Aerobie Aeropress - first impressions

French Press, Vac Pot, Drip or any other - air your views and results

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Postby lukas » Tue May 23, 2006 2:22 pm

I can't exactly explain what's all about it, Quentin. (Quentin was right, was it?).
The brewing-system seems to have two stages, a first one where it's french-press-like extracted, and a second one where they build a vacuum under the filter so that it works like a vacpot.

The thing is - I drank about 10 small cups of different coffees on saturday and about 5 more on sunday. They had the Bolivian CoE winner, two different Kenyans, Steve's Harrar Longberry and others on the stand. And every single cup was just plain straight-to-the-point coffee. It just worked. And the cups were so damn clean, so pronounced and all - the Harrar (as I said numerous times to everybody who didn't ask since I tasted it on sunday) was just blueberries in your face. I tried the same Kenyan - one brewed at 91°C, one at 93°C, and the difference was so amazing - I would guess at 92°C it would have been even better than 91°C. 93°C instead was just a bite of acidity on the tongue, compared to the 91°C brew, which had a very charming acidity and an overall roundness ...

Ah, I could go on raving like this forever me thinks. I don't know what makes the clover so expensive (c'mon, a PID and a mechanically up-and-down-driving metal filter can't be it). Maybe it's the programming, the big stainless steel thing or just the long time it took to develop that thing.

I can even imagine that there are other methods to brew coffee so that it tastes as good as the from the clover - I just haven't seen one yet. From now on, every brewing method for coffee that I see I just have to compare with the clover!

Damn. It was just damn fine good coffee at last! Now I need to get an aerobie with a metal filter and test that :)
Lukas

This week I like my coffee luke-warm.
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Postby lukas » Tue May 23, 2006 2:24 pm

I probably get myself a proper thermometer soon and test if that makes my french press results any better. C'mon, 2 degrees difference in temperature and such a difference in taste ... unbelievable (at least to me, who hasn't done a formal cupping yet)
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Postby Bertie_Doe » Tue May 23, 2006 3:05 pm

lukas wrote
And the cups were so damn clean, so pronounced and all - the Harrar (as I said numerous times to everybody who didn't ask since I tasted it on sunday) was just blueberries in your face. I tried the same Kenyan - one brewed at 91°C, one at 93°C, and the difference was so amazing - I would guess at 92°C it would have been even better than 91°C.

Aagh that's interesting, so the results weren'y exagerated by a super duper civvet/blue mountain etc mega blend, but regularly available SO's.
My last purchase was 2kilos each of Monsooned and Haraar from HB and I'm swapping each after 4 days, both I've dark roasted. The top of the brew cycle on my Zaffiro is set at 91C and the bottom (I'm guessing) is say 88C. The first week I was convinced that the Monsooned was best at the higher temp and the Haraar at the lower temp. A week later I believe it's the other way round, strange??
Maybe roast also pays a part, as it's a different batch? No doubt the Clover has a memory chip, that can be fed with origin names and past performances.
Temperature RULES, maybe I'll PID the Zaff, but first I wait till George does it - then pick his brains.
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Postby lukas » Tue May 23, 2006 3:10 pm

Remember that the clover makes coffee, not espresso. And it has a pretty easy configuration menu, where you set amount of water, brewing time and temperature. It even is multi-lingual ... and having a memory chip for origins and stuff would be great, I actually thought of it myself when I first saw it. Forgot to ask if it has one, though.
And yep, they only had single origins standing around there, roasted by the best of the best (Steve :), Intelligentsia, Stumptown ...) ...
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Postby zix » Tue May 23, 2006 9:11 pm

Someone here that managed to make a hole in a swiss gold filter?
Was it hard? Do I need special equipment or is the metal soft enough to be cut through with a razor blade type of knife?
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Postby scook94 » Tue May 23, 2006 9:43 pm

zix wrote:Someone here that managed to make a hole in a swiss gold filter?
Was it hard? Do I need special equipment or is the metal soft enough to be cut through with a razor blade type of knife?


Not sure zix, I was hoping a pair of kitchen scissors would do the trick. It is after all 23ct gold so it should be soft enough. My filter has been shipped so I should hopefully get it by Friday, I'll know better by then!

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Postby scook94 » Thu May 25, 2006 6:26 pm

zix,

My Swissgold filter arrived today (for use with the Aeropress). Just made one cup with it so far, not really enough to come to a conclusion yet. A pair of scissors with a sharp point was enough to cut the filter out of the plastic holder and using a paper filter as a template I was easily able to cut it to size.

The herring-bone structure lets water through much more freely than the paper ones, I therefore decided to grind for French Press as opposed to espresso but I got very little coffee grinds in the cup so I'll try going finer. I also used the "inversion" method as I'm sure the coffee wouldn't have stayed in the tube long enough for a 30 second steep otherwise.

I was using some Sitio Boa Sorte CoE beans from "you know where" that I roasted at the weekend, I hadn't so far used them with the Aeropress and paper filter so I can't really say which I prefer yet, paper or swissgold. I'll have a play at the weekend and hopefully come to some better conclusions.

However, having read about the metal filter that Aerobie have given to the chosen few on CoffeeGeek I get the impression (rightly or wrongly) that it more resembles the bottom of a portafilter than a metal filter for pour-over. If it is, I would imagine it would easier allow espresso grind a non-inverse infusion, therefore keeping the "ease of use" that is one of the major benefits of the Aeropress.

Anyway, I'll (hopefully) get the other half of my filter off to Steve tomorrow. It'll be interesting to read his comments...

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Postby zix » Thu May 25, 2006 8:44 pm

have you tried using the...Edit: :::insert stupid idiot comment here and rub it in by trying to act knowledgeable:::
I should call myself mr Bean instead.
Last edited by zix on Fri May 26, 2006 4:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby scook94 » Thu May 25, 2006 9:27 pm

Yes, that's what I meant when I said I'd used the "inversion" method...
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Postby KevinH » Fri May 26, 2006 9:45 am

zix wrote:have you tried using the inversed method advocated by one of the guys on CG? (in case you haven't, in short it is: stick the "plunger" in a centimeter or so in the outer tube, screw off the filter holder, turn the combination upside down and let it rest on the plunger part. Put coffee and water in and stir. Since this allows the grinds to swell a bit before making contact with the filter, you should get a cleaner cup. Then turn it right side up and push through as usual. )


Erm, this is not going to help the level of mass debate around here, but I have nicknamed this method the analpress, coz you flip it over and put stuff in the hole that was only meant to have stuff come out of it.

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Postby zix » Fri May 26, 2006 4:50 pm

Ooops! :shock: Lots of brown stuff going down the wrong way, yes.
I obviously need new glasses, scook... sorry.
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Postby Steve » Sun May 28, 2006 11:42 am

Come on Scook 94 I cant holdit any more results results :)
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Postby scook94 » Sun May 28, 2006 12:43 pm

Steve wrote:Come on Scook 94 I cant holdit any more results results :)


Hi Steve,

Slight hic-up this weekend in the A-B comparison, I ran out of roasted beans! Doh! I was enjoying the gold filter too much!!!

I was initially concerned that there was lack of body compared to recollections of the paper filter. It was tasting clean, very clean, almost like a vacuum brewer but was just lacking the body I like. However I dialed right down to espresso fineness and infusing for 30+ seconds prior to plunging I got the body I was looking for. I'm still using the inverted brewing method, which is a slight pain compared to the normal method but I'm getting used to it. There are no significant amount of grinds in the cup even at espresso grind this way, so I'll try the normal method, I'm just concerned the water will pour through too quickly.

My palate isn't refined enough to give any tasting notes but FWIW I posted the other half of the filter to you on Friday. So you should be receiving it soon...

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Postby Steve » Sun May 28, 2006 12:47 pm

Sounds promising and fun.

Thanks for the filter can’t wait to play.

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Postby scook94 » Sun May 28, 2006 12:53 pm

My pleasure....
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