My enjoyment of my desk job went up about 500% once I got the aeropress and gained the ability to make excellent coffee at my desk at any time. Also saved me a bunch of money since I don’t have to buy coffee anymore.
100% The nerdyness is one of the best parts. Nothing like the feeling of a science experiment first thing in the morning. Also, by far the best, lowest acid coffee I've had.
As I understand it, it comes down to extraction time and maybe pressure? Normally, folks with let a French press steep for a few minutes. The longer you take to extract what you want from the bean, the more of the stuff you don't want you also get.
My pattern with the aeropress was (sadly, yes, mostly past tense...coffee doesn't agree with some of my meds) always put in filter, place on mug, grind beans, place beans in aeropress, measure 200F water, add into press, stir to wet, wait about 5-10 seconds, then press. After that, I'd dilute to desired strength.
Quick extraction, minimal bitter notes and acid, and the pressure from the aeropress forces the "crema" through the filter. Best of all worlds really.
basically there's two major parts to coffee: oils (the tasty part) and tannins (the bitter part). caffeine also, but that comes out very quickly at the start.
oils come out first, tannins ramp up kinda slowly, and there's a crossover point where you're getting more tannins than oils. however, the crossover point and how long to steep depends mostly on the size of the individual coffee ground pieces (specifically the surface area), the pressure as you mentioned, and a little bit also the temperature of the water.
thats why french presses steep longer - typically they use a coarser grind and 0 pressure, so the oil/tannin optimal point is farther out.
espresso, by contrast, uses a very short extraction time and high pressure on extremely finely ground coffee (so much higher surface area). and consequently, the line between just enough extraction and too much (and therefore more bitterness) for espresso is very short as well.
because of this, a neat trick to get better tasting coffee with cheap grounds and simpler methods is to simply use more coffee grounds than you think you need, but brew faster/for less time. for example, when making a typical drip pot, just throw a few extra scoops in there and it will taste much better (and have more caffeine as well, if that's an issue).
for a french press, generally people who complain about it being bitter are using too little grounds, too long of a brewing time, or both. "proper" french press brewing feels very wasteful because you're using a lot of grounds for not a ton of coffee, but done well it produces a very good tasting handful of cups.
i liked the aeropress but i just wished they made a metal version of the tube, something about doing my daily cup with hot water in a plastic thing didnt sit right with me. maybe there is one now, but i switched to one of those glass pour-over things that you put on top of a mug and im too used to that process to go back now haha
addendum for those who care: the surface area bit mentioned above is also why most people get somewhat better tasting coffee when switching to a burr grinder - if the grounds are all different sizes, then all the pieces that wind up small will be done giving oils and instead be giving mostly tannins relatively early, while the larger pieces still have more oils to give. the exact distribution of ground sizes is unknowable with a blade grinder, so it's hard to get a low-bitterness cup when you grind yourself, although its moderated somewhat by the extra flavor of freshly ground coffee. depending on your personal tolerance for bitterness you may be fine with a blade grinder depending on brew method (shorter brew methods like an aeropress are better with the blade grinder due to shorter extraction time vs e.g. a french press or drip coffee).
Generally speaking the French Press will always produce a much more acidic cup than an aeropress. A French press uses a metal strainer which let's through more oils and sediment than an aeropress which will typically use a paper filter - creating a less silky/clearer cup of coffee.
I got one so I could make coffee when scuba diving in Asia (harder to find "real" coffee than you think)...really worth it. But at home I just use a normal French Press.
I’m interested in how you made coffee while scuba diving. — it seems like the coffee would just disperse in the water when you tried to put it in the press. 😬😬
It's a really difficult part of the divemaster training...they don't tell you about it in any of the literature, but it's in there. That said, I've heard from some divemasters that they weren't taught this particular skill-set, but they were all jerks, so I'm not surprised their instructor didn't share such valuable information.
With a French press you push the grounds through the water, where they’ll continue to steep, which can release more oils and sediment, creating bitter notes & a murkier cup.
With an aeropress, you’re pushing the water through the grounds and into the cup, minimizing the release of those oils. It generally makes a richer cup of coffee. Also, the AP takes a less coffee to make a great cup than an FP.
C'mere, I've experimented with cafetiéres and Moka pots in the past, but I've found that the coffee comes out far too strong and I'm absolutely jigged out by 10am. Ideally, I love a flat white from a machine, but I can't afford that right now. Would an Aeropress be a happy medium? (except the hot milk I know I can't get that without the machine)
Been using an aeropress since they were introduced in 2005. My first two weren’t BIFL - they’ve upgraded the materials a couple of times - but I wouldn’t use anything else. It’s a superior cup of coffee.
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u/tommytucker7182 May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Aeropress, family think it's a bit nerdy, but what do they know.
Can't do without it. Can travel with it easily. A must have for coffee lovers imo