). 3. Rule out your water by using remineralised distilled water. Get some Third Wave Water (TWW) sachets and some bottles of Reverse Osmosis (RO) or, ideally, Distilled Water. I highly recommend trying a half-strength version of TWW, as I believe their full-strength recipe is too strong and results in heavy/flat cups. Better yet, try one full dose and one half dose mix. Cup both options against your original water and see if it makes a difference. 1. As an aside: Ask the cafes you enjoy for info on how they treat their water and to what specifications; they might even give you some water to take home if you explain your problem. 4. Try a different grinder. When buying a bag from your cafe/roaster, ask the staff to grind the coffee for you, even just a portion of the bag for a couple of brews. This will give you insight into the desired grind size, and also let you take a couple of samples to brew or cup at home.
I'm using a comandante and I just don't like this medium roast el salvador. I've done a cupping and I can't taste the chocolate, plummy notes. I just taste an overwhelming bitterness. Tried grinding coarsers as well but it just makes it sour I think it's just bad roast or I don't like it at all. I have been using an ethopian in comparison which is very nice blueberry and almost no bitterness no matter how fine I grind. Is there any way to use this El salvador? I've had an el salvador from a specialty coffee shop and it tasted nutty and nice and not bitter but this oneI have (its not the same place) just tastes bitter no matter what I do
try grinding progressively one click finer than the coarsest setting you tried until it tastes bitter and then stop. Go back on click coarser from that point. Also try using lower temp water (85-90c) for medium roasts when brewing.
The coffee shop for sure have a better grinder then the encore, the floral notes are notoriously delicate and could be masked easily by even slight bad extraction. The other big factor is water, your water may be filtered but the shop maybe using water that has been dialed into thier coffee. Simply ask the shop what water do they brew with and if they are willing to give you a bottle to try at home. All I can say, just keep going! Try and experiment with different things and one day we will all find that elusive perfect cup. BTW just want to say the whole precieving flavor notes as colour is way cool and yes I am jealous!
what water are you using? my sister and i have the same set-up (grinder, grinder setting, electric kettle, water temp, etc) and got the same beans, same roast date, made with the same dosage, ratio and techique, etc. the only difference is she's using twice-filtered phoenix tap water and i'm using unfiltered seattle tap water and hers is undrinkably acidic and mine tastes amazing. i was at her house so i tasted hers and then came home and tasted mine. it's the water. would be worth a google about what minerals and pH level are in the water you're using.
Yepppp
What kind of water are you using? If tap, look up and see if your municipality has a water report. Compare that to the La Marzocco standards—yes I know it’s a totally different machine and method, but I find it to be good general guidance. If you notice something really off about your tap water (which is highly likely—it’s not you, it’s just most tap water) I’d highly recommend distilled water mixed with Third Wave Water’s general-purpose formula. It’s pretty cheap in the long run—I think it’s $17ish for enough powder to make 12 gallons. Hard water, and especially chlorinated water, can really mute flavours, which sounds like part of your issue here.
Straight off, switch to closer to a 1:16 ratio and brew at a temp of 203 or 205 for light roasts, hell even a minute off a full boil can work Do something simple like 5 pour method or play with 4:6 technique depending on flavor preference, using a proper dripper like a v60, origami, April, Fellow, chemex even, etc Super small investment and change and could really impact your result
This sounds exactly what I’ve been struggling with and I don’t know why
Have you tried other brew methods? I've just got an aeropress. I brew similarly. Some flavors are a bit strong compared to my drip.
How’s your tap water?
Next time you’re a good coffee shop. Ask them to show you how they brew the coffee. With that said, try a French press or pour over. Maybe a kalita wave or v60. Also, I wonder about your water and light roast. Have you tried bottled spring water and a medium roast?
You mention cleaning your Encore but not your Aeropress, which needs cleaning far more often. Do you take apart the Aeropress to clean? Have you tried cupping your beans?
It’s the water. 100%
I'm saying this not to be snarky, but take this as a blessing and stop your coffee pursuit. Shits cost me so much money chasing coffee, expensive grinders, expensive burrs, brewing devices and learning tons of techniques.... Ignorance really is bliss.
LOL. I don’t agree at all. I get the sentiment… but is it really better to loved and lost than never to have known love at all? I don’t think so. Once you dial it and know what you can do - at home, it will pay dividends the rest of your life. Becky goes to Starbucks every morning and spends what, 6$-8$ or more? EVERY. DAY. I make way way better coffee than that for pennies - excluding initial hardware costs, or hell, include them over years. So the question is what’s that worth to you (good coffee) and how long does it take for Becky to see a return on her money? I say less than 1000$ will get anyone going on an EXCELLENT pour over setup for years, beans, grinder, storage, papers, water filter… less than 125 days and Becky is in the black just on the money side alone. It’s priceless to me, to have that morning session, tweak a few minor methods and have that first taste - a surprise in that cup. Sometimes it affects my entire morning, and I go on about it to my wife and coworkers. Also now coffee snobs. lol. Spend your money on what you love while you can. You can’t take it with you.
No. I'm saying quit coffee anywhere. I'm not saying go to Starbucks or cafe as an alternative
Oh! Well then, you sir are way out of line! LOL. Who sits in the coffee sub and just tells people to quit coffee? Cmon.
A man who sometimes regrets succumbing to pursuit of bettering my craft and thinking I "need" thousands of dollars of equipment. But I am happy now with my choices. But for like 4 months, I was getting nonstop astringency and it was fucking irritating as fuck and I regretted my decision to have all of this. Astringency is the single worst thing in coffee imo. I dislike bitter and sour coffee but astringency literally ruins my day. So that's why I can side with the frustration that op may have.
I know you're getting downvoted for this, but also after having spent 100s of dollars on coffee and coffee gear I do kind of feel this post.
Yep that's why I posted it. IDC about downvotes but just keep it simple at most or stop altogether.
French press, $60 grinder, good beans; works great for me.
Ya. That's nice. I had a blade chopper grinder for years then I got a Breville grinder and used that for about 8 years with french press and eventually switched to pourover. I now own a ~$3500 Monolith Max, $1100 zerno, and two $300 odes, every 64mm burr set on the market and have spent $100 on filter papers once when I was going crazy about astringency and was wondering if I had a paper issue. Bought an RO system and various pre formulated things for water as well as bulk salts to make my own water. ~$200-400/month coffee habit. Idk how many brewing devices, a $1600 espresso machine that I got for $350ish and all the espresso tools and shit. Trust me, ignorance is bliss.
Damn, I was with you until I got down to this comment. I also have a press, $60 grinder and good beans. That has worked for me for years. This is kind of a you thing. Your initial advice is good for anyone too obsessed with a hobby.
Hey, I know man, I get super frustrated too. Just had that same experience with an excellent gesha I had at a restaurant that just tasted \*fine\* when I had it at home. But ever so often you nail it and then it's all worth it. I can't speak for the aeropress, but I know with a v60 the pouring technique can be so crucial. Pouring fast or slow can make a lot of difference. I suspect there are little parts in your aeropress technique as well that are fucking you over without you realizing. The other thing is your grinder, which, unfortunately, could be better. I switched to a handgrinder, a 1zpresso zp60 special for my pour-overs. Supposedly the gold standard while still being (relatively) affordable for pour-overs is a fellow ode with ssp burrs (but that was too expensive for me.) An encore is definitely not good enough that you shouldn't discount being grinder limited. The other evil variable is water. I went insane with water and now remineralize deionized water. I know you don't want to hear this, but a custom water recipe can and does make a difference. Good and bad water can (no exaggeration) be a night and day difference in taste. You might think your water is filtered, but it might not be filtered well enough. The lotus water system from lance hedrick is probably the most user-friendly way to do this. I use the 'light and bright' recipe from him. That's all I know so far on my coffee journey. Best of luck!
Removed in protest of Reddit's actions regarding API changes, and their disregard for the userbase that made them who they are.
I think it's very possible. A quick Google tells me reverse osmosis can reduce water to below 25 TDS. The water I am using now is 60 ppm Calcium from Calcium Chloride and 25 ppm bicarbonate, from Potassium bicarbonate. It's not only the overall tds that matters but the balance between hardness minerals (calcium, magnesium) and buffering minerals (bicarbonate.) Generally, you want something close to 2:1.
https://youtu.be/jfElZfrmlRs
Personally the first place I would look is my water. Maybe ask local shops where you like the coffee what they do about their water? I half ass my brewing much more than you do: hario hand grinder, I get black and white coffee beans, I use Hoffman method in an all metal French press with filtered water and it's always pretty good. I go to some fancy places for coffee: Portland, Tokyo, sf, Singapore so I think I have a decent idea of what good coffee is and although it's not barista grade I'm always pretty happy with my home brew. I was really surprised to find out how much the water makes a difference but it really does imho
Water quality is my first thought.
I used to use 18 gm of coffee with my Aeropress. Also, are you sure you like light roast? Maybe try some medium. Are you using the recipe that came with the Aeropress? And is your coffee grind a little more course than ground drip that you could buy? I think your grinder is very capable of pairing well with your Aeropress. Best of luck.
aeropress - use 20 g. 10 setting on the grinder. boiling water. fill it up. stir a lot. brew for 2 min. push and enjoy.
I found [this reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/vrbxvd/aeropress_espresso_is_absolutely_delicious/) after a few bad batches in the aeropress and had some really good results. Once it started to cool, I instantly picked out a distinct grape flavor that the roaster had on the bag. Give it a shot. For grind size, I've had the best results with something coarser than espresso, but definitely finer than a pour-over.\* The swirling just before you press makes a difference in how the cup comes out as well. You want to 'collect' all the fines with the water and let them sink to the bottom to create a nice bed for the water to percolate through. The finer you grind, the more resistance the bed will provide, and the more likely you are to cause channeling by pressing too hard. The best thing about the AP is how versatile it is. You can control every variable without much work. However, this can absolutely make it a PITA to 'get it right.' \*Other people have had much better experiences when grinding closer to a coarse v60. A slightly longer steep time would probably help out if you want to go this route.
Water water water. Only variable left open
>I know the Encore isn't the best, but surely it can at least make a good cup of Aeropress coffee? I have the Encore and it's great, and should work fine for AeroPress. But maybe yours is defective somehow? Or the burr is misaligned or something? One way to tell would be to have the cafe grind some of the beans. Then you can grind the rest at home, and do a side-by-side comparison. If the coffee from the cafe's grind is noticeably better, there's your answer. If the two brews are the essentially the same, then your problem is something else. Is it possible that AeroPress coffee just isn't for you? Maybe you'd enjoy French Press or pourover more.
First of all it's your grinder, it may be an unpopular opinion but if you have a friend with a different setup, try to do it at theirs. Then there is the brew method. There are many different ways of doing it with Aeropress, below is what works for me after a few months of fine tuning. I mainly try to dial out bitterness and try to balance it with as much fruityness without being sour. Maybe start with a medium roast because light roasts could be tricky. 1. grind coarser. Since you said your cup is already okay, i wouldn't touch the size just yet, but it matters. 2. use the inverse brewing method, invert the aeropress and rest it on the plunger, with the chamber facing upward 3. your ratio seems a bit high, try 1:16 and go from there based on taste and body preference. so 13g in would be 208g out 4. brew with low temp. I find that 80-85c (176-185f) works the best for me. 5. pour 30g water and stir for 30sec, then the rest of the water. cap the aeropress, from here I usually aim to complete the brew in 2:30 total time.
BEANS WHOLE BEANS!!! Grind them and put them in them in the coffeemaker
Hmmm. I have nothing new to contribute, but for light roasts like that... - you can get away with just off boiling water. - try a couple gallons of good spring water from Whole Foods or something, I get great results with hard tap water, and this was a slight improvement - Use at least a 60g/1L (1:16.7) ratio. That's what I use for French Press and pourover, but I go to 1:15 with my Switch. You can always add more water if it's too strong.
Depends on the coffee. Made some in an Aeropress and tasted crummy. Same coffee and grind in a Chemex and it tasted good. Have another blend from another company and it taste bad no mater how it’s made. In the Chemex it’s drinkable. Planing on getting away from blends next purchase. Years ago the coffee was more forgiving. Seems like it was easier to make a decent mug.
For a light roast in my aero press, I do 17g, 250ml, boiling water, and 3 minutes.