Aerobie AeroPress Espresso Machine & Coffee Maker

The Aeropress is in my opinion the best single cup coffee maker in existence, short of a semi-auto or lever espresso machine. If this gadget doesn't put a smile on your face, you're hopeless!  Let me count the ways (and then I'll get to the details):

- it's a coffee maker from a toy company!  How weird is that?
- and, it looks wonderfully goofy, like something you might find in a large-animal vet's bag, yet it makes coffee;
- the design is incredibly user friendly and cleanup is simple;
- it's inexpensive ($30), yet very sturdy and unbreakable;
- it's more tolerant of crummy grinders than any other preparation method I know;
- it's more tolerant of water temperature than any other preparation method I know;
- it's easy to fine tune the brew for different beans or different results;
- the coffee is smooth, rich, and absolutely spectacular!

What is it?
The Aeropress, as the name implies, is basically a coffee press with a paper filter.  It's a plastic cylinder with a cap;  the circular filter drops into the cap and you screw it onto the cylinder.  There's a plunger that fits into the top of the cylinder; the plunger end is a rubber piece that makes a seal, so that the coffee has to go out through the filter cap as you press.  There is no glass to break anywhere.

Because it's small, light, and unbreakable, the Aeropress is ideal for travel.

By the way, if you have been frightened by the BPA-leaching bogeyman, fear not.  The Aeropress has been lab tested and its plastics leach no BPA.  (Even if it did, the hot water is only in contact for maybe 30 seconds.  You'd do better to worry about the solder in your pipe joints.)

Brewing
You sit the thing on top of a cup or mug, filter down, open end up.  Pour in fine-ground coffee, add hot water, stir with the nifty stirrer that is included.  After about 10 seconds you insert the plunger and press, not too hard, not too soft, until all the coffee is in the mug.  Drink!

Ok, the details.  The cylinder and plunger are both marked with levels, 1 to 4.  That's how much coffee and water you use.  2 or 3 is best; 1 is a bit hard to control; 4 fills the unit really full and it's hard to stir.  You use N scoops of beans, and fill the cylinder to level N with water.  Or, even easier, you can use the plunger itself as a water measure since it's marked as well.  Just one of those nice little design features that makes it so easy to use.

Grind fineness?  I'd suggest a fine grind, not quite espresso, finer than drip.  Too fine and it tends to clog the filter, you'll have trouble pressing.  Too coarse and you won't get full flavors.  The Aeropress is not particularly sensitive to grind fineness, no grinder twiddling needed. Although you'll get best results using a good burr grinder (*), the Aeropress is unique in that you can get drinkable brew even from a cheap whirley-blade disaster.

Water temperature?  The Aeropress breaks all the rules here, because the suggested brew temp is 175F.  That's about 20F lower than the gospel for other brew methods.  The weird thing is, 175F works in the AP, and gives you a smooth yet flavorful cup.  175F is a disaster in a drip machine, but for whatever reason it works in the Aeropress.  Even better, you can play with the water temperature and the AP lets you taste exactly what happens.  You can adjust for different beans, or slightly different result flavors.  For example, I do Brazils or Indonesian beans at 175F because they are smoothest that way.  For getting the best blueberry from a dry process Ethiopian, or the classic profile of a Central, I like it a wee bit hotter, maybe 185F.

(Hint: pre-heat the plunger, and your cup, with a bit of hot water.  It's easier to control the water temperature that way, and a preheated cup won't cool the coffee too quickly.)

(*) I'd suggest a grinder of the Capresso Infinity or Baratza Maestro grade, or better, if you really want the best out of your Aeropress.  Or any brew method, for that matter.

The Cup
This is what it's all about, isn't it?  The Aeropress makes a lovely, lovely cup.  The cup tends to be smooth and rich, with bitter edges softened, yet it doesn't flatten the flavors;  they are all still there.  Drink it straight, or Americano (ie diluted with a bit of hot water); I do it both ways and they're both great.  It's richer than drip, and in my opinion generally smoother than french press.  (and there's NO grit!)  The Aeropress does a good job of bringing out nuances in the beans, yet it's not finicky at all.

The Aeropress cup is not espresso.  It lacks the body, although it's not too far off in flavor.  That's ok, because it is a great cup in its own right.  (I only mention this because the packaging says it makes espresso, which is a bit silly.)

Clean-up
Is trivially simple.  The plunger fits exactly such that simply using the device cleans the cylinder.  Just remove the filter cap and push the plunger all the way through, so that the rubber seal pops out the bottom.  This pushes the used coffee puck out, and all you have to do is rinse the rubber end, and rinse the stirrer.  Then you stick the thing onto the included coffee funnel, which acts as a stand, and in 10 seconds you've cleaned up.

The paper filters are designed to be throwaway, but I rinse mine off and use them 2 or 3 times.  I figure that this gives me about 2 years worth of filters until I have to buy another pack.  (Filter packs are cheap, about 10 bucks for 300.)

The instructions say not to put it into a dishwasher.  It would probably survive, but there's no point.  I've never even touched soap to mine, much less a dishwasher, and it's as clean as the day it came out of the box.

Variations
Some people think the paper filter removes flavor oils.  I don't, but if you want to experiment, you can make your own filter from a cut-up gold-tone filter. Or, buy a sheet of food grade polyester filter mat (McMasters is one source) and cut a circle.

Another variation is the "inverted method".  I haven't tried this, but the idea is to stick the plunger in a little bit and add the coffee/water through the filter end, holding the AP upside down.  Supposedly this manages to get a bit more of the coffee oils into the cup since they don't have to fight their way through the coffee puck.

Negatives
Well, it doesn't dust under the bed.  Seriously, though, there's not much to say here.  One thing that might be seen as a negative:  because the Aeropress is essentially a very gentle brew method, it does use a lot of coffee compared to drip or press-pot.  Expect to go through roughly twice as much coffee per cup brewed as you would with drip.

Other nitpicking:  It's not high fashion -- quite the contrary.  It's essentially a single cup device.  You have to press into a reasonably sturdy cup or mug;  you won't find me pressing into a delicate Meissen china cup, and it's too large to press into an espresso cup.  (Which is actually a shame, since the result volume is just about right for an espresso cup.)

Purchase and support
The Aeropress can be found in coffee shops or online (eg Amazon), for about $25.  You can find them used but why bother.  The Aerobie web site has a ton of useful information about the Aeropress.  Also, most popular online coffee forums have Aeropress information, and the inventor (Alan Adler) frequently participates and answers questions.