
Aeropress – Why is a simple coffee maker such a hit? - Osiris30
https://www.ft.com/content/dc778eda-57f4-11ea-abe5-8e03987b7b20
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neonate
[https://archive.md/zrHa3](https://archive.md/zrHa3)

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wlesieutre
Couldn't get to the article even with "web" link, but to hazard a guess: makes
good coffee, relatively cheap, don't have to throw the whole thing away after
six months when a $0.50 circuit board fries and replacement parts aren't
available.

If anybody can read it, tell me how I did!

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Grumbledour
It seems to me there are generally two trends in coffee. The kind of hipster-y
home-brew space, where people use an aeropress or something similar (hand
filter, chemex, french press) and spend a bit more on fresh beans and a
grinder, and the high price coffee machine, where you spend hundreds to
thousands on a machine that can do it all but does not necessarily produce
good coffee on its own. It just seems the coffee industry has succeeded in
making people believe that good and easy to produce coffee requires expensive
equipment. The many discussions I had where people insisted they needed an
expensive machine because 30 seconds hand grinding and pour over in the
morning was "just too much" and would not believe that fresh beans from their
local roasters are actually cheaper than some pads or pods.

Of course, not talking espresso here, where entirely different equipment is
necessary.

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enneff
> It just seems the coffee industry has succeeded in making people believe
> that good and easy to produce coffee requires expensive equipment

What are you referring to here? The only expensive coffee equipment I see
regularly in people's homes is the espresso machine. But your last sentence
implies that's not what you mean. What other expensive coffee makers are
people using?

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Grumbledour
I am talking about pad/pod machines, where the machine is not prohibitively
expensive, but of course a lot compared to a hand filter or other simple
coffee making device, and the coffee is of course ridiculously expensive.

Around here (Germany) many people also have coffee machines that automatically
grind and brew the coffee. At a few hundred euros they are again not
prohibitively expensive, but most people still feel they need them to get one
or two cups of coffee a day.

I just met far to many people who believe if your machine costs several
hundred euros and your coffee comes out of a pod it must be better than
anything you brew by hand and of course brewing by hand takes infinite times
longer. Maybe people are more reasonable where you are? Or you just know more
knowledgeable coffee lovers than I do. ;-)

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enneff
Yeah, not sure. I'm in Australia and people here tend to take espresso pretty
seriously. I generally either see stove-top coffee makers or espresso
machines.

There are probably a lot of people that use pod-based machines, but perhaps
just not among my friends. (Personally I think pod-based coffee should be
banned for environmental reasons.)

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jbob2000
My only complaint is that it’s made of plastic. French presses are usually
just metal and glass, which I much prefer to pour hot liquids into.

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fizzychicken
I have an aeropress for making coffee at work. It is quick and easy to use and
it is very quick to clean but the main reason for me is the process. I get my
cup, filter and press from my desk, fill the porlex grinder with some beans,
then I stand in the kitchen nearest to my desk (very open-plan large office
building) and grind the beans. Every time I grind the coffee people walk by
and comment on the nice smell. I enjoy the process, I enjoy the sound of the
manual grinder and I enjoy taking the time to perform the task after sitting
at a keyboard for so long. I make the coffee (upside down) and watch other
people go to the onsite cafe and buy a $5 coffee which takes longer to order
than I take to make mine. I find it tastes great and is considerably better
filtered than a french press. I have had this a fair few years now but I know
I am approaching my 700th cup as I bought it with 2 packs of 350 paper filters
and I will soon run out. 5 stars, would buy again. ( At home I favour a
Bialetti Moka stove-top. )

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guftagu
You can definitely re-use the paper filters around least 3 times before
throwing them away.

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lilbobbytables
I like my aeropress, and used to use it with beans from my local roasters.

But as of late I've switched back to just making regular ol' drip coffee in a
cheap coffee maker with Chock full 'o nuts coffee.

As easy as an aeropress is compared to other quality brewing methods, I still
find the drip machine much easier -- load up the filter and water, walk away,
come back and pour a cup. (Plus, I can't seem to get my aeropress not to also
pee down the side of the mug as I press it down)

Somehow, my coffee experience hasn't degraded at all. No, it doesn't taste the
same, but to me it's still totally fine, and almost always a better coffee
than the drip I get from most coffee shops.

Amazing coffee in an aeropress is just a white whale for me.

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Daviey
Feels like we've jumped some sort of chasm or shark here:

"The AeroPress is the coffee version of Linux, the geeks’ preferred computer
operating system. It is not pretty, not especially easy, but it is effective
and almost cool."

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mc32
Similar discussion a few years back:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7615399](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7615399)

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pmp613
I was starting a business importing roasted coffee from Europe to the US a few
years ago. I asked my roaster in Paris what machine he recommended. His
suggestion was over 1,000 euro.

Smiled, and said my wife won't sacrifice counter space.

He came back with Aeropress and i've never looked back. Near espresso
flavor... I do double size - 16 grams fresh ground (using a Porlex) with 6
grams of water:coffee.

Also use the "upside down" hack and permafilters (the finest screen one).

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m0zg
>> Near espresso flavor.

As someone whose counter space is "wasted" on a rather large espresso machine,
let me just say, you need to try better coffee. Especially if you're "starting
a business importing roasted coffee". You have no way to test if your product
is any good otherwise.

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jrmg
I am the only coffee drinker in my household. The Aeropress can easily make
one, good, cup of coffee at a time, quickly, and it’s easy to clean.

The only other thing that come close to to meeting these goals is instant
coffee, which has other drawbacks...

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denkmoon
I don't understand why you would use one of these over a "standard" french
press.

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modaf
I've been using it for years, it's just different.

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floatingatoll
The full title ends in “such a hit _in Silicon Valley_ ”.

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Balvarez
paywall

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neillyons
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