3 ms·

It looks like a one-cup French press - what I missing that makes this better?

masklinn 5y ago
> what I missing that makes this better? The main part is that you unscrew the filter piece, so you can just push out the puck of coffee then rinse / dry through the tube. This makes them much easier to clean and dry than a french press where you have to send a jet of water through the bottom in case you had a bit too much coffee, then need an implement to actually reach the bottom of the device. Also makes it easier to throw the grounds into a dedicated (or semi-dedicated e.g. organics, composting) bin without the additional rinsing water. The second draw is that it's paper-filtered by default, there are metal filters but the paper filters mean way cleaner cups (less residue going through). This also provides a wider and more flexible grind-range. The third draw is that you filter directly into your mug, or bottle (if the mouth is wide enough), and can e.g. filter onto ice cubes for iced coffee, so less option for miss-pouring and mess. The fourth draw is it's all plastic so it travels really well, and because the plunger is hollow you can stow things into the plunger (e.g. many hand grinder will fit), so it also makes for a nice travel / hiking device.
- papertokyo 5y ago
  Seconded. I've been nomading for much of the past 6 years and having an AeroPress + Hario hand grinder means I can always make good coffee. It's compact, easy to clean, and as long as you're using good beans, somewhat difficult to brew a bad cup.
alpha_ori 5y ago
They appear functionally similar, but the coffee made is very different. A standard french press requires a coarse grind and you can only adjust extraction by changing the steep time. The Aeropress pushes coffee through a paper filter with an airtight seal. You can vary both grind size and steep time. Not only that, but you can vary extraction across the brew by very slowly pushing the coffee through the filter. (This is a very important feature of pressurized brewing methods such as espresso.) These controls allow you not only to better tune for different beans, but to successfully make different styles of brew for a single type of coffee. (For instance, you can adjust those variables to successfully make a shorter, more espresso-like brew or a taller, more pour-over like one from the same coffee beans.)

> what I missing that makes this better? The main part is that you unscrew the filter piece, so you can just push out the puck of coffee then rinse / dry through the tube. This makes them much easier to clean and dry than a french press where you have to send a jet of water through the bottom in case you had a bit too much coffee, then need an implement to actually reach the bottom of the device. Also makes it easier to throw the grounds into a dedicated (or semi-dedicated e.g. organics, composting) bin without the additional rinsing water. The second draw is that it's paper-filtered by default, there are metal filters but the paper filters mean way cleaner cups (less residue going through). This also provides a wider and more flexible grind-range. The third draw is that you filter directly into your mug, or bottle (if the mouth is wide enough), and can e.g. filter onto ice cubes for iced coffee, so less option for miss-pouring and mess. The fourth draw is it's all plastic so it travels really well, and because the plunger is hollow you can stow things into the plunger (e.g. many hand grinder will fit), so it also makes for a nice travel / hiking device.

papertokyo 5y ago
Seconded. I've been nomading for much of the past 6 years and having an AeroPress + Hario hand grinder means I can always make good coffee. It's compact, easy to clean, and as long as you're using good beans, somewhat difficult to brew a bad cup.

alpha_ori 5y ago

They appear functionally similar, but the coffee made is very different. A standard french press requires a coarse grind and you can only adjust extraction by changing the steep time. The Aeropress pushes coffee through a paper filter with an airtight seal. You can vary both grind size and steep time. Not only that, but you can vary extraction across the brew by very slowly pushing the coffee through the filter. (This is a very important feature of pressurized brewing methods such as espresso.) These controls allow you not only to better tune for different beans, but to successfully make different styles of brew for a single type of coffee. (For instance, you can adjust those variables to successfully make a shorter, more espresso-like brew or a taller, more pour-over like one from the same coffee beans.)