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Aerobie Aeropress Resource Sticky Trial - Discussion Thread

PostPosted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:13 pm
by CakeBoy
Please post any comments about the "Resource Sticky" concept and the Aerobie Aeropress trial article here.

Please post any specific information about the Aerobie Aeropress on the TMC boards in the normal way. "bruceb" will harvest the forum for content periodically. Of course you can contact Bruce directly if there is anything specific that you wish to be added to the article.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 11:34 am
by phil2spill
This is a really useful idea. Perhaps these threads could provide a basis for permanent reference articles for TMC in the future?

I think someone else's advice has been attributed to me though Bruce. IIRC the nearest thing to a contribution from me was to start with the 55g/L ratio I think.

Anyway, thanks for taking the trouble gents :) .

PostPosted: Sun Feb 04, 2007 11:57 am
by bruceb
phil2spill wrote:I think someone else's advice has been attributed to me though Bruce. IIRC the nearest thing to a contribution from me was to start with the 55g/L ratio I think..


Thank you kindly Phil. Got it sorted out now. Apologies to you and GreenBean. :oops:

PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 5:15 pm
by Walter
A great idea! As there are so many recurring questions I find it very useful to have all information on a certain question/topic more or less on one page instead of having to browse dozens of posts! If this procedure becomes more popular an associated Wiki might worth to be taken into consideration...

Regarding the Aerobie I notice there is no consensus about the grinding. I haven't experimented much with the Aeropress so I grind about as fine as for Frenchpress.

Also, are there matching gold-filters available for the Aeropress or would I have to cut my own? That question has been already been asked in a thread, but remained unanswered, if I'm not mistaken...

PostPosted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:10 pm
by Richard
Walter wrote:Also, are there matching gold-filters available for the Aeropress or would I have to cut my own? That question has been already been asked in a thread, but remained unanswered, if I'm not mistaken...


I just converted my Aeropress to a Swiss-Gold filter and yes you need to cut one out of one-side of the basket, an easy job.

Wow, what a difference. I didn't fit this Swiss-Gold in haste. I compared and compared the Aeropress with paper filters against the French press and every time, with every coffee and whatever grind the French Press won even if I did get sludge. You don't have to drink the sludge.

With the Swiss Gold filter in place I'm getting coffee as good as in the French-Press, my next move will be a decent grinder.

I figure you can fit two Swiss Gold filters onto the Aeropress for extra filtering, I'm about to do just that and will report 'my' view in due-course.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:41 pm
by Richard
Just fitted 2 gold filters to the Aeropress and not a trace of sludge though I think I must like the taste that comes through with a bit of sludge, certainly the 2 Swiss-Golds clean the coffee as well as the paper micro filters and using just one leaves about as much sludge as the last dodgy espresso I tasted.

PostPosted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:29 pm
by lukas
Hm, interesting idea with the two filters Rich!
I clean my swiss gold every now and then in coffee cleaner, but it becomes more and more damaged with every replace so I might need a new one soon and will probably try two filters too :)

PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:44 am
by Richard
lukas wrote:Hm, interesting idea with the two filters Rich!


In theory, academically, (I think) :D two filters shouldn't make a difference, assuming they are clean the coffee liquid passes through the same sized spaces both times so all particles smaller than the gaps in the filter will pass through. Yes ?

However, what I found was that by changing the direction of the weave between the first and second, the pair of filters do trap more particles and do slow the water passing through and less sludge.

By-the-way, even though the Swiss-Golds are an improvement on the paper I'm still not making as nice a cup as with my French-Press but that has to do with my method and grinding.

What type of grind is recommended for the Swiss-Gold/Aeropress method ?

PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:11 pm
by bruceb
The grind should be a bit coarser than for espresso. Also, it seems best NOT to wait after adding the water, but to plunge immediately. BTW, I was unable to taste a difference with gold and paper filters. Shows you what my taste is like.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 9:25 am
by Richard
Interesting that you were unable to tell the difference, my tests results are even more bizarre.

I still prefer the results from a French-Press, how can that be ?

With the same bean type and grind I would have thought that coffee made in an 'Aeropress' with a 'Swiss-Gold' filter would turn-out the same as coffee made in a press.

In both cases the coffee grounds and water are together for the same time and going through a metal filter devise that doesn't absorb coffee oils but my pressed coffee tastes better.
I'm even able to get the sludge levels about the same just in case that is making a difference.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:31 pm
by Richard
Sorry that I'm hogging this thread, I'm on a mission.

I think I realized why the Aeropress coffee doesn't taste as good/the same as French-Press. Ok, I had a clue but didn't realise it was a clue when one of the forum contributers referred to 'inversion', the reference to inversion meant nothing at the time.

When you pour hot water onto coffee grounds in a French-press or an Aeropress, that lovely frothy cap contains the coffee-oils doesn't it ? It has to, oils/fats will rise to the top.

In the case of a French press those oils rise-up through the filter and get poured into the cup, in the case of an Aeropress those oils rise to the top but don't get into the cup because get trapped on the wrong side of the coffee grounds.

I proved this in a non scientific way way brewing with the Aeropress inverted so the coffee oils were the right side side of the grounds then I fitted the filter, flipped it over and pressed the coffee into the cup.

Lovely, at least, lovelier, what do you guys think ?

Presumably an espresso machine forces these oils through, I think the Aeropress design is fundamentally flawed for a coffee enthusiast.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:20 pm
by zix
To me, aeropress is always and ever better than any french press I ever tasted. There is a flavour that comes with every french press extraction - oooh, I dislike it, and so does my stomach. It is the coffee powder. The sludge, as you say.
I suspect you are right about some of the oils getting caught in the coffee puck. Not all, of course, but some.
I have seen descriptions where people push the coffee out with the aeropress turned top-down to avoid this. It must be rather inconvenient, but I am sure it works. Especially with a cut-to-size Swiss gold filter instead of the paper filters.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:36 pm
by Richard
zix wrote:I have seen descriptions where people push the coffee out with the aeropress turned top-down to avoid this.


I'd say almost impossible. Since modifying my Aeropress with Swiss-Gold filters X 2 and inverting the unit for the brewing process my coffee tastes much better, I can use espresso grind and get very little sludge.

Having the three brew methods has meant that if a coffee didn't taste good I would revert to another method which often would produce a different flavour.

The problem of discussing flavour is the many variable involved, last but not of least importance is our own changing taste-buds.

Try eating 'Kippers', :D that'll sort your taste-buds out.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:54 pm
by Beanie
As the Aeropress is now my only kit within immediate reach... I'm also curious about water "temps" and volumes people tend to favour :) My guess is volume is a "what I feel like having today" as it is with me, so that varies sometimes. For longer drinks, do you treat it the same as making an americano? ie extracting the brew into a mug/cup of water already? More important to me however, is the 'temp' discussion. Please and thanks :D Oh and then there's the 'grind'... I'm just never sure what to do :(

PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:46 pm
by Richard
Bean_Believer wrote:For longer drinks, do you treat it the same as making an ? ie extracting the brew into a mug/cup of water already? More important to me however, is the 'temp' discussion. Please and thanks :D Oh and then there's the 'grind'... I'm just never sure what to do :(


I've been 'feeling my way' with the help of this forum with the Aeropress in much the same way as the press-pot and now the espresso machine so my comments are more 'diaristic' than factual.

Try pouring boiling water into a cold cup then into your Aeropress.

I use an espresso grind and a double Swiss-Gold, this combination has given me consistent flavours, more so than the press-pot though I love the ease of the press-pot.

I don't like espresso but I do like the coffee that a machine produces, the Aeropress seems to be closer to a press-pot than an espresso machine though if you grind to espresso the distinction seems to move away from press-pot.

If you're confused, I didn't mean it, I'm confused.

The whole coffee thing changes with the merest subtleties, I just managed to prove to myself that I don't like beans that are more than 6 days old yet I'm told that some Italian coffee houses won't accept coffee unless the vendor guarantees the beans to be three months old.

Sort-of throws everything else out of the window for me using old beans.

I like the Aeropress now, it's a nice tool, pity the manufacturers don't offer more help like the difference inversion makes and of course the Swiss-Gold mod.