Coffee Revisited

For my faithful readers, you'll remember when I did a review of the Aeropress, a revolutionary coffee maker from Alan Adler, an engineer/inventor from Palo Alto, CA. Well I wanted to do a follow up on the product, now that I have been putting it through its paces for the past nine months.

Am I still in love? Yup! I am...

I have been taking the Aeropress on the road to all of our conventions. I have a small box that contains the following:

• a compact hot pot - boiling water in less than three minutes
• an electronic instant read thermometer with an alarm
• the Areopress
• pre-ground coffee of choice
• insulated mugs

Works like a charm and we always have excellent coffee to get our day jump started. And trust me - we need it after four hours sleep (if we are that lucky!)

Occasionally, we will invite people up to the room to have a quick breakfast and Tony, the wag that he is, likes to show the plunger assembly to folks and ask them the following:

What do you think this piece of equipment is?

a) A artificial inseminator for hippos

b) A coffee maker

c) A penis pump

Once people find out its a coffee maker, not only are they relieved, they are all intrigued as to how it could possibly work. I think we have made a couple of converts among the magicians who wander the lecture circuit like lost souls.

So how is the press holding up to almost daily use and abuse? Pretty damn well. The stopper still maintains a tight seal, the plastic the press is constructed from still looks a lot like it did the day I opened the box. I will need to break down and buy a new set of filters soon - but other than that, I have to say I am impressed with the quality of manufacture.

Another thing I learned about this press - you really need a burr grinder to get a fine enough grind to give you the optimal flavor and strength. I have been stopping down the local coffee shop and getting a week's worth of coffee pre-ground. I am currently looking into getting a burr grinder for the home so everything will be fresh.

So my conclusion is: Yes it is still worth a $30 investment - so what the hell are you waiting for? Go buy one - NOW!