AeroPress Puck Puck: Making Cold Drip Coffee

The PUCKPUCK is a small plastic valve attachment that turns an AeroPress into a slow-drip cold coffee brewer. Cold water drips from a vessel above, through a bed of medium-ground coffee in the AeroPress, and into a jug below. The maker’s brew guide uses 38 g of coffee with 400 ml of water and 100 g of ice, set to about 50 drops per minute for a brew time of 2.5 to 3 hours.

This guide covers what the PUCKPUCK is, what you need, the maker’s step-by-step method, how to fix a drip that stops, floods or leaves dry grounds, and how to store the result. The figures come from PuckPuck’s own brew guide and product pages, the National Coffee Association (NCA) and Wisconsin’s food-safety guidance, and each is named where it is used. Daily Home Coffee does not test products hands-on.

What is the AeroPress Puck Puck?

The PUCKPUCK is made by PuckPuck Ltd. Its product page describes it as “an attachment that turns any AeroPress® Coffee Maker into a cold brew drip system”, and notes that the company is not affiliated with or endorsed by AeroPress, Inc. The listed features are:

• A pocketable body, 2.4 cm tall and 6.8 cm wide.
• A patent-pending two-part plastic screw valve that sets the drip rate.
• A 500 ml plastic water vessel (in the full kit).
• A splash filter that sits on the coffee to spread the drips evenly.
• A universal screw thread that fits some brands of mineral water bottle, so a bottle can replace the vessel.
• Food-grade, BPA-free plastics and a free drip-counter app for iOS and Android.

The PUCKPUCK Solo comes without the vessel and is meant to be used with a mineral water bottle. Both only work with an AeroPress, which is sold separately.

How Does It Work?

The PUCKPUCK screws onto the water vessel and sits on top of the AeroPress. Turning it opens the valve a little at a time, so ice water drips slowly onto the coffee instead of pouring through. The splash filter, according to the maker, distributes the drips “more evenly across the surface of the coffee to ensure a more even and consistent extraction.” Gravity carries the water through the coffee and the paper filter into the jug.

That makes it a different method from steeped cold brew made in a jar or pitcher. The NCA describes cold brew as coffee made with room-temperature or cooler water, and its basic method steeps the grounds in the water for about 12 hours before straining. With the PUCKPUCK, the water passes through the coffee once, drop by drop, and the brew is finished in about 2.5 to 3 hours. The NCA says brewing without heat over a longer time gives “a smoother, more mellow cup”; no source here compares the taste of slow-drip and steeped cold coffee directly.

What You’ll Need

The maker’s brew guide lists the following for one batch.

Gear

• PUCKPUCK with its splash filter
• AeroPress with a paper filter in the filter cap
• Water vessel, or a prepared mineral water bottle (see below)
• A jug to catch the coffee

The quantities are given in grams, so a kitchen scale helps.

Ingredients

• Coffee: 38 g, medium ground
• Water: 400 ml
• Ice: 100 g

By arithmetic, 38 g of coffee to 500 g of water and ice is roughly 1:13. That uses far more water per gram of coffee than the 1:4 to 1:5 coffee-to-water ratio the NCA gives for steeped cold brew, and the maker presents the result as something to enjoy “over ice, with milk or as a mixer in cocktails.” The guide gives no dilution ratio, so taste it before adding water.

To use a mineral water bottle, the brew guide says to take an Evian or Volvic bottle (or another brand on the maker’s compatibility list), pour out the water, which you can use for the brew, and carefully cut the base off with scissors. The bottle then screws into the PUCKPUCK in place of the vessel.

Step-by-Step Brewing Guide

These steps follow PuckPuck’s brew guide.

Preparation

1. Rinse the PUCKPUCK. Unclip the splash filter and set it aside. Unscrew the two halves of the PUCKPUCK and rinse them with hot water. Shake off the excess water and check that all four vent holes, on the side and in the base, are clear. Screw it back together clockwise to the closed position.
2. Assemble the AeroPress. Put a paper filter in the filter cap, screw the cap onto the AeroPress and stand the AeroPress on the jug.
3. Add the coffee. Put 38 g of medium-ground coffee into the AeroPress on top of the filter and shake it level. Drop the splash filter onto the coffee.

Attaching the Puck Puck

1. Fit the vessel. Screw the water vessel or the prepared bottle into the PUCKPUCK and set the combined unit on top of the AeroPress.
2. Add ice and water. Put 100 g of ice in the vessel, then fill the rest with 400 ml of water.
3. Set the drip rate. Turn the PUCKPUCK slowly anti-clockwise until drips appear from the valve. Adjust it to around 50 drops per minute, which the maker says gives a 2.5 to 3 hour brew. The drip-counter app can help you set the rate more exactly.

The Waiting Game

1. Let it drip. Leave the setup for the 2.5 to 3 hours. The maker notes that the drip “can be sensitive to environmental temperatures and humidity”, so check the rate now and then and adjust it to stay inside that window.
2. Clean up. When the vessel is empty, lift off the PUCKPUCK and vessel. Tap the AeroPress and carefully unscrew the filter cap; the grounds should come out in one piece with the splash filter on top. Take the splash filter out before you throw away the grounds and paper filter, then rinse the AeroPress, filter cap and splash filter under warm water.

The brew guide invites you to “experiment with drip rates to personalise your brew.” If you do, change only the drip rate on one batch and note the brew time, so you can tell what made the difference.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

The maker’s guide covers four problems. All of them trace back to the water supply, the vent holes or the coffee bed.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Problem	Fix from the maker’s guide
The drips stop	Use ice water. It reduces the size of the air bubbles passing through the filter, which can interrupt the flow.
The drips are erratic	Check that the side vent holes are not blocked by water; a quick blow into them should clear them.
It is flooding	Check the side vent holes in the same way, and adjust the drip rate to suit a 2.5 to 3 hour brew.
The grounds are dry at the end	Pre-wet the grounds with about 30-40 ml of water first, and take that amount off the water in the vessel.

The maker says that coffee “a bit older than 30 days past the roast date” sometimes needs pre-wetting.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does Puck Puck cold drip coffee last?

Neither the maker’s guide nor the other sources here give a keeping time for coffee brewed this way. Cold drip, like cold brew, has no heat step. Wisconsin’s agriculture department treats cold brew made without a heat step as a food that needs refrigeration, and for retail sale it sets a seven-day limit for cold brew that is “brewed, held, and served at 41°F or below”. The sources give no temperature for the coffee collecting in the jug during the brew, so the seven-day figure should not be assumed for it. Refrigerate it as soon as it finishes and drink it soon. The cold brew shelf life guide explains where the seven-day figure comes from.

Does it work with any AeroPress?

The maker says it turns “any AeroPress® Coffee Maker” into a cold drip system. It needs the AeroPress’s paper filter and filter cap, and it sits on top of the chamber.

What’s the difference between cold drip and cold brew?

Both use cold or room-temperature water instead of hot. In the NCA’s basic cold brew method, the coffee steeps in the water for about 12 hours and is then strained. In a cold drip setup like the PUCKPUCK, water drips through the coffee bed once, and the maker’s recipe finishes in 2.5 to 3 hours.

Do I need to dilute it?

Not necessarily. The maker’s recipe works out at roughly 1:13, far more water per gram of coffee than the NCA’s 1:4 to 1:5 cold brew ratio. Taste it first, then serve it over ice, with milk or as a mixer, as the maker suggests.

Can I skip the water vessel?

Yes. The PUCKPUCK’s screw thread fits some mineral water bottles. The maker names Evian and Volvic and keeps a compatibility list for other brands; the bottle needs its base cut off.

Final Thoughts and Next Steps

For a first batch, follow the maker’s numbers exactly: 38 g of medium-ground coffee, 400 ml of water plus 100 g of ice, and about 50 drops per minute for a 2.5 to 3 hour brew. Rinse the PUCKPUCK with hot water and check all four vent holes before each brew, use ice water, and pre-wet the grounds if they come out dry, which the maker says sometimes happens with coffee more than 30 days past its roast date. Refrigerate the coffee when it finishes, then change the drip rate on the next batch if you want to adjust the taste.