I've been drinking coffee on and off for a few years now, and actually ditched my coffee maker because I was just drinking the free crap at work. Decided to change that this week. I ordered an AeroPress and grinder, and bought some quality beans from a local roaster/shop.
Teach me your ways, oh great coffee drinkers.
i'm only going to work w/ what you got, which is an aeropress.
beginner level:
1.always use filtered/bottled water, NEVER use distilled water. 99% of coffee is water so you want your water tasting good. you don't use distilled water b/c there are no minerals in it (it's pure h20) and minerals help w/ like flavor and stuff, just don't use distilled.
2.boil water - BUT wait 10 to 20s before you pour it into the aeropress, you DO NOT want to use boiling water on coffee grounds, the accepted good temp is 195 to 205f.
advanced:
use a thermal gun
thermal gun3.grind up the beans in a cheap blade grinder, 30s RIGHT BEFORE you brew
advanced:
get an adjustable burr grinder, it DOESN'T have to be espresso good, but it should have more settings than just on/off, this way you can adjust how much flavor profile you're extracting from the beans, as the smaller the grind the more surface area you'll have.
4. pour the coffee grounds in the aero press, and press.
advanced:
use the inverted method to "seep" the coffee a bit more and bring out more "stuff"
5. store your beans in a mason jar, away from sunlight, preferably in a cabinet sunlight/uv destroys beans
advanced:
use this better coffee containerit is a 1 way container built for coffee, coffee always "breathes" out co2, co2 can mess up beans. this container lets co2 get out but does not let o2 (oxygen) get in
beans last fresher, longer
OPTIONAL/PREF
if you would like more "solids"/"oils" and stuff that the paper filter, filters out, use a metal filter
metal filter