Aerobie AeroPress Espresso Machine & Coffee Maker

I'm a bit of a coffee nut, as is my wife. We both like full-flavored, rather strong coffee, but we detest bitter-tasting brews. I had bought my daughter a pod coffeemaker for Christmas and she really loves it, so I bought one for myself - a Hamilton Beach that broke after just a month. I suppose that Hamilton Beach realized that they'd made a lemon, because I've been unable to find a replacement. So what to do? I just couldn't go back to the drip thing we'd been using (a Hamilton Beach Brew Station that is extremely convenient, but makes a pretty bland cup of coffee).

I searched the web for coffeemakers, almost deciding on an espresso maker that would cost a couple of hundred dollars, when I found the Aerobie Aeropress. To be honest, I didn't really expect the glowing results I read about on their website, but for less than $30, what did I have to lose?

The first cup of coffee from this thing convinced me that I'd died and gone to coffee heaven. The coffee is rick, full-flavored and not at all bitter (you don't "brew" coffee in an Aeropress, you "extract" it) so it never tastes burned or harsh.

With my renewed coffee passion, I began having 100% pure Kona coffee shipped to Texas from Hawaii and from that point I was hooked. The high point of my day is enjoying that first cup of Kona from my Aeropress (yeah, I need to get a life).

I bought an Aeropress for my son and one for my daughter this past Christmas. The day after Christmas I got an email from my son saying, "Ohmygod, Dad - this is the best coffee I've ever tasted!" He takes his Aeropress to work with him, eschewing the office coffee pot (and probably making his co-workers think that he's a little weird). I'm not kidding, though, once you use this little device you'll never look at coffee the same way again.

I've read where some people re-use the little filters, but I've never done that (they cost almost nothing, so why would you do that anyway?). I grind the coffee to a medium grind in a burr grinder (I'd use a finer grind but I have arthritis in my hands and it's hard to push the plunger down if the grind's too fine).

I really love the Aeropress - although one problem I had at first was that people would see it in the drying rack in the sink and thought it was some sort of "male enhancement device." I fixed that by attachiing a label that says "Coffeemaker."