What is the Aeropress inverted method?

The inverted Aeropress method is a way of brewing coffee with the Aeropress that eliminates the ability for any coffee to pass through the filter until your desired plunge time.

You might have noticed when brewing with a regular Aeropress recipe, that a small amount of the coffee can drip through the filter in those first 30 seconds or so while you are adding the water and stirring, and before you can get the plunger in place.

By using the Aeropress in an upside down mode, all of the water remains in the brewing chamber until you decide to flip and plunge.

How do you use the inverted method?

The Aeropress inverted method is easy enough to set up.

Just insert the plunger an inch or so into the chamber, then turn the whole thing upside down and stand it on the plunger.

Very important: Later on, you're going to be flipping this back the right way up in order to plunge it. So keep that in mind, and make sure you insert the plunger far enough into the chamber that it wont pop out and spill boiling coffee everywhere when you go to flip it.

Now that you're set up, the next step is to add the ground coffee and water (scroll down for our exact inverted Aeropress recipe), and then screw on the cap with the paper filter in place.

When you're ready to plunge, hold a cup upside down on top of the Aeropress.

With one hand on the cup and the other on the Aeropress, flip the whole setup the right way up, keeping the cup firmly on the bottom of the Aeropress the whole time.

2 tips here:

1. Hold the Aeropress at the point where the join between the plunger and the chamber. You should be able to hold both parts securely with one hand.
2. When you go to grab the Aeropress with your bottom hand, start with your hand upside down, with your thumb closest to the bench. This way, you're flipping, it's a more natural and smoother motion, which should help to reduce your chances of a messy slip and spill.

Now you're ready to plunge, and enjoy a great cup of coffee.

Inverted method Vs regular Aeropress method? Which is best?

Honestly, so much in coffee just comes down to personal preference.

If you brewed the exact same recipe as a regular and then again as an inverted, chances are you're probably not going to be able to notice a difference.

The amount of coffee that's dripping through before you get the plunger in is very minimal, as a percentage of the total brew.

But give it a try - brew 2 and taste them side by side, and see what you think.

Maybe you do notice a difference one way or another.

Experiments like this are half of what makes the Aeropress such a fun brewer to play around with.

Where the bigger differences between the regular and the inverted methods come in, is in the recipe you use for it, rather than the method itself.

If you do notice a difference in the two methods, here's how that's most likely to show up:

How to make a great Aeropress coffee with the inverted method - a recipe

There are thousands (literally) of great Aeropress brew recipes out there to play with.

We've also detailed our own regular Aeropress recipe here too.

For the inverted method, we're going to pretty much follow our regular recipe, but with a couple of small tweaks.

Here's the quick "at a glance" version:

Brew time: ~2:00 (flip at 1:30, 30s press)

Ratio: 1:18 - We're gunning for a high extraction here with this recipe, so a bigger ratio will help us pull more out of the coffee.

Grind size: Fine. See photos in regular Aeropress recipe link above.

Steps:

1. Set up your brewer by inserting the plunger into the chamber. Make sure it's far enough inserted that it wont pop out when you flip.
2. Add 14g of coffee, ground fine.
3. Start timer. Pour 250g water.
4. Stir back and forth, North-South x2, then East-West x2.
5. Add cap with paper filter. Pre rinse the filter.
6. At 1:30, flip.
7. Slowly plunge, stopping when you hear the hiss. Total brew time should be around 2:00-2:15.
8. Enjoy!