As you may or may not know, competitive AeroPressing is becoming quite the thing, with a network of national competitions leading up to a World AeroPress Championship. These competitions have emerged as a more free-wheeling alternative to other coffee competitions, with competitors using the flexible AeroPress in all sorts of novel ways. We’ve cataloged some of these approaches in the past, including the wild approach of 2013 US Champ Andy Sprenger, and the top three recipes from the 2014 US Championships. This year we’ve also once again reached out to Kaffikaze for recipes from the Japanese Aeropress Championship, an event they covered in depth for us last year.
According to Kaffikaze’s coverage, the Japanese Aeropress championship, held this year at Cafe Vivement Dimanche, has a unique twist to it: there is the regular Japanese Aeropress Championship, the winner of which flies to Rimini, Italy to represent Japan at the World Championships; then there is also the Japanese Domestic Aeropress Championship, a more wide open competition for people whose work or life obligations might prevent them from attending Rimini. The JAC is formal, with a tantalizing top prize; JDAC is less formal, designed for a wide open field and meant to be engaging to even novice competitors.
Below we’ve captured the top three winning recipes from the Japanese Aeropress Championship. We can’t wait to see champion Shuichi Sasaki of Paul Bassett coffee, and all their other national champions, at this year’s World Aeropress Championship, which Sprudge will be DJ’ing and covering live from Rimini.
Please note: Some competitors were happy to divulge recipe secrets, while others kept their techniques shrouded in mystery. The recipes you see below may not be complete.
Third Place: Motoki Ueda of Cocoo Cafe in Osaka.
200cc of 92 ℃ water.
50ml bloom, stirred 5 times.
45 seconds streaming pour.
Total extraction: 130 seconds, stopping the press as you hear air to avoid astringency.
Filter: S Filter by Kaffeologie.
Second Place, “Steam Boy” Kenta Tsukada from Kaffikaze
2. Add 15g of extra fine coffee.
3. Cover Aeropress and wait one minute.
4. Set Aeropress.
5. Add 5g of extra fine coffee.
6. Pour 150ml 70℃ water.
7. Stir lightly.
8. Press in 15sec.
9. Adjust taste with 50ml of water.
First Place, Shuichi Sasaki of Paul Bassett Coffee.
220cc of 80 ℃ water.
Regular style (not inverted).
Kaffikaze contributed to this reporting.
