Comment by jacobolus | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jacobolus | Hacker News Reader

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> French press - much less chance of mess

This makes no sense to me. The aeropress is the least messy coffee device I’ve ever used (after use just eject the puck of compressed grounds straight into the compost bin, and if desired give the parts a quick rinse), except maybe for those k-cup machines.

> Tastewise I've tried it with both metal and paper filters and regular and reverse method, as well as different types and grains of coffee - there's no tangible difference to a decent French press.

Taste depends on grind size, water temperature, water-to-coffee ratio, and steep time (and the paper filter).

If you use a very coarse grind and a metal filter, you’ll get approximately the same results with a French press vs. an aeropress.

If you use a very fine grind (or even a medium grind) then the French press does not work because the filter is too coarse (unless you want your coffee to be full of grounds). That takes out a huge part of the available parameter space.

Personally I like steeping very finely ground coffee at moderate water temperature (80–85 °C), for not too much time. I use the paper filters. It is not possible as far as I can tell to obtain similar results with a French press.

Regarding finer grind sizes with the French press, you let it sit. Just wait. Give the press a slight tap at the earliest after 4-5 minutes, so the grinds that floated up to the sieve and that are stuck there with the co2 will also start to sink.

After gently pushing down the plunger give the coffee another minute to let the fines sink down which the push stirred up from the bottom.

The plunger thus rather keeps the sunk grinds and fines down when slowly pouring, it does not filter the coffee.

An excellent cup from the French press takes 5-7 minutes.

It's like French food: best enjoyed slowly.

I can’t imagine this would taste anything like a typical cup of AeroPress, where you can use pressure instead of brew time to extract more flavor. It gives a very different result. The awesome thing about AeroPress is that it’s so easy to experiment with all the parameters: brew time, pressure, water temperature, and different grinds. Fine grind, short brew, high pressure and hot water and you get something more espresso-like. Coarser grind and longer brew time and it’s more like French press.

The aeropress just uses moderate pressure to get the liquid out past the paper filter. You don’t need to push very hard to make it work, and pushing harder doesn’t really accomplish anything. To use an aeropress you mix the coffee grounds into the water (like pour over or French press), you don’t start with a compacted puck of coffee and then force boiling water through it. The pressure involved doesn’t change the flavor. It’s not an espresso machine.

The thing distinguishing the aeropress from pour over or French press is that by using the plunger you can still get water through the filter even with finely ground coffee beans. By using a finer grind, you can extract more flavor from the coffee with less water, lower water temperature, and/or shorter time, and thereby get stronger coffee while avoiding some of the more bitter larger molecules.

I use mine in a similar way and feel the same way you do. It is the least messy way I have used.

And pressing the little puck into the rubbish can is gratifying and fun.

Camping friendly is a serious plus. I have one in my camp trailer. Anytime someone goes with us, I end up making another Aeropress convert.

It is stupid simple, robust, easy, fun.

(Except when you press too enthusiastically and miss the trash can completely)

Been there. Clean up time. When I miss, I miss badly. Broken puck.

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