Aeropress users, opinions please...

[rolandson]

Do you like it?
And the coffee you create with it...
Is it fit for human consumption?

Inquiring minds and all that.

(A method of making coffee (for those who don't know wtf I'm asking about))

 

[RavenPOL]

You need a good grinder, manual preferrably, I have Hario, other than that, simple, light to carry, makes good coffee. Cheap.

 

[NHFlyCaster]

I have had one going on 8 yrs. and still use it now and then. It makes good coffee but I usually use a glass carafe French press now. The Aeropress cleanup is great too. Take off the end and pop the grounds in the trash. I wish the carafe did that.

 

[trapdoor2]

Mine still works...but the Keurig has made me lazy.

I tend to use my Aeropress to test new coffees. I have a small hand grinder. 12g, coarse ground, seems to be my magic number for a good cup.

 

[Kerry Brown]

We've had one for fourteen years. We use it for afternoon lattes. We also travel with it. It makes waking up in a hotel much better. Makes very good coffee but you need the right grind. Drip grind or espresso grind won't work. You need something in between, closer to espresso than drip. Don't store the rubber plunger in the cylinder. It will wear it out sooner and need replacement.

 

[Wulfrik]

Use mine very morning. The biggest problem I have is that if my daughter makes me a coffee, she has a habit of throwing the bottom cap, with the filter in it, into the bin (I have no idea why, nor does she) when she's cleaning it. Luckily they sell replacements.

I have an awesome manual grinder that I bought at a car boot sale years ago, very old and mechanical looking but it seems to make the perfect partner to the aeropress... despite looking even more ancient next to it's ultra-modern design!

 

[rolandson]

Thanks compadres...
I was french press until a few days ago when I made the mistake of trying to pick it up with the hand that's paralyzed. Silly me. I forgot.

Anyway, yes it was always a pain in the ass to clean (that's how I dropped it).

I am relying on Melitta paper now but something about their filters changed a few years ago. It's taken on the texture of shark skin filter paper I used to use in a laboratory setting.

A very slow filter. Great however, as a repository for used grounds from the french press ... use a lab squeeze bottle to rinse into Melitta and then toss it into compost. (I live in Portland, we have weekly curbside composting/yard debris pickup)...I made the other mistake of buying a case of them...hate to waste em.

So, I stumbled upon Aeropress and thought to ask.

I use one of these grinders

a little noisy but otherwise very useful for a cripple. (Remind me to describe why I don't keep it next to my press and kettle anymore... here's a hint; both grinder and kettle are stainless)

Maybe I can cut Melitta paper to fit an Aeropress? Anyway, thank you all for the input...
-r

 

[Telecaster54]

I’ll just add my recommendation for an Aeropress. We’ve got a French press and our usual daily use Moccamaster but I think the Aeropress may make my best coffee. Differences between coffees are readily apparent and the coffee just seems “smooth” to me. I use a Rancilio Rocky grinder. The only reason we don’t use it more is that it only makes 1 (big) mug at a time. Cheap, portable and good brew.

 

[archetype]

Thanks compadres...
I was french press until a few days ago when I made the mistake of trying to pick it up with the hand that's paralyzed. Silly me. I forgot.

Anyway, yes it was always a pain in the ass to clean (that's how I dropped it).

I am relying on Melitta paper now but something about their filters changed a few years ago. It's taken on the texture of shark skin filter paper I used to use in a laboratory setting.

A very slow filter. Great however, as a repository for used grounds from the french press ... use a lab squeeze bottle to rinse into Melitta and then toss it into compost. (I live in Portland, we have weekly curbside composting/yard debris pickup)...I made the other mistake of buying a case of them...hate to waste em.

So, I stumbled upon Aeropress and thought to ask.

I use one of these grinders

a little noisy but otherwise very useful for a cripple. (Remind me to describe why I don't keep it next to my press and kettle anymore... here's a hint; both grinder and kettle are stainless)

Maybe I can cut Melitta paper to fit an Aeropress? Anyway, thank you all for the input...
-r

They're not required, but you can buy little paper disk filters for the Aeropress. You could cut your own from the Melitta filters.

 

[Wulfrik]

I have a stainless French press here somewhere that you could drop a hundred times and would still work.

I meant to say that I use the little disc filters in the Aeropress and they make great coffee.

 

[Hazard Nova]

I endorse any method where you have a funnel-shaped object, with a filter placed inside the funnel, and the coffee (lightly roasted, finely ground) is placed inside the filter, and the hot water is poured through that and into a vessel below. That is how people drink coffee if they like coffee.

So the Aeropress is fine, though I am not certain of why a simple plastic cone placed on top of the carafe isn't just as good and if someone would explain it to me I would be indebted to them.

The Keurig is how you prepare coffee for people who hate you. You use the Keurig to brew it and then you take the result and throw it in their faces.

 

[trapdoor2]

So the Aeropress is fine, though I am not certain of why a simple plastic cone placed on top of the carafe isn't just as good and if someone would explain it to me I would be indebted to them.

I dislike the cone filter method and I cannot stand the miserable excuse for weak tea that results. I've had a Melitta cone for 20 yrs. I'm still on my first box of filters. If stuck with a conical, I'd rather drink P.G.Tips.

The Aeropress is simply a French Press with a fine filter.

I like coffee you couldn't see thru on a microscope slide. Dark roasted Yemeni or Sumatran, ground coarse, steeped for 4min = black nirvana. No sugar, no milk. Scotch is acceptable after sundown.

 

[Bowmap]

IMO... Nah.

When traveling I use this...


And no you do not have to use capsules.

And grind w/ this...

 

[rolandson]

IMO... Nah.

When traveling I use this...
View attachment 669353

And no you do not have to use capsules.

And grind w/ this...

View attachment 669354

Does this thing use filter papers too?

 

[Hazard Nova]

I dislike the cone filter method and I cannot stand the miserable excuse for weak tea that results. I've had a Melitta cone for 20 yrs. I'm still on my first box of filters. If stuck with a conical, I'd rather drink P.G.Tips.

The Aeropress is simply a French Press with a fine filter.

I like coffee you couldn't see thru on a microscope slide. Dark roasted Yemeni or Sumatran, ground coarse, steeped for 4min = black nirvana. No sugar, no milk. Scotch is acceptable after sundown.

The weakness might be the burnt crumbs you are using. Dark roast contains less caffeine than light roast.

I have apparently confused in my mind the Aeropress with the Chemex. I retract my endorsement of the former.

We are on the same page about drinking it black though.

 

[RavenPOL]

if someone would explain it to me I would be indebted to them.

Aeropress method recommended by the inventor is fast, few seconds fast. Drips takes time.

 

[rolandson]

Experiences about stuff relating to Aeropress, and now Staresso would be most helpful,.

And now, I'm really curious about the force necessary to achieve a successful extract. And I take it that the results for both these devices are limited to an espresso type extract...?

The weakness might be the burnt crumbs you are using.

Yes, well I wasn't asking about anyone's roast preferences, I've got that covered. I've been roasting my own going on two decades.

Not quite sure what purpose insulting other's preferences serves.

I am merely asking about a device that touts itself as the method which blends the most desirable attributes of multiple methods. Because I don't know squat about it, I thought I'd ask. That is all this is about.
Really.

if someone would explain it to me I would be indebted to them.

Papers (wood pulp) impart or contribute, not only their own chemistry, but also residual chemistry of the milling process, into the extract. It can't be helped. To my knowledge there is an extremely narrow selection of filter media available which is chemically neutral.

I (emphasis on the singular, me, no one else) find it can, subject to multiple variables, taste rather unpleasant.

I do not mean to suggest that those who prefer to enjoy their coffee differently from the way I do are somehow wrong, or deficient..

 

[RavenPOL]

curious about the force necessary to achieve a successful extract. And I take it that the results for both these devices are limited to an espresso type extract...?

Force has nothing to do with strength of your beverage. It's the size of coffee grind, water temperature and brweing time that matters.

You will not be able to get espresso from aeropress. Just a normal coffee. Espresso is different level of complication and technique. There's almost none hand grinders (Commandante) capable of grinding espresso grade sizes.

Don't get too defensive with @Hazard Nova . He is not a negative person, just very direct. A good guy.

 

[NHFlyCaster]

Used my Aeropress this morning since time was short and still had to grind beans. The paper filter cuts down on the oils or fine solids you get with the usual metal screen French press. And I don't steep as long with this. Could if you want but the water trickles through.

 

[rolandson]

Don't get too defensive with @Hazard Nova . He is not a negative person, just very direct. A good guy.

Defensive? Hardly. @trapdoor2 is perfectly capable of tending for himself. My responses to this hazard person's lecture and condescension was me being nice.