Top 3 World AeroPress Championship Recipes

One of the greatest things about coffee is how universal it is. You can be making yourself a cup of AeroPress and there are people having the exact same experience in almost every country, all over the world. The coffee community is probably one of the friendliest communities out there, and it’s no wonder; We’re all united by coffee.

Events like the World AeroPress Championship (aka WAC) serve to celebrate this union, but more importantly, it is a place where you share your own knowledge and skill in order to enrich the community. And to show off, of course.

In this article, we’ve chosen three of the most popular and delicious recipes from the last few WACs, taking special care in selecting the most delicious ones.

#1 - Jeff Verellen (WAC 2014, 3rd place. Belgium)

Jeff is no stranger to the AeroPress. In fact, he’s two-time world champion, having come in first in 2011 and 2013. No easy feat. Having entered relatively simple recipes before, this time he chose a more complex and much more fun recipe. It might not be a winner like the other two, but we love it.

What you’ll need:

• 17 grams of coarse grind coffee. He further specified he used a single-origin Kenyan coffee, but we do not know what roast.
• 270 grams of not just any water, but soft mineral water. 80°C (176°F) (more details on soft mineral water at the end of the recipe)
• White paper filter, rinsed with hot water

How to make:

1. Place the paper filter in the filter holder, wet it with hot water, let it expand and refit it. Screw it very tightly into a clean preferably pre-heated AeroPress.
2. Measure out 17 grams coarse grind coffee.
3. Place the AeroPress upright on the cup of your choice.
4. Measure 270 grams of soft mineral water and heat it to 80°C (176°F).
5. Splash a bit of the water on the filter and directly after throw in the freshly ground coffee.
6. Pour water very slowly in a circular motion. This should take about 40 grams of water.
7. After the coffee has absorbed the water -30 seconds or so- start very slowly pouring the rest of the water, try to re-wet the coffee fully again, see that the grounds do not separate from the water.
8. Let it steep for one minute. Don’t mind the dripping. Push plunger 1/4th through.
9. Press about 2/4th of the rest of the water trough.
10. Remove the press from your cup and throw away the rest of the water.

Notes on this recipe:

Soft mineral water basically means really good filtered water. This greatly improves the taste of our coffee. Tap water sometimes comes loaded in minerals that can make our coffee taste funny; acidic, sour, etc. In contrast, low tier filtered water has absolutely no minerals and ends up tasting “plain”, a quality that ends up transferring to coffee made with said water. Using high quality water will no doubt boost the taste of your coffee, but it’s definitely not vital to the recipe.

Pre-heating the AeroPress prevents the water from losing temperature, which is crucial for perfect (or near-perfect extraction).

#2 - Paulina Miczka (WAC 2017, 1st place. England)

Brewing method: Inverted

What you’ll need:

• 35 grams of coarse grind coffee
• 370 grams water at 84°C (183°F)
• A timer

How to make:

1. Since we’re using the inverted method, insert the plunger and place the AeroPress upside down.
2. Put 35g of coffee into your AeroPress.
3. Start the timer.
4. From 0:00 to 0:15, add 150g of water.
5. From 0:15 to 0:35, stir and keep stirring.
6. At 0:35, put the filter cap (with pre-wet filter) in place.
7. At 1:05, flip the AeroPress and start pressing.
8. At 1:35, stop pressing. You should have a very concentrated brew.
9. Add 160g – 200g of hot water and enjoy!

#3 - Wendelien van Bunnik-Verver (WAC 2019, 1st place. The Netherlands)

A first-time competitor and also the winner of the last WAC, this barista offers a highly refined recipe that yields incredibly satisfying results.

What you’ll need:

• 30 grams coffee, coarsely ground
• 100 grams Spa Blauw water 92°C(197°F) (aka mineral water)
• Aesir filters

How to make:

1. Since we’re using the inverted method, insert the plunger and place the AeroPress upside down.
2. Pour 100g of water on the coffee in 10 seconds.
3. Stir vigorously for 20 times in 10 seconds.
4. Put the filter cap with a rinsed Aesir filter on the brewer and gently press out excess air.
5. At 40 seconds, flip the AeroPress and press out all coffee. You should end up with roughly 60g of extracted coffee.
6. Add 100g of water to the extracted coffee.
7. Taste and add more water until the desired strength.
8. Cool the brew down to roughly 60°C (140°F) by stirring and decanting.

Notes on this recipe:

The use of Spa Blauw water, as well as the Aesir, is in fact needed to make this recipe work. But don’t worry! You can substitute Spa Blauw with high quality water of a hardness equal to 30PPM. You can purchase Aesir filters online.

Enjoy -and more importantly- have fun!