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How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way to a Better Cup of Coffee

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61–70 of 124 posts

Re: How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way to a Better Cup of Coffee

#61
post #57
post #54

Was impressed with mine, but after the first few days the mess, fuss, and hassle started to get a bit old. Next, this guy needs to invent the 21st century version, which is connected to your water supply, filters and heats the water, stores and grinds a few weeks worth of coffee, and you just press a button and out pops your coffee, with no mess.

Nespresso.

Perhaps that's the right track, but now someone needs to invent one where you can just dump a kilo of regular coffee beans into the back, rather than supporting some huge multinational's billion$/year printer/cartridge revenue model.

Re: How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way to a Better Cup of Coffee

#62
post #58

I know someone that loves International Roast instant coffee. Can someone define "better" coffee to me?

Freshly ground, careful amount of roasting, proper picking time and storage of beans. Those differences are very easy to taste. If someone appreciates the difference in taste then it is better to them. Why is this a difficult concept to you? Are you trying to talk others out of their preferences and suggest that instant coffee should satisfy them? Are you trying to be a sort of anti-snob? Sounds a little snobby in a…

You're being downvoted because your response started informative and then turned snotty. Would have been great with just the first 3 sentences.

Re: How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way to a Better Cup of Coffee

#63
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freshly ground, careful amount of roasting, proper picking time and storage of beans. Those differences are very easy to taste. If someone appreciates the difference in taste then it is better to them. Why is this a difficult concept to you? Are you trying to talk others out of their preferences and suggest that instant coffee should satisfy them? Are you trying to be a sort of anti-snob? Sounds a little snobby in a…

You're being downvoted because your response started informative and then turned snotty. Would have been great with just the first 3 sentences.

I didn't want it to be great. I wanted to tell the guy the answer he already knows: different coffee tastes different. Can't my comment be just not-great?

Re: How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way to a Better Cup of Coffee

#64
post #61
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nespresso.

Perhaps that's the right track, but now someone needs to invent one where you can just dump a kilo of regular coffee beans into the back, rather than supporting some huge multinational's billion$/year printer/cartridge revenue model.

Where will the spent grounds go...? Now you have something that is not a simple problem and will not have a simple solution. In fact, it is a $15K solution

https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/rancilio-egro-one-pure-cof...

Say what you will about Nestle, but they seem to be the only people trying to make a decent cup of coffee easy to serve.

Update: thanks for the downvote. I will stop attempting to show you how the expectations you have for a cheap, carefree coffee machine are unreasonable unless you make some compromises or invent it yourself. It is an unsolved problem, but I get the message. I am not welcome to burst your bubble with the real cost of things.

Re: How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way to a Better Cup of Coffee

#65
post #50

I always wind up making a mess everywhere with mine

You might benefit from the inverted method and using a normal teaspoon to add the grounds and stir, instead of using the included accessories (I never use the funnel, and the stirring paddle is just...weird).

Unless I want to break out the kettle to heat the water, I heat the water in my cup and then pour into the press. My coffee cups pour like shit, leaking steaming hot water about. Plus if my ceramic coffee cup isn't pre-heated this way, the resulting coffee is luke-warm.

Re: How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way to a Better Cup of Coffee

#66

I have found my AeroPress coffee to be lacking body. I returned to pour-overs and French presses. Having read this, I feel I must again tinker with the Aeropress. Likely case of "Doing it wrong."

Eh, I spent a few months carefully experimenting with Aeropress methods, and while I got good results, I never got anything that I liked as much as what I get from my French press, which I also find less fiddly (e.g. with the French press, I find that small variations in both time and temperature have less of a negative impact). I still use the Aeropress every once in a while when I'm feeling bored (I always use the inverted method), but I'm never thrilled with the results.

Edit: I forgot to mention, I totally get that some people like the fiddlyness, the experimental aspect, etc. I completely respect that, and am that way about a lot of things myself (some far sillier than coffee). Coffee just doesn't happen to be one of them, so that aspect of the Aeropress is not a plus for me.

Re: How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way to a Better Cup of Coffee

#67
post #42
post #28

I use my AeroPress twice a day, every day and love it. But the article is mistaken in calling it espresso. It's not even close, although someone has rigged one to produce espresso[1]. And don't let the article fool you, there are really only three important factors: water temperature, grind size, and steep time. Varying these can get different characteristics from a particular roast, and it's fun to experiment! What…

Absolutely agree on the three important factors. But I'd say the fourth is bean quality. Makes all the difference.

You don't think pressure matters when plunging? I've speculated that a faster plunge might extract more solutes from the coffee grinds due to greater liquid penetration into the coffee grounds from higher pressure.

Re: How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way to a Better Cup of Coffee

#68
I have a very fine stainless steel mesh strainer for my aeropress (replacing the little paper discs). Using it, I'm able to let the coffee steep for 45+ seconds, gaining the benefit of the inverted method without needing to mess around with inversion.

That said, I still prefer well-executed pourover (once I got the hang of my pourover method) to aeropress coffee but I think that's more of a personal preference thing. Nowadays I travel with the aeropress (and a nice travel grinder that fits inside) and do pourover at home.

Re: How AeroPress Fans Are Hacking Their Way to a Better Cup of Coffee

#70
post #58

I know someone that loves International Roast instant coffee. Can someone define "better" coffee to me?

Freshly ground, careful amount of roasting, proper picking time and storage of beans. Those differences are very easy to taste. If someone appreciates the difference in taste then it is better to them. Why is this a difficult concept to you? Are you trying to talk others out of their preferences and suggest that instant coffee should satisfy them? Are you trying to be a sort of anti-snob? Sounds a little snobby in a…

I never talk others out of their subjective preferences. I don't try to talk my friend out of drinking cheap instant coffee because I dislike the taste of it. That is my whole point; taste is subjective.
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