Awesome Coffee Gadget: AeroPress

A barista I am not, but I do really enjoy fresh coffee.  In fact, my good friend Manfred has just introduced me to a great coffee suplier who provides imediately roasted beans that are then shipped to you by UPS/Fed Ex and arrive on your doorstep the next day.  Like I said, I like fresh coffee.  I use a Bodum french press, but Manfred has a proper Gaggia espresso machine.   As coffee lovers we like to use different methods and devices to reach the perfect cup.  I haven’t tried the AeroPress coffee maker, but maybe I will as it looks like an awesome coffee gadget.

The AeroPress coffee maker is a very simple gadget.  If you look at it in it’s most basic form, it is essentially a coffee syringe. The quick-brewing coffee maker can be described as somewhere between the classic French press an espresso machine.  The gadget works by pouring hot water over your grounds then you force the water through them with a something that resembles a giant hypodermic!  It is the speed at which the AeroPress makes a high-quality cup of coffee, which makes it a unique product.  The whole process can take approximately a couple of minutes and then at the end of it you have your caffeine fix in a smooth yet strong cup!  The AeroPress is the brainchild of an engineer who spent a large part of his career building toys and electronics.

Alan Adler focussed his attention to the coffee brewing field, following a conversation with a friend’s wife.  Before this he was designing flying discs for Parker Brothers. They were discussing how difficult it was to make a single cup of decent coffee using a drip percolator machine. That was back in 2004, by the next year Adler had constructed the prototype, a pair of plastic cylinders that fit together to create an air-tight seal. Adler was able to reduce the steep time to as little as 10 seconds, though lots of people will wait up to 30 seconds before pressing the plunger. This was accomplished by forcing the hot water through the grounds at a high pressure.  The very idea may seem overly simplistic and basic, but the AeroPress has inspired a complete subculture that is dedicated to devising the finest methods to make coffee using this device.

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[Image via departmentofcoffee]

SOURCE: http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/21/aeropress/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000595