Aeropress

WezV

octatonic said:

RaymondLin said:

octatonic said:

Does it do espresso?

No

Hmm... bugger.
Can I make a cappuccino with it?

I make 2 every morning using the aeropress for coffee and a Dualit electric milk frother  for the milk. 9 times out of 10 we are using rave coffee roasted and ground within the last 2 weeks.   


okay, they may not technically be a proper cappuccino, but they are much better cappuccinos than any of the the usual suspects offer(costa/starbucks etc...).

octatonic

RaymondLin said:

I drink about 2 cups a day, double espresso each time.  350g bags.  A single bag cost about £7 and it lasts at least a week, about 10 days but let's call it a week to give us some wiggle room.

4 weeks cost me £28, for quality real coffee.  

We drink more than double that between us, so maybe £60 a month isn't too bad after all.
The pods are convenient and quick but I fancy a change.

ThePrettyDamned

octatonic said:

RaymondLin said:

I drink about 2 cups a day, double espresso each time.  350g bags.  A single bag cost about £7 and it lasts at least a week, about 10 days but let's call it a week to give us some wiggle room.

4 weeks cost me £28, for quality real coffee.  

We drink more than double that between us, so maybe £60 a month isn't too bad after all.
The pods are convenient and quick but I fancy a change.

La pav! 

Such a pain in the arse it'll save you money on coffee

octatonic

LOL.

Snap

DiscoStu said:

Best gadget I've bought in years and used almost daily.
Always make it inverted method so it brews for longer.
And buy the metal filter, it lets more of the flavour through. £6ish off Amazon.

just the sort of info I watned in the thread! Bought one of those just now.

Coffee - ah man, people go nuts about this don't they??? In a moment I am off to the local coffee & tea merchants - oldest one in Sheffield, Pollards on Ecclesall Rd. About a mile or so away from me.

I can feel a coffee and tea double header coming on........

Roland

I like the idea of the Aeropress, but the coffee always tastes under extracted and bland. 

Fundamentally I like simplicity. I've tried different travelling coffee maker ideas, but they always seemed more trouble than they were worth. In the end I carried ground coffee with me, put some in a mug, and poured hot water over it.

At home I use a cafetière, or a 3rd hand espresso machine which my son "inherited" years ago when he moved into a student flat.

Winny_Pooh

octatonic said:

RaymondLin said:

I drink about 2 cups a day, double espresso each time.  350g bags.  A single bag cost about £7 and it lasts at least a week, about 10 days but let's call it a week to give us some wiggle room.

4 weeks cost me £28, for quality real coffee.  

We drink more than double that between us, so maybe £60 a month isn't too bad after all.
The pods are convenient and quick but I fancy a change.

Convenience is the enemy, get an espresso maker that also has a steam outlet. Those pods are an environmental nightmare too and Nestle is basically evil so more reason to change.

Snap

DiscoStu said:

Best gadget I've bought in years and used almost daily.
Always make it inverted method so it brews for longer.

right, so divboy here tried the inverted method earlier, only I didn't make sure that it was properly sealed, cue spillage of red hot coffee all over my chuffing hand! I am now sporting a bright red piggin right hand. Looks like I dipped it in paint, and it is smarting summat chronic.

Not to mention the bastard mess all over the place.

hey ho, onwards....

Snap

Aeropress inverted method fail

menamestom

Roland said:

I like the idea of the Aeropress, but the coffee always tastes under extracted and bland. 

If you haven't already it is probably worth trying different methods.  Done correctly, I think it is one of the best methods there is, but you need the correct temperature, grind size, steep time etc.  Still, even a bad Aeropress brew tastes better than anything I've ever had in a cafetière, at least the Aeropress gets some pressure.  Plus being plastic, it doesn't cool the water down so quick.

menamestom

octatonic said:

RaymondLin said:

I drink about 2 cups a day, double espresso each time.  350g bags.  A single bag cost about £7 and it lasts at least a week, about 10 days but let's call it a week to give us some wiggle room.

4 weeks cost me £28, for quality real coffee.  

We drink more than double that between us, so maybe £60 a month isn't too bad after all.
The pods are convenient and quick but I fancy a change.

I used to really like Nespresso pods but after moving to an Aeropress I really can't stand pod coffee anymore.  I get around this by taking the Aeropress to work if I'm in the office.

ewal

Snap said:

DiscoStu said:

Best gadget I've bought in years and used almost daily.
Always make it inverted method so it brews for longer.

right, so divboy here tried the inverted method earlier, only I didn't make sure that it was properly sealed, cue spillage of red hot coffee all over my chuffing hand! I am now sporting a bright red piggin right hand. Looks like I dipped it in paint, and it is smarting summat chronic.

Not to mention the bastard mess all over the place.

hey ho, onwards....

Having experimented with different methods, I think the benefits of inverted are often overstated. A decent coffee, a slightly finer grind size than cafetiere, right quantities and steep time are alot more important.

Moss

@octatonic You're based in Witney, right?

I'd recommend a trip to the UE Roastery and talking to one of the guys there about their recommendations for a decent espresso setup - they really know their stuff

octatonic

Moss said:

@octatonic You're based in Witney, right?

I'd recommend a trip to the UE Roastery and talking to one of the guys there about their recommendations for a decent espresso setup - they really know their stuff

Yup, I know them.
I'll check them out.

ThePrettyDamned

Roland said:

I like the idea of the Aeropress, but the coffee always tastes under extracted and bland. 

Fundamentally I like simplicity. I've tried different travelling coffee maker ideas, but they always seemed more trouble than they were worth. In the end I carried ground coffee with me, put some in a mug, and poured hot water over it.

At home I use a cafetière, or a 3rd hand espresso machine which my son "inherited" years ago when he moved into a student flat.

Did you try is for cafetiere style? It won't do shots. Despite instructions to the contrary... 

Roland

My son works for one of the coffee suppliers. I've tried all styles of coffee and equipment.

RaymondLin

I used to use the inverted method but ultimately i hated it because I once had an accident where I let it sit on the mug and it tilted and fell.  After all, the rubber seal was already full of water and water is a lubricant.

I felt the coffee that came out of it isn't that much superior to say an espresso machine, and I found a Chemex a much more elegant way to make coffee, easier to control and make a smoother coffee.  People who I see loves aeropress generally come from instant coffee or moka pot so lots of crap or burnt coffee in the past (steam is way too hot to make coffee) so an aeropress is their first coffee gadget therefore going from instant to real coffee is a big step up, but for me, it is no match for an espresso machine and a Chemex I find can extract better flavours.

p.s. a cafeteria is okay, used to use that at work but the metal mesh means you get a lot of residue at the bottom.  You get none in a Chemex or espresso machine.

Sporky

I had a Chemex (or similar) and was very disappointed - it seemed to get all the caffeine and nearly none of the flavour, for more faff than a Moka.

ThePrettyDamned

Sporky said:

I had a Chemex (or similar) and was very disappointed - it seemed to get all the caffeine and nearly none of the flavour, for more faff than a Moka.

Chemex is good, but takes practice, as does the moka pot (which only burns coffee if used incorrectly). Used properly a moka pot can make top quality coffee with very little in the way of bitterness. 

Both are very caffeinated though... 

My favourite coffee is espresso but i do genuinely love brewed methods. I enjoy pourover to drink but it's a pain in the arse. I cafetiere is too sludgy - aeropress gets me cafetiere style in a cleaner cup, which is great. 

Siphons are good fun, but I never got any especially great coffee from it. I suspect there is a bit of practice involved with regards to grind and timing. But it does look super cool  

Espresso is still a pain too. To be honest, that's a large part of why I like the aeropress so much - a clean cup of cafetiere style coffee with no mess and very little effort in a method that's quite forgiving - it'll never be the best coffee in the world, but it'll pretty much always be good.

Snap

oh my, what the f have I started here??!

Its like a physics convention!| All this talk of pressure, and temperature!

After all, tea is where it's at. Deep orange tea, red hot. Loose leaf obviously.....