The World Aeropress Championship is a fan-driven global phenomenon, drawing competitors from over 60 countries who battle it out to make the best cup of coffee with a single brewer. After each year’s contest, the top three recipes are posted online for anyone to try at home. We decided to brew all five winning recipes from 2015 through 2019 and compare them head to head.
The Baseline: Standard Aeropress Method
Before diving into the championship recipes, we brewed a control cup using the manufacturer’s standard method: add a filter and cap, one scoop of fine grounds, 80-degree water up to level one, stir for 10 seconds, and press. The result was a nice level of richness with smoked black pepper, raisin, and dark fruit notes — smooth, not too bitter, and a pleasant dark roast overall. Every championship recipe uses the inverted Aeropress method, which gives more freedom to control brew time before the coffee begins dripping through.
2019 Winner: Wendelien Brouwer (Netherlands)
The recipe: 30g coffee at a coarse grind (7/10), 100g water at 92 degrees C. Pour water over coffee in 10 seconds, stir firmly 20 times for 10 seconds, cap with a rinsed filter, push out excess air, flip at 40 seconds and press. Top up with 100g water, cool to 60 degrees C by decanting.
The verdict: Much more mellow and balanced than the control cup. The smoke and black pepper that previously hit hard and faded now blended beautifully with dark fruit notes, creating a well-rounded cup with no bitterness, a lovely aftertaste, and a gorgeous roast profile. It felt like a leveled-up version of the standard brew.
2018 Winner: Carolina Ibarra Garay (USA)
The recipe: 34.9g coffee at a fine grind (10/10), 400g water at 85 degrees C. Pour for 30 seconds, stir vigorously with wooden chopsticks for 30 seconds, cap and press into a glass server for 30 seconds. Do not preheat the serving vessel. Top with 60g of 85-degree water and 40g of room-temperature water.
The verdict: This one was more mellow, likely due to the 85-degree water and the room-temperature water addition making it instantly drinkable. It was an easy-drinking brew, but we missed the exciting rich dark fruits and smoky roasted pepper from the 2019 entry. A solid cup, but perhaps too much effort for such a subdued result.
2017 Winner: Paulina Miczka (UK)
The recipe: 35g coffee at a medium grind (8/10), 150g water at an unspecified temperature. Add water over 15 seconds, stir from 15 to 35 seconds, cap with a pre-wetted filter at 35 seconds. Flip at 1:05 and press until 1:35. Top with 160-200g of hot water.
The verdict: Quite bitter. This method extracted a lot of bitterness and produced a tart sensation. The only carryover flavor from the previous brews was smokiness — the rich dark fruit and black pepper were largely absent. The one-word review: bitterness.
2016 Winner: Filip Kucharczyk (Poland)
The recipe: 35g coarse ground coffee, 150g water at 81 degrees C. Pour water for 15 seconds, stir until 30 seconds, cap and wait until 1 minute, invert, swirl, and plunge. Add 100-120g of water to taste.
The verdict: This recipe turned out to be almost identical to our own personal home method — inverted, fill up, swirl, invert, plunge, and top up. Everything was nicely subdued: not much bitterness, a pleasant bit of smoke, black pepper, and just enough fruit sweetness cutting through. A fine, mellow treatment of excellent beans.
2015 Winner: Lukas Zahradnicek (Slovakia)
The recipe: 20g coffee at a drip grind (7.3 on a Mahlkonig EK 43), 230g water at 79 degrees C. Add 60g water first, perform a “turbulent wiggle” for 15 seconds, bloom for 13 seconds, add remaining water over 10 seconds, press for 45 seconds using gravity.
The verdict: Easily the most potent and bitter of the five. Bitter, tough, very smoky, and intensely peppery. The aroma during the turbulent wiggle was incredible, but the resulting cup was like drinking lava — a nuclear bomb compared to the mellow 2016 entry before it.
The Final Ranking
After tasting all five championship brews side by side, our ranking is clear:
- 2019 (Wendelien Brouwer, Netherlands) — The best balance of dark fruit, pepper, smokiness, and controlled bitterness. The clear winner.
- 2016 (Filip Kucharczyk, Poland) — Mellow and approachable, with great flavor balance. Bonus points for being our everyday home method.
- 2018 (Carolina Ibarra Garay, USA) — Easy drinking and smooth, though somewhat subdued in flavor.
- 2017 (Paulina Miczka, UK) — Too bitter for our taste, with muted fruit notes.
- 2015 (Lukas Zahradnicek, Slovakia) — Incredibly intense and potent. For those who want maximum strength.
We highly recommend heading to the World Aeropress Championship website and trying these recipes yourself. It is genuinely fun to experiment with, and you might discover a new favorite technique for your morning brew.
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