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I used one for a while years ago. Ultimately it's too fiddly to brew with, and it doesn't make enough coffee for me (I like 12-16 oz). I settled on a french press, even though the AeroPress does makes nicer coffee, and is easier to clean. But the french press is much simpler, an important consideration in the part of the morning when you pretty much by definition have not yet had any coffee.

I don't own a Chemex or other pour-over brewer, but I would put them above the AeroPress. They're less fiddly to brew with, can produce more coffee, the quality is very similar (imo), and cleanup is not much worse.

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Huh. I use an AeroPress because it is much less fiddly than a pour-over, and makes much better coffee and easier to clean than a french press. Also I find the smaller-batches to be a plus because I don't want to be finishing a room-temperature pot in two hours.

I used a french press for years but finally got fed up with the difficulty of cleaning it, primarily due to the rough edge of the screen/filter. I got a basic pour-over brewer a couple of years ago and while it is arguably more labor to work with (and I have to buy filters, I really should look for a long use filter, but then I would have to clean that) the simpler cleanup seems worth it.

I can't really claim to be able to taste a difference in the methods, variations in the coffee I choose, the cream, how much sugar I use, all seem to drown out any difference due to brewing method.

french presses, drippers, and the like can just be rinsed after every use (to remove spent grounds mainly) and washed every once in a while.

i've been using a clever dripper lately as it's easy to use and rinse, and produces good coffee (similar to a french press).

friends who have the aeropress really like it, but it seems to me to be more work for marginal benefit (especially if you like cream and sugar =).

My morning ritual is a 20oz cup with an AeroPress.

Takes me 7 minutes total including grinding the beans.

Would you mind expounding on your steps/timing?

VERY roughly:

- bring a full Bonavita kettle to 205f

- hand grind 16-20g beans to roughly ‘beach sand’

- bloom For 25 seconds by while slowly pouring and simultaneously agitating

- fill to the top with water

- start a 25-45 second extraction at the 110 second mark

- top off the 20oz porcelain cup with water (by this time it has cooled to around 195f)

- push out the puck and rinse

I use the inverted method.

I also use a hand grinder because, uh, I sorta like the meditative aspect of it. And I do think you can get a higher quality grind for cheaper with manual grinders. I’m not willing to spend the hundreds on a nice electric.

Maybe I’ll do a video of this process at some point!

Ooh, what's your ritual?

Not to brag but I've got my perfect cup down to 2 minutes including cleanup:

- Kettle emptied, filled and on (10 seconds)

- Oat milk into frother (10 seconds)

- Grind beans - electric grinder on medium size, 2 scoops (1 second, a mere button push)

- prep Aeropress with filter (10 seconds)

- grounds into Aeropress (a delicate operation, 20 seconds)

- Kettle has boiled, stopwatch started and water up to Mark 3 (5 seconds)

- Stir grounds (not on critical path)

- When stopwatch reads 25 seconds, plunge over course of 5 seconds

- Empty Aeropress and rinse it (5 seconds)

- Pour frothed oat milk (5 seconds)

- Rinse milk frother (15-20 seconds)

This is results in a very delicious latte, the best method I've found so far and also amazingly quick!

I love your description, but want to add one heresy.

I use a microwave to heat the water. Where I live, my tap water is a pretty consistent temperature, so I can use a consistent time on the microwave to hit the right sub-boiling temp every time. 1:50 in spring to fall, 2:00 in winter.

Yeah, I love Aeropress coffee but after burning myself while using the inverted method I've resolved to using Kalita Wave at work and Chemex at home.

I do sometimes miss the flexibility of the Aeropress, especially doing 15 minute brews with really coarse grounds to bring out some unique flavour, but I make up for it with better beans nowadays.

The inverted method is needlessly complex. Use the unit normally. Fill it with coffee and water. Insert the plunger but don't press down. It makes a seal, and the seal prevents coffee from dripping out. It's like holding your finger over a straw. Sure, a few drips might make it through, but probably you will be able to trap 95% of the brew.

Also alleviated by this 'gismo', named Prismo: https://fellowproducts.com/products/prismo

> The inverted method is needlessly complex.

How is it needlessly complex? I do it everyday, and it seems more "natural" in making a full immersion brew, compared to the normal method which doesn't let you stir once you insert the plunger.

Do you really need to stir after you insert the plunger? I sometimes wiggle the aeropress a bit too break the crust in top.

This is exactly what I do. Or just give the plunger a tug upwards to create a bit of back-pressure. Keeps the water in the tube until you plunge.

There's no way pour over is less fiddly than an AeroPress. Timing blooms, gooseneck kettle only so you can gently apply water evenly, and having to sit the whole thing on a scale so you can measure how much water you've really added.

If you aren't doing any of that for the Aeropress (which you "should") I'm not sure why you think you need to do the same for a pourover. You can just experiment and eyeball it like you do for the Aeropress

Coffee rituals are a mixed bag of "truths" and preferences. Here's why I believe AP doesn't need those things and a pour over does:

Blooming is mostly to remove gas pockets from the bed of coffee so water can reach all of the grounds evenly for the actual brew. This makes a lot of sense for a PO, where water is quickly passing through, but less so for immersion techniques like AP.

AP doesn't need a specialty kettle. Just use the same funnel for the coffee grounds to pour in the water and you can be as rough as you want. I still use a gooseneck but that's mostly because they're smaller and take up less countertop space.

Water/coffee ratio is easy for an inverted AP. Water isn't leaving the cylinder until you plunge so you just pour up to the mark, however you please. For PO, you have the double whammy of refilling the cone with water and having the water almost immediately start draining out into the cup.

I make pour over the very first thing early in the morning, usually while an 8 month old baby is crawling around chaotically. I just put the ceramic dripper on my mug, pour a bit of water for the bloom without "timing" it, then pour some more like three times until the mug is full. Yeah I use a gooseneck kettle (which btw also comes in handy for watering flowers and filling up the clothes iron) but I'm not fussy about technique. Occasionally I just dump a bunch of water in the filter at once and the coffee turns out fine if a bit weak.

I have a Chemex three cup and I can make one or two cups with it without any timer or scale. It tastes great to me and is really consistent. The need for scientific exactness is overblown here (although using a scale and timer only helps the result). Even a bad brew from my chemex with freshly roasted single origin beans is far better than the terrible black coffee I drank at the office for years (and still will drink if it’s all that’s available)

Hm? Pour-over is practically an artform. You have to stand over the chemex, pace the pour very carefully, watch the bloom, continue to grow the bloom for two or three minutes… pour-over is absolutely the best coffee and also the most labor-intensive.

Aeropress: pour, wait, push. Maybe 85% as good as pour over and massively better than french press, percolator, or drip.

You and parent are in agreement.

I know it's technically less precise, but I just go by volume measurements, and use a measuring cup to measure water/pour. And bloom periods are easy to figure out visually, has the water started to all sink away and the coffee stopped bubbling? Time to start adding more water.

I thought the idea was that you fill it up as much as it can go, but the small amount of water makes a stronger cup so you add the rest of your hot water directly to dilute it to desired strength.

Clean up with my pour over: Dump filter in compost. Rinse under sink quickly. Done.

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