Ready, set, plunge! How graphic design and coffee mix at the World Aeropress Championship

Whether there’s a half-knackered one in the back of your cupboard an old flatmate left behind, or it’s part of your daily routine at the office, the idea behind the AeroPress is simple: it’s a plastic plunger that brews a cup of coffee. And yet this foolproof little contraption is the nexus on which the hopes and dreams of more than 4,500 people hinge upon each season at the World Aeropress Championship (WAC). Celebrating this niche and fascinating world through its identity for the event, Belfast design agency Angel & Anchor has shaped the visuals for the last two years and is making a name for itself through a unique approach to coffee branding.

But before we get into its design, a word about the AeroPress Championship. The WAC was conceived back in 2008 with one aim: to discover who can brew the best cup of coffee with an AeroPress. “But can’t everyone make a good cup of coffee with an AeroPress?” you may wonder. Perhaps, but that thinking won’t get you far in the Championship. On the WAC website you’ll find dozens of formulas calling for you to stir the coffee “35 times gently” or “use one side of a chopstick and stir for five seconds” which have each secured competitors a winning spot in the past. Unlike other threads of competitive coffee making, where entry fees are sky high and politics often get in the way of a fair judging, all the competitors at the WAC use the same brewer and coffee. Winning relies upon pure technique and a good cup of joe.

Of course, all this doesn’t scream coffee – and that’s kind of the point. Angel & Anchor got the gig with WAC after the organisation came across a project the agency completed for a UK roastery. It was here that Angel & Anchor made a name for itself in coffee, with packaging resembling melted VHS tapes, no less. It showed a lightheartedness that many people had not seen before in coffee, and that sits right in line with the WAC.

“Overall, the WAC differs from other competitions in its accessibility, fairness and general attitude of fun and inclusivity,” says Grant Gamble, CD at the Championship. “Many coffee competitions require judges to go through a lengthy certification or calibration process, carry clipboards and dock marks on a complex rubric.” (Things are a bit different at the WAC; three judges taste each coffee and, on the count of three, point to the one they think is the best.) Fun has been a key part of the Championship ever since the first ever event – there was only three competitors in a small room in Oslo and it was called the World Aeropress Championship, despite the size. Perhaps that’s why when WAC and Angel & Anchor met, Grant says it “felt like siblings, separated at birth and reuniting for the first time”.

Coffee and graphic design has had somewhat of a destructive relationship down the trend cycle since the ‘third-wave coffee’ boom in the 2000s. Shops began to look sleek and built up a name for themselves as being trendy, and a bit unfriendly. That’s why the WAC is a breath of fresh air. While Angel & Anchor are only a few years into their relationship with the organisation, they are bringing some joviality into both industries. When you’re in a room thick with the smell of coffee grounds, cheers and friendly posters screaming phrases like “Plungin’ Down Under”, it’s hard not to feel the allure of their approach.