Why We Love the AeroPress (And You Will Too)

The Brewer That Breaks All the Rules

If you've ever watched us make an AeroPress at the bar and thought that looks chaotic — you're not entirely wrong. Someone invented it to make coffee on a camping trip. A frisbee engineer, no less. And yet, here we are, using it to brew our Ethiopian Yirgacheffe in a way that makes people stop mid-sip and ask what just happened.

That's the AeroPress. Humble, weird, and genuinely brilliant.

What Makes It Different

Unlike the V60 or Chemex — which rely on gravity pulling water through the coffee bed at its own pace — the AeroPress uses gentle air pressure to push the brew through a filter. That pressure shortens contact time dramatically and gives you real control over extraction.

The result? A coffee that's thick, clean, and low in acidity compared to most filter methods. The body sits somewhere between espresso and a classic pour-over. Not quite either, entirely its own thing.

Because the brew time is so short (usually 1 to 2 minutes total), you're working fast — which means the coffee's more delicate, volatile aromatics don't have time to fade. That matters a lot with our Colombian beans from Huila, where the floral and stone fruit notes are right at the surface. The AeroPress catches them before they disappear.

Inverted or Standard?

There are two main ways to use an AeroPress — standard position (filter cap down, sitting on your cup) and inverted position (flipped upside down, so water doesn't drain until you're ready to press).

We usually brew inverted at Yugen. It gives us more control over steeping time and stops any early drip-through that can muddy the flavour. For something like our Dominican Republic bean — which carries deep chocolate and walnut tones that need a moment to open up — that extra contact time makes a real difference.

Our Go-To Recipe

Here's roughly what we do for a single cup:

• Coffee: 15g, ground medium-fine (think table salt)
• Water: 200ml at 88–92°C — slightly cooler than V60, which softens any bitterness
• Steep: 1 minute, with a gentle stir at 30 seconds
• Press: slow and steady over 30 seconds

With our Guatemalan Huehuetenango, we push the grind a little coarser and drop the water temperature to around 88°C. The terraced highlands there produce a bean with a sweet, caramel backbone that gets harsh if you push too hard. Cooler water, slower press — and it rewards you.

The Best Brewer for Experimentation

One of the reasons we keep the AeroPress on our menu isn't just the flavour — it's the conversation it starts. Because the variables are so adjustable (grind size, temperature, steep time, pressure), every bean behaves a little differently. It's the brewer that teaches you the most about coffee, fastest.

Our Ethiopian beans, roasted here on the island by Blend Coffee Roasters, almost always surprise people on AeroPress. The bright berry and jasmine notes come forward in a way that feels almost juicy — nothing like the Ethiopia you might expect from an espresso.

If you haven't tried it yet, ask us next time you're in. We'll walk you through it.

Come find us in Costa Adeje — we're always happy to brew slowly and explain every step.