Reviewed: Aerobie AeroPress Espresso Maker

I’m a latecomer to the Aerobie AeroPress, but I’m now an official convert. This is a terrific little coffee maker.

By my count, I had five different coffee and espresso makers, six with the new AeroPress. I have a conventional drip coffee maker, a Nespresso machine (used in Cinema Murray for making espresso and coffee drinks for patrons), a Moka pot (currently in my daughter’s possession at college), two French presses (little and big), and plastic travel funnel drip thingy.

NOTE: if you don’t grind your own beans immediately before making coffee in any fashion you can’t possible make a good tasting cup. I’ll go as far as saying that you don’t really care about good coffee if you use coffee that you didn’t grind on the spot.

My wife didn’t understand why I needed another coffee maker, but I put it on my Christmas wish list anyway and I was delighted to unwrap it. It’s a weird looking thing.

Here’s why you need one, too: it makes great coffee and it’s very easy to use.

You can find the how tos and instructions elsewhere. Here’s what you really need to know:

• It takes only a bit longer to make a first class cup of coffee than it takes to heat the water.
• Clean up takes just seconds.

That’s it.

Here’s my process:

1. Heat two cups of water in the microwave for three minutes. Heat to around 175 degrees.
2. Get out a coffee mug.
3. Put a paper filter in the base of the AeroPress and screw it into place. Remove the plunger, set the AeroPress on the mug, and put the funnel on the top.
4. Grind two scoops of coffee beans fine - around 20-30 seconds in my grinder. Use a soft brush to move the grounds into the AeroPress.
5. Remove the funnel.
6. Pour the heated water to the top of the #2 mark on the press.
7. Stir, using the supplied stir stick (just the right length, won’t tear the paper filter) for a count of ten.
8. Remove the stir stick, place the plunger in the top, then holding the base in one hand, place your other palm firmly on the top of the plunger. Immediately press down applying slow, firm pressure.
9. When you reach the bottom, remove the press from the mug, unscrew the bottom and carefully eject the “puck” of coffee grounds into a waste container (I’ve done this carelessly twice, sending a puck of wet grounds exploding across the kitchen).
10. Rinse the base, the stir stick, and the bottom of the plunger under a stream of water and set aside to dry. No need to disassemble. The plunging action cleans the press.

Add hot water to the concentrate in your mug and you have a beautifully smooth cup of Cafe Americano—coffee. This is a lovely, smooth, flavorful cup of coffee, with almost no trace of bitterness. Use better beans, fresh, and grind them yourself (roast them yourself for the better effect) and you’ll have one of the best cups of coffee you’ve ever had.

Here’s my quibble: by definition, espresso requires a minimum of nine bars of pressure. The Moka pot only produces about 1.5 to 3 bars, so it’s not technically an espresso maker. The Aerobie claims to be an espresso maker, but it cannot produce nine bars of pressure. It makes concentrated coffee. Very good concentrated coffee, but it’s not espresso.

I heartily recommend the Aerobie Aeropress.  Add it to your coffee arsenal.

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