Do you like espresso, lattes, or cappuccino but want to make it at home without a costly machine? Do you like to be able to make great gourmet coffee while you travel and stay in hotels? Would you like your coffee-making clean-up process to be so close to effortless that you make an extra cup because you're tickled with how easy it is to clean up when you're done? Do you think syringes, air pressure, and frisbees are neat and wonder what in the world those things have to do with great coffee? Do you need an affordable Christmas or birthday gift for a coffee-loving friend or relative that has just about everything else? If so, then you might consider getting an Aeropress, which is made by the famous flying-disc manufacturer Aerobie.
Reviews of this roughly $30 low-tech gadget, essentially a big syringe with a coffee filter on one end, vary. Some people claim it's unweildy. Other's say it's the easiest 1-minute process to great coffee ever. Some say that it makes "great espresso," which is unfortunately not true. Espresso comes only from an espresso machine, but the Aeropress does make rather fantastic concentrated coffee that passes pretty close in the flavor profile, if not the texture, to true espresso. After owning one for a year and using it almost daily, I feel that it is quite easy to use, very quick both for making a cup and cleaning up, and that it makes a very nice cup of coffee, or a fooled-you latte, breve, Americano, or cappuccino that I've even passed off on relatively picky Europeans.
The process to use the tool is simple: after assembling it with a small paper filter (300 are included with the item itself and can be reused several times), put the desired amount of freshly and finely ground coffee (which seems like a lot if you haven't made espresso before) in, add hot water (boiled and cooled slightly), stir with the provided paddle or a spoon, and then push it through the filter under pressure. The result is dark, rich, and smells and tastes quite similarly to espesso, although without the crema head on it. Add hot water for a convincing Americano, half and half for a nice breve, warmed and foamed milk for a spot-on latte, or a little steamed milk and a bunch of microfoam for a cappuccino that would almost fool an Italian.
Clean-up is easier still. The process pushes the coffee down into a tiny puck. Simply remove the filter piece and filter, and push (pop) it out into the compost (or trash). Rinse or wash if desired, but it's almost unnecessary (I always wash mine anyway).
Traveling: it's light, it can't break (at least not easily), and it can be used to measure your water for you. All you need is access to hot water, say from your hotel room's coffee pot (without its foul coffee-ish drink). Bring your own fresh beans, freshly ground before you leave home (they'll suffer a little, but not as much as whatever's in your room), and push. Making great coffee is easy. Cleanup is easy. It's pretty close to a perfect situation.
Of course, this little device isn't going to reach the same level as a great barista at a good coffee shop, so don't part ways with your favorite little coffee stop yet, but it's really great on the convenience and quality meter, if you pay attention to detail and follow the directions. Incidentally, you can also use it, as the author does, to juice citrus fruits (if you don't want to just buy your fresh juice) and get a really good, really thorough extraction including a good proportion of the natural oils from the peels.
Local tip: Knoxvillians, you can get the aeropress, or just make great lattes at home if you have an espresso machine, with locally roasted coffee courtesy of the Vienna Coffee Company, a roastery in Maryville, TN, just south of Knoxville. For a complete list of locations in and around Knoxville where you can have Vienna Coffee Company coffees or buy their freshly roasted coffee beans, see this link to the VCC website.
This article is part one in a series of two. Click here to a link to the author's favorite latte recipe using his Aeropress in the second part.
For more great recipes and cooking ideas, follow the Knoxville Gourmet Food Examiner by subcribing at the top of the page. You can also read more on his personal cooking blog: The Untrained Gourmet.
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