We searched the Internet and wrote many emails to source the brewer that would give the best value to our customers. The Aeropress is a well designed and built device which does not require an expensive electric brewer.
There are countless videos that address brewing with the Aeropress but most of them are not worth a mention because they exhort what I consider a faux pas i.e.
- advocating coffee is ok up to 40 days after roasting
- coffee should be used within 10 days of grinding
- a presenter attempts to explain how they defy the laws of physics by building unbelievable pressure
- another has concluded that the pressure pushing out the coffee is a vacuum
- for some reason some equate hot water with bitterness rather than improper roasting and staleness
Critical thinking is required on the Internet. Yes, even now!
The Aeropress is versatile and has well designed accessories. It can be used in two ways which are best explained by way of videos followed by pictures and explanations.
The Atomic Way video demonstrates the Inverted Method (photo below) which eliminates the dripping into the cup while mixing.
THE GRIND. We often drink a modified Turkish style coffee where all the ingredients are mixed in the cup. The finely ground coffee is only produced by a burr style grinder. A finely ground coffee has a large surface area proportional to its volume which means a rapid extraction and that the grains soak up the water and decant quickly. A fine grind like this creates a mini disaster in the gravity drained brewers because the water is poured onto the grind faster than the permeability allows it to go through, resulting in the dreaded overflow. The plunger pressure in the Aeropress appears to circumvent that problem and yields a better extraction.
The end user has to determine the grind by experimentation. A coarse grind will under extract and the water will be pushed through too quickly.
The Aeropress is then flipped over and placed
on a cup and the process continues as in the
conventional method.
FRESHNESS IS #1 The staling process starts after
roasting and begins to be detected at the end of one week. Grinding the coffee accelerates the staling process. The high surface area proportional to the content of a coffee ground means that it is more rapidly affected by oxygen and moisture. Grind at the last minute.
More will follow shortly when the pictures of the various Aeropress components are taken or downloaded.