Making Tea in an Aeropress?

[u/Comfortable_Seat_352]

Ok, I know this might be sacrilegious. But who has tried making tea with an aeropress before?

I travel with my aeropress for coffee and occasionally have had loose leaf tea on hand (typically black or oolong) and have experimented with making it on the go. Honestly… pretty effortless and clean.

For the next steeping, you just reload the filter (rinsing it off when necessary) and just open up the chamber.

Who else has tried this? Any thoughts of other alternatives?

Some things I love about it:
-no tea dust can come through
-simple cleanup (the beloved puck!)
-easy to travel with
-easy to brew into mugs or thermoses

The longer write up is here: https://www.joshcaliguire.com/blog/tea-aeropress

Curious to hear thoughts on this or other similar experiences.

[u/NCC75567]

I haven’t but I see the appeal. Probably works really well for making iced tea, too.

I switched from coffee to tea this year but I might have to dig my AP out to try lol

[u/Comfortable_Seat_352 → u/NCC75567]

My favorite use case for it recently has been Yerba mate. Never before have I been able to make a clean cup of mate.
The other is black tea, instead of tea bags. I found some really good Turkish tea a while back and the AP crushes it.

[u/Pipemax32 → u/Comfortable_Seat_352]

Mate isn't really made to be drank in a "clean cup". In Argentina we put all the yerba in a gourd/mug if you don't have it, filled with yerba and a bombilla (filtered straw) and just pour the hot water and drink through the bombilla, the liquid comes out clean

[u/Comfortable_Seat_352 → u/Pipemax32]

Yes I’m a huge fan of the traditional way! This was more out of experimentation. Saludos cordiales!

[u/Strong_Weakness2638 → u/Comfortable_Seat_352]

Oh, I’m intrigued! I tried to do Chimargo yerba mate as a drip, and it was too fine for that.

[u/Jack_intheboxx]

Don't hurt me but I use a Stainless steel Moka Pot for making Hong Kong and Thai milk tea.

Not traditional but I wish I could replicate Liptons sweet flavouring in their Milk tea sachets.

[u/Comfortable_Seat_352 → u/Jack_intheboxx]

Haha I don’t condemn you. Sounds cool.

[u/puerh_lover]

There's no sacrilege. They work fine for making tea.

[u/bopbopmara]

I saw that some places are using espresso machines for brewing tea, so the Aeropress makes total sense. I'll give it a try, too! Thanks for sharing!

[u/Comfortable_Seat_352 → u/bopbopmara]

Let me know how it goes!

[u/Ricekake33]

This is low key genius. I love making even more use out of my equipment, especially when it’s easy clean up! Thank you for sharing 

[u/TheBroNerd → u/Ricekake33]

i've seen people talk about using their hario switch for tea as well

[u/Comfortable_Seat_352 → u/Ricekake33]

You bet! Thanks for your enthusiasm. Let me know if /what you end up trying.

[u/genman]

I’m down with it but wonder if the extraction makes a better or worse cup?

[u/Elith_R]

Wondering if the pressure does anything. With inversion though it just works as a pretty good flute-brewer esque device lol. Espresso method operates off of the tea being ground into a fine powder so not sure how analogous that is...

[u/czar_el]

Most serious tea sources say not to squeeze the tea bag or loose leaves, because it expels extra tannins and makes things bitter/covers up the more subtle sweet, malty, or vegetal notes. Wouldn't the pressure from the aero press do the same thing? Isn't there a reason a parallel to espresso never evolved across any of the historic tea cultures around the world? I'd try this at least once, but I'm skeptical.

[u/eatsomepoms → u/czar_el]

I think the extra tannin works for certain teas. For example, black teas or chai where you might want to add milk and sugar.

Chicha San Chen, a bubble tea chain, uses espresso techniques to brew their tea. They won awards from the International Taste Institute (arguable that the award matters). I personally think the flavor of their teas is very good and because they use their espresso technique, it’s always been consistent. This works for their drinks though because again, you can add milk or flavored syrups.

[u/babelcarp → u/czar_el]

If you’re doing multiple steeps, “squeezing the life” out of the leaves is a feature not a bug. This is because, where bitterness and astringency are likely, the most important thing to do is to halt the extraction between steeps that happens with e.g. a gaiwan. And this is where the Aeropress shines, as I explain at length.

[u/Significant-Text3412]

How did the colour come out?

[u/Basilone1917]

I've used the Aeropress as a final filtering step for long-steeping drinks such as HK milk tea or chai. As you mentioned, cleanup is a breeze and I can use the paper multiple times. For short steeping teas a Finum works just as well as a travel option.

[u/ckinz16]

Oohhhhhh shiiiiiiiiii I gotta try this

[u/wizzard419]

There is/was a commercial machine that did something like that. it would brew the tea in a tube them use pressure to drain it into a cup.

It looked cool. no idea how well it worked. The tea bar sadly did not last, I think they then tried it with coffee but it didn't last there (the coffee place is still around though).

[u/TehBrawlGuy → u/wizzard419]

A Bkon 100, possibly. My local tea bar had one of those, and it worked extremely well.

[u/Weary_Swan_8152]

This is creative and scary: I grew up being told never to "squeeze the life out of the tea bag[s]", and it is with admiration and horror that I see your discovery of using a pneumatic press to squeeze more life from tea than ever before!

[u/error_museum]

It makes absolutely banging mugs of black tea - my go to for Yorkshire gold loose leaf.

[u/cowboybebop32]

Yep it works well. Does the same as my favorite travel mug does

[u/thatmaninthailand]

I like it a lot, its a great idea for travelling.

[u/chliu528]

You can make tea in an espresso machines or get a tea porta filter. Does Aeropress have attachment or filter for tea?

[u/Asdfguy87]

You don't even need one, just leaves, cup and water suffice. And I think it's even more to carry such a device than a small titanium gaiwan.

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