AeroPress Original Coffee and Espresso-style Maker, Barista Level Portable Coffee Maker with Chamber, Plunger, & Filters, Quick Coffee and Espresso Maker

I love this. We don’t use it all the time because we have lots of other ways of making coffee but when we do use it, it is a joy. The same coffee is somehow richer and, of course, hotter. We took it with us when we went away for a long weekend recently and it was great to have decent coffee rather than the cheap instant stuff the hotels provide. Our trip also included a few days in self-catering accommodation and again this came into its own as it is so much easier to clean up than the cafetière provided.Do be sure to have the press on a stable base as you do have to press down quite hard to push the coffee through but that is the only downside I can think of. Cleaning up after use is a doddle, push out the end of the tube into a bin and just wash the equipment, no messy grounds to deal with.

Brilliant coffee press for one. Its all been said before really. Produces an excellent cup of coffee with minimum fuss and so easy to clean afterwards. I already have a small cafetierre, but its a hassle to clean and can leave some grounds in the cup. This is the item I didnt know I needed,only an item on MSN drew my attention to it and I'm glad it did.

This product is an absolute game changer. Don’t let the price put you off because it works perfectly and makes an incredible cup of coffee, well sealed it looks beautiful. It’s noiseless when compared to something like an electric coffee pot. It’s portable easy to clean and it makes the whole room smell of beautiful coffee as well as making a delicious cup.

The media could not be loaded. The overarching benefit of this product is how easy it is to clean. This is ultimately what sold me. I don't think all the puffery surrounding it has much weight ("smooth" coffee, "no bitterness", blah blah blah – rubbish). The coffee tastes just fine, as it would from any other method of steeping coffee in hot water. It probably wouldn't wow a true connoisseur (and you get a lot of fake ones swearing by this device), but if you're after a simple, quick and easy way to make your regular cup, this works: decent coffee, fast, dead easy to clean.Let's clear up a few other points. This is basically no different than a French Press (cafetière). It does not produce espresso. And the name/visual look is a clever trick. You are not extracting coffee via pressure (like coffee machines do). You are applying human strength (and that is all) to push coffee through a filter. Unlike a French Press, there is no risk of grounds whooshing through by doing this fast or under pressure, so you can plunge in 10-20s. Great! It's a fast French Press which is easy to clean.That means two other things. First, don't buy the metal filters. They become another thing to clean, and allow finer grounds through anyway. The paper ones mean you can just pop out everything into the trash really easily. (Don't worry about wasting paper – 350 filters = 1/6th of a single newspaper). The metal ones make this a faff close to cleaning a French Press again. No good. A metal filter will force you to use the "inverted method"; but actually I've found I prefer to do this anyway, even with the paper filters (which may drip slightly, but basically don't). This is no real problem, as either way up, like I say, this is just a clever French Press. So fine.Do I recommend this device? Yes: because it's the quickest, easiest-to-clean way of brewing your regular coffee. Just don't expect the magic that their marketing team have swirled around it.UPDATE: A good few years have passed, I am still using it regularly and still think it's great.

PRICE 10/10COFFEE QUALITY 10/10COFFEE MAKER QUALITY 9/10EASE OF USE 9/10CLEANING EASE 10/10DURABILITY 10/10BREW SPEED 10/10APPEARANCE 4/10VERSATILITY 10/10PROS• Great coffee• Small footprint• Portable/great for travel• Durable• Easy to clean• Inexpensive• USA made• BPA freeCONS• All plastic• Only makes one cup of coffeeBUY ON AMAZONThe AeroPress is one of the few coffee makers out there I think every coffee drinker should try at least once. In this review, I’ll try and show you why.I’ve been brewing coffee with the AeroPress for several years now, and it’s still working just as great as the day I bought it.For those who of you who have just been introduced to the Aerobie AeroPress (yes, it’s made by that same frisbee company), meet the coffee maker with perhaps the biggest cult following in the entire coffee industry.This ugly plastic coffee maker makes coffee unlike anything you’ve ever tried before and has basically created an entirely new brewing category that falls somewhere between immersion and pour over.Sure, the AeroPress isn’t necessarily for everyone, but given how versatile the AeroPress is, chances are good you’ll be able to get the results you want from it with a little bit of practice.What do I mean by versatile?Well, in this case the versatility I speak of has to do with the way you brew with it. Many people brew right-side-up (as is recommended by Alan Adler, the coffee maker’s inventor), and just as many, if not more, brew upside-down.Some brew with SCAA recommended water temperatures, others stick to the manufacturer’s guidelines of 175˚F.Some people stir 20 times, others don’t stir at all.And I could go on and on and on.Really, the reason this coffee maker is so versatile is because of how many different techniques have been adopted by its users. In fact, so many people love the AeroPress that there is actually a World AeroPress Championship that takes place at least once a year.You can find all of the winning AeroPress recipes/techniques here (you’ll notice not one is the same from competitor to competitor).UNBOXINGKeep in mind that there are tons of different combo packages that you can buy on Amazon.But your typical set will come with an Aeropress coffee maker, a tote, and something crazy like 350 filters.AEROPRESS REVIEWThe AeroPress is definitely one of the best investments I’ve ever made when it comes to making great coffee.It’s easy to use. Makes great (and unique) tasting coffee. It’s easy to clean. Oh, and it’s incredibly durable.I want to let that last point sink in a bit.This thing seems unbreakable. It’s really strong, BPA-free plastic. The only parts that really seem “cheap” are the ones that really aren’t essential (the scoop, stirrer, and funnel). The AeroPress itself however, seems as if it will never break.And if it does? Well, for less than £30 I won’t feel as bad as I could have potentially felt with a more expensive coffee maker.LOOKING FOR ESPRESSO?In my first brew, I was making what the Aerobie folks label as an “espresso”. My thoughts? Not even close.It’s concentrated coffee, for sure, but it isn’t espresso.Now, this isn’t to say that the resulting beverage doesn’t taste good. In fact, it’s really tasty. Just not espresso. Espresso requires about 9 bars of pressure. The AeroPress only uses 2 bars. So if you want “real” espresso, you should probably be looking elsewhere.If anything, the resulting coffee is similar to an Americano in mouthfeel and strength, but this of course depends on how much coffee and water you use.MY AEROPRESS RATINGSAll right, so below you will find the breakdown of my ratings for the AeroPress.THE PRICE£30 is an incredibly fair price for a coffee maker that makes coffee as good as this. Easily one of the best value coffee makers on the market given how long it lasts and how great the coffee tastes.Score: 5 starsTHE COFFEE QUALITYSo far, I’ve been very impressed with the way the coffee tastes. Little bitterness…and lots of flavor.If you have the right brew parameters, you will likely get the best coffee you’ve ever had. Screw this up though, and your resulting cup could taste like dirt.Score: 5 starsTHE COFFEE MAKER QUALITYThis is by no means the best quality coffee maker. The thing is, it doesn’t really need to be.It gets the job done for what it is. The slight deduction from a 5-star rating are the complimentary plastic accessories that aren’t the best quality, as well as the fact that the entire coffee maker is made of plastic, albeit BPA free plastic.Score: 4.5 starsEASE OF USEIt’s easy to use if you aren’t trying to get too fancy (read: inverted). Sure, it’s a little bit more hands-on than an automatic coffee maker…but aren’t you willing to do a little extra work for a lot better coffee?That’s what I thought.Score: 4.5 starsCLEANING EASESo easy. I love that you just press out the used grounds and run a bit of warm water through. That’s it!Score: 5 starsDURABILITYIf it were glass like the Chemex or Hario V60, we’d have a pretty low score here.But since it’s 100% plastic, I think the AeroPress will last me a very long time.Score: 5 starsAPPEARANCEIt’s not the prettiest coffee maker. It looks like something you would see in a 90’s infomercial. But you don’t buy a £30 coffee maker for looks.Score: 2 starsBREW SPEEDAside from the time it took me to measure the beans and boil the water, the whole brew takes about 1 minute. It is more hands on, but this is a very quick brew process.Alan Adler, the coffee maker’s inventor, says the AeroPress’ coffee benefits from a quick brew process to reduce over-extraction (a bitter cup of coffee).Score: 5 starsMADE IN THE USAUSA-made coffee makers are tough to find, but the AeroPress is one of the few that fits the bill!VERSATILITYCan be used in hundreds of different ways, with hundreds of different parameters. Even though it’s a manual brew process, this is still a very versatile coffee maker.Score: 5 starsFINAL THOUGHTSI highly recommend the AeroPress for all coffee enthusiasts out there. This may not be the best option if you are rushing out the door in the morning, but this is really the perfect choice for weekend coffee brewing for one.Yeah, this is a single serve coffee maker that’s easy to use, but it’s very hands on.I think the AeroPress is a coffee maker that every coffee drinker should try at least once. And for less than £30, it’s a very small risk to take in my opinion.

Use mine EVERY day, makes amazing espresso quality coffee, no leaking and so easy to clean. Coffee always tastes amazing. It’s so portable too.