The Ultimate AeroPress Technique (Episode #3)
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN coffee fans cite it as a forgiving, repeatable recipe that gives good results.
What it is
James Hoffmann demonstrates his AeroPress technique with a short recipe: 11g of coffee, 200g of just-boiled water, a 2-minute immersion, then a press. He explains why he skips rinsing, preheating and inverting.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2021 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec qbasic_forever · 2023-02 · on “The Beginner's Guide to overComplicating Coffee”
I don't like the stock aeropress recipe. I too found it wasn't very consistent and sometimes gave wildly different results. I've found James Hoffman's aeropress technique to be fantastic though and much more repeatable--give it a shot: [this video] The big difference with James' technique is that it spends more time immersion brewing, almost like a french press, vs the stock technique that's really rushing you to extract and then percolate with the push. I find the longer immersion brew is a lot more forgiving and repeatable as a technique.
Recommends windsurfer · 2021-04 · on “Coffee drinkers display a distinct pattern of brain functional connectivity”
Yes, a minimal amount of water will escape but I haven't found it to negatively impact my brew. One of the best things about the aeropress is the experimentation and variety, so I encourage you to try this and see if it makes a difference. James Hoffmann has a video on this technique (jump to 2:00 to see the start of the recipe): [this video]
Recommends recuter · 2023-02 · on “The Beginner's Guide to overComplicating Coffee”
In the spirit of no over complications: don't bother inverting. Here is a weird coffee person succinctly explaining: [this video]
Recommends techwizrd · 2025-12 · on “Minimum Viable Arduino Project: Aeropress Timer”
I've had good results from the James Hoffman recipe [0], although I brew inverted. You can push the plunger down with just the weight of resting your arm on the plunger. For something very different, you can brew something not-quite-espresso using the Fellow Prismo cap for the Aeropress. 0: [this video]