All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn More >
In this coffee hack, I will show you how to make cold brew coffee using your Aerobie AeroPress. This is a great little hack if you don’t want to fork out the cash on one of those expensive cold drip coffee brewers, such as the Yama Glass Cold Drip Maker.
This is an easy and cheap way to get a decent cold drip coffee at home using only a few essential household items and, of course, your trusty AeroPress.
AeroPress iced coffee or any homemade iced coffee, for that matter, is one of my favorite ways during the hot summer months to get my much-needed caffeine fix.
Sure, you can brew up some cold brew coffee in a French Press and stick it in the fridge for 12 or so hours, but to me, it’s not the same. There is a subtle difference in taste between cold brew vs. cold drip coffee using an AeroPress or other cold drip brewers. Cold drip isn’t as “earthy” or “heavy” as cold brew coffee can often be.
But before I get ahead of myself, if you haven’t used or have no idea what an AeroPress is, here is a brief explanation.
What is an AeroPress?
An Aerobie AeroPress (Not to be confused with the aging rock band Aerosmith) is a funky-looking device resembling a big syringe used to brew coffee. Water is forced through the brewing device, and coffee is pressed or pushed through a metal or paper filter using pressure in very much the same way as an espresso machine produces a shot.
The resulting coffee is an espresso type of coffee that can be consumed “as-is” or watered down to your liking.
However, less of the talk about what an AeroPress is and more on using this brewing device to make a cold drip AeroPress iced coffee.
Cold Drip AeroPress Instructions
Making cold brew drip coffee with an AeroPress is pretty straightforward. Here are the essential items you’ll need.
- Aerobie AeroPress.
- AeroPress filters.
- 17g or 2 ½ Tablespoons Ground coffee (somewhere between a fine and medium grind).
- Cold water.
- A handful of ice.
- Empty 500ml water bottle.
- A sewing needle.
- Scissors.
Step One:
Take your empty water bottle and poke a small hole in the cap.
Step Two:
Cut the bottom off your water bottle.
Step Three:
Place your AeroPress on top of your glass as you would normally when making a regular coffee, putting a filter inside the bottom screw cap but with the plunger removed from the press.
Step Four:
Add one scoop (17g or 2 ½ Tablespoons) of ground coffee using the provided scoop that comes with your AeroPress.
Step Five:
Place another filter to the top of the ground coffee you have just added inside the AeroPress tube. This helps to give a more even saturation of the coffee grounds.
Now place the plastic funnel that came with the AeroPress onto the tube at the top; this will give your upturned water bottle much more stability.
Step Six:
Fill your water bottle up with cold water and place it into the plastic funnel, cap side down, making sure that there is a slow drip (about one per second) before doing so.
Depending on the size of your hole and the grind size of your coffee, you should start to see water dripping through slowly. If the water is dripping too fast, your hole is too big, or your coffee is ground too coarse or not compacted down enough.
Step Seven:
Sit back and admire your MacGyver handy work and watch the coffee start to drip through your AeroPress filter.
Step Eight:
Once all of the water has slowly dripped through (after 1 or 2 hours or more), drink straight over ice or add a little milk or cream to taste.
See, there is more than one way to use your AeroPress. Following my above steps, you should have no problem making cold drip AeroPress coffee.
