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Interested in the Aeropress but aren’t sure if it makes enough coffee for you? The Aeropress is a great way to quickly make good tasting coffee but the capacity isn’t too big. Here’s what you want to know.
The Aeropress is designed to brew 250 ml of coffee although it’s easy to brew 280 ml at one time. The Aeropress isn’t really suitable to brew coffee for two or more but it’s possible to brew coffee stronger and then dilute it down to the normal strength.
Below you can find out how much you can brew in an Aeropress and how you could brew coffee for more than one person in an Aeropress.
Image | Brand | Model | Buy |
---|---|---|---|
Aeropress | Original | Buy on Amazon | |
Slimm | Set of 3 metal filters for Aeropress | Buy on Amazon | |
Fellow | Prismo | Buy on Amazon | |
Aeropress | Paper filters | Buy on Amazon |
Contents
How Much Coffee Can An Aeropress Brew?
The biggest amount of water you can fit into an Aeropress is about 320 ml without coffee grounds in it. With grounds you can fit about 300 ml in the press.
That is if you go to the absolute max and completely fill it up to the rim. In reality, you need to leave a little bit of space to be able to stir and put the plunger in. So that means to actually brew coffee, about 280 ml plus grounds is the maximum.
That is not how much liquid you get into your cup though. The coffee grounds hold on to some water as well. Without pressing them, coffee grounds hold about 2 ml of water per gram of grounds. In an Aeropress, you press down on the grounds so it’ll be a little bit less but still at least 1,5 gram of water per gram of grounds. That means by using a 15 gram dose, you’ll get at most 257.5 ml of coffee out of an Aeropress. That’s about 8.6 oz.
However, the standard brew method for the Aeropress allows for some leak through. That means liquid already start leaking through the filter before pressing the plunger. This already happens to some degree when pouring the water into the brew chamber. That means while filling the chamber to the top of #4 is about 280 ml, a little bit will already drip into the cup. That leak through is roughly the same amount as stays behind in the grounds which means you end up with 280 ml/9.45 oz. In the cup.
If you poured a little slower/had more leak through, it’s possible to get to 290-300ml of liquid in the cup.
Suggested: How To Stop An Aeropress From Leaking
It’s not a good idea to press down on the grounds really hard to get the last little bits of coffee out. That will lead to more bitterness and just a less pleasant tasting cup.
Officially, the Aeropress is made to be filled up to number 4 (the numbers on the side of the brew chamber.) Filling the Aeropress to the top of number 4 is 280 ml. There isn’t really any problem with filling it a bit more than that. However, by filling it higher than that, you just increase the chance of creating a mess when putting the plunger in. It also leaves less room to stir.
Suggested: The 7 Best Aeropress Accessories?

How To Brew More Coffee With An Aeropress?
What if 280 ml of coffee is just not enough? There are many situations where you would like to have more coffee. Especially if sharing with another person. 280 ml isn’t much for two people, let alone more.
If you’re not sure how to use an Aeropress exactly, read this complete beginner guide.
The reality is that the Aeropress isn’t suitable to brew coffee for multiple people. It’s a personal brewer. If you want to share your coffee with another person, brewing twice is the best option. However, if necessary, there is another option.
You could brew stronger coffee with your Aeropress. Then divide it up and top up both cups with hot water to dilute the coffee back to normal strength.
Here’s how you can do this;
- Boil double the amount of water (500 ml)
- Grind double the amount of coffee (30-35 gr.)
- Prepare the filter (make it wet) and attach the filter lid.
- Put the grounds in the press
- Pour 60 grams of water to bloom the coffee.
- Stir the grounds to make sure all of them are wet.
- Wait 30 seconds.
- Pour water into the press until the level is about 1 cm under the rim.
- Stir for about 15 seconds.
- Fill the Aeropress all the way to the rim.
- Let the coffee steep for about 2-3 minutes. This might be a bit longer than you’re used to but we have to extract more coffee grounds.
- Once the level has dropped a little bit, put the plunger in but leave it on top to stop the leaking.
- Push down. (In 30-45 seconds)
- Once done, dilute the resulting coffee by adding hot water until you’ve got about 450 ml.
- Pour into two cups.
We brewed with a ratio for 500 ml. Simply double the normal amounts of grounds and water. However, because coffee grounds hold on to some water, that shouldn’t get into your cup which is why we don’t dilute to 500 ml. Of course if the coffee is still strong enough, you can dilute it as much as you want but around 450 ml is going to give the results that are closest to what you would get as if brewing for one.

Suggested: How long to let an Aeropress steep?
Is There a Bigger Aeropress?
There is not a bigger Aeropress from the same brand. There is the Aeropress GO which is designed for traveling but this one is actually 1/3rd smaller than the original Aeropress. It’s more suitable for travel because it all fits in a cup and this is the cup you can use to brew into and drink out of.
The Aeropress GO is good for travel but even worse for two people. The problem with making a bigger Aeropress is that it just makes things unwieldy. The standard Aeropress is a good size for handling easily. Making it bigger would make it much more difficult to hold and also would make it much harder to press. Since you have to create pressure to push the liquid through the filter, making the filter larger in diameter would make it much more difficult. And making the chamber longer would make it quite unstable.
Suggested: Does an Aeropress Wear Out?
There is an alternative from another brand called: Delter Press. This is a slightly different thing than an Aeropress but is is slightly larger at a 400ml capacity. It brews differently than an Aeropress and is not quite as easy to use but there are also a lot of similarities. A 400 ml capacity means you get significantly more out of it but still doesn’t make enough for two full cups.
- 400ml Capacity
- Unique seal that prevents any unwanted agitation of the coffee bed during brewing
- Easy to clean
- Weighs less than 250 gr
Recommended Aeropress Equipment
- Original Aeropress: The original Aeropress (Amazon) is the way to go for most people. It makes the most coffee and is still very portable. Just bring your own cup.
- Grinder: To get the best coffee out of your Aeropress, freshly ground coffee is important. The TimeMore C3 (Amazon) is a great choice for an Aeropress for both grind quality and portability.
- Fellow Prismo: If you get the fellow Prismo (Amazon), you get a filter lid replacement that allows for drip free and stronger brewing as well as a good metal filter screen.