While You Were Busy Grilling, A World Aeropress Champion Was Crowned In Australia
As we've mentioned in the past, Australia has one of the most refined coffee cultures in the world — from the bean roasting all the way to the cafes. This is why it is no surprise that Melbourne hosted the World Aeropress Championships on May 24. Like Chemex, the Aeropress is a highly specific coffee brewing device that was invented in 2005 by Alan Adler, also known as the man behind the perpetual flying disc called the Aerobie.
With risk of oversimplifying Adler's genius, the Aeropress steeps coffee for around 20 seconds to a minute before "plunging" it through a small filter using a device resembling a hypodermic needle. The method is not unlike the French press, but because of the filtration, much of the solids are removed for a cleaner cup. Aeropress has become popular with coffee-serious travelers (it's small and easy to pack), as well as baristas around the world, particularly in Scandinavia. In Copenhagen, I found Aeropress being used at the world-famous Coffee Collective stall at the Torvehallerne Market.
As for the competition, out of the 18 participants, three made it to the podium. Jeff Verellen from Caffenation in Antwerp, Belgium defended his title while Wille Yli-Luoma, a Finnish barista now working in Portland, Oregon at Heart Roasters, took second place. Third pace went to Tibor Varady from Espresso Embassy in Budapest. Here are the winning recipes (via worldaeropresschampionship.com).
Jeff Verellen's winning recipe:
17 grams coffee ground 5.75 on the Uber grinder, little courser than paper filter.
Rinsed normal filter, Aeropress in regular position.
50 grams of water at 83c for the bloom.
Bloom for 40 seconds. Nicely wet all grounds and lightly agitate holding the Aeropress and shaking it a bit around.
Very slowly add 215 grams of water at 79c for about 30 seconds.
Press very gently for about 30 seconds.
Leave about 50 grams slurry in the press and discard.
Put the rest of the brew in the gob (garbage).
Wille Yli-Luoma's 2nd place recipe:
Inverted
17 grams of coffee
240 water right of boil
2 min steep with 3 stirs.
Tibor Varaday's 3rd place recipe :
Place 12g quite coarsely ground coffee into Aeropress (set grind to taste), pre-infuse with about 50g of 90 degrees Celsius water, stir vigorously (5 times), add remaining water to a total of 200 grams, place cap on without stirring, press out air while still in inverted position, until drops appear on top,
turn Aeropress into a non-inverted position onto a pitcher, but do not press yet. After two minutes of brew time have past, press gently using body weight, as the Aeropress allows.