I finally got one, and I think it's a winner. Nothing to break, easy to pack, can be used for quasi-espresso or brewed coffee, easy cleanup. Not expensive, either. This afternoon, I loaded a scoop of Uganda Bugisu (City+) into the grinder (SM+) set to espresso, ground it up and put it into the cylinder (after fitting the filter in place). Filled the piston with an espresso cup's worth of water from the steam valve, dribbled it in over the grounds, then poured the rest and stirred 10 sec. (Note: that paddle would also work nicely with a FP). Pushed down (took a bit of upper-body strength--that and grinding enough in my Zass Turkish can almost replace my morning trip to the motel gym when on the road). Mistake was following the manual's advice to brew into a glass cup to watch the process. Glass espresso cups are too narrow at the top--concentrated coffee oozed out onto the countertop. Quickly switched to a 6-oz.tulip cappa cup (Intelly's Black Cat cups). When reaching the end, there is a rush of air and the bottom of the downstroke is suddenly quite fast--so be careful. Removed the apparatus and was surprised to find a little ring of crema. Tasted it--not quite espresso, but very strong yet strikingly smooth--like pressed version but without the texture getting in the way. Diluted 1"1 with water from the Livia's tap, and found it to be smooth, strong, clean and very flavorful--all notes came through loud and clear. Tonight, tried a mug's worth of Guat. Huehue decaf (FC). Forgot to use drip grind and ground it fine instead, which made the piston process very hard and frustrating, though it ultimately worked. This time I made it in a 10-oz mug.--5 oz. coffee concentrate diluted 1:1 with hot Livia water. What I got was the FP version of Guat Huehue decaf turned up to "11;" all its notes amplified--bright, chocolate, salt--but with no sediment at all. Sandy www.sandyandina.com |
OK, here's a challenge for anyone with an Aero. Sometimes one can learn about a new device by doing things totally wrong. So try this: an over-extraction. Do the grind, water temperature, etc. the same -- but leav= e it sit for a minute. Or two. Or, heaven help you, three. Then press and report the flavor. |
On 2/24/06, Scott Marquardt wrote: <Snip> ave <Snip> I had wondered about that, too. After all - in the FP the coffee sits for 2-4 minutes. And, if I'm going to make 10-12 oz coffee, why should I use so little water, a relatively large amount of fine grinds and give it total extraction window of 30 seconds? It seems that you should get underextraction using the directions from either Tom or Aeropress. Won't that lend itself to bright coffee? Why not for one mug, grind a little les= s fine, add as much water as the thing can hold (almost 8 oz), steep for a minute or two then press out and dilute to the full mug volume? Would that not be closer to FP, but sans sludge? I'll try that for the afternoon brew. For this morning's test brew, I did it exactly the other way... Right now I am drinking a mug from the aeropress done as follows - 2 level scoops, ground fine, added water a few seconds off the boil up to the top o= f the "blue 2 bar", stirred 10 sec, steeped 10 seconds, pressed out in about 20 secs. Then diluted to a mug. This yielded a mug of right stong brew, bu= t not the least bitter. In fact, it is good enough that I am taking this cup black. (Oh yes - it is "just under 24 hr rested" Brazil Cerrado 2nd Place coffee). This seems to accentuate the Aeropress effect. The strength covers up some of the delicate stuff I expected from the bean - but then it is jus= t short of 24 hrs rest, too, so it isn't really fully developed yet. The obvious disadvantage to the method I just used is that it uses TWICE th= e normal coffee load. You'd expect that cup to be ridiculously stong. It IS stout, but not as much as you'd expect (i.e. - I think underextracted). You'd expect it to be very bright, but it is not out of hand, probably due to the cooler water temp. Flavors from this mug? "Strong yet mild" is the feeling I get at first sip. Flavor is what I call balanced - there is good body and mouthfeel, but not cloying on the tongue. There are some vague hints of the chocolate and some of the fruit and tobacco in the finish. The after effect is very nice. Tak= e a sip, enjoy that, sit a spell and enjoy that, too. Nice now that the mug has cooled considerably, too. Tom is certainly right to rail against calling the AeroPress concentrate "espresso". The flavor of the conc is not like a good espresso shot at all= . I tried it before dilution, but wasn't impressed with it like that. What is surprising is that it seems to get better when diluted. We also have a water dispenser that has hot and cold valves on it. I teste= d the hot water temp a few months back and I think it was 185 F. I have alway= s nuked that hot water for 30 secs or so for the SG 1-cup. Maybe next week I'll try using that water straight out of the valve to extract with and see how that result seems. (Lazy as I am, it'd be nice not to have to nuke it and then wait for it to cool.) Can't hardly wait until this bean rests some more! I am taking them to the house for the weekend brews along with the Kenya Gethumbwini that I roasted just before I did the Brazil beans. Safe Journeys and Sweet Music Justin Marquez (Snyder, TX)http://www.justinandlinda.com |
On 2/24/06, Justin Marquez wrote: <Snip> leave <Snip> r <Snip> so <Snip> ess <Snip> at <Snip> w. <Snip> Well, I just made a mug with the Aeropress treating it exactly like a 1-cup FP, but only steeping for one minute (with frequent mixing). I used some Guat beans brought from the house which were roasted a week ago and which I used for this morning's drip pot at the house. I filled the mug with hot water from the dispenser, transferred it to a foa= m cup and nuked it for 30 secs. I had ground one level scoop of the beans as = I would for the FP or the SG 1-c (i.e. - sorta chunky) and loaded them. Poured as much of the hot water as would fit into the press. Turns out, AL= L of it just fit with a little room to spare.. I stirred for a minute. During that time about 1/4th of the liquid leaked out into my waiting mug. I pressed out the balance so that the total time was close to a minute. The resulting black coffee was not such that I wanted to drink it black. It had a tiny bit of bitterness to it. (Understand, I don't drink many coffees black.) So, I added my usual cream and sugar and the result was very nice mug with flavor notes similar to what I get from the drip pot at home with this bean, but maybe a little more pronounced in this mug. I think the Aeropress functions just like a very clean FP when used in this fashion. Next I will try using the official Aeropress method for one scoop (i.e., fine grind, cooler water, make conc and dilute to normal strength) with thi= s same humble bean. Safe Journeys and Sweet Music Justin Marquez (Snyder, TX)http://www.justinandlinda.com |
On 2/24/06, Justin Marquez wrote: <Snip> , <Snip> this <Snip> Did that just now. I don't have a temp measurement on the water, but it is designed for tea brewing temps, which AeroPress says is optimal. I did not zap it any. 1 scoop, ground pretty fine, added water to the blue "1" circle= . Well I may have overshot a tiny bit, but with the bloom it was hard to decide exactly where the actual water level was. But it was as close as I could get. Stirred for 10, waited 10, pressed for 10. Dilute conc to a ful= l mug. Tasted it black. Surprised - I liked it enough that I would consider drinking it that way. I drank a bit black. The flavor notes were as pronouced as before, but no bitterness. Very "smooth" to the taste. I added cream and sugar and am presently enjoying it that way, too. Safe Journeys and Sweet Music Justin Marquez (Snyder, TX)http://www.justinandlinda.com |
I found the solution for that after I'd had the AeroPress for a few days - the piston has the same markings on it, so you can pour water to the measure you want into the piston (that's where I put my instant-read thermometer) and then pour that into the brewing tube. Dave S. Justin Marquez wrote: <Snip> -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.0.0/268 - Release Date: 2/23/2006 |
I'd say the reason you don't get a brighter brew with the shorter time is the cooler temp. Low temperatures don't just mean slower extraction, they mean different extraction. The acidity that lends brightness just won't com= e out -- at least not quickly -- at lower temperature. And by the time you might leech some of it out, you may also have over-extracted from a standpoint of *other* solutes. The use of lower temperatures -- even if you're going higher than Alan recommends to, say, 180 or a bit more -- really changes things so much that a lot of experimenting is called for. Cooler brewing makes for slower BUT DIFFERENT extraction. That's important, meaning that you can't just prolong the extraction and expect to get what you'd get on a shorter extraction wit= h 195 degree water. Also, Alan happily acknowledges under-extraction as a key aspect of the Aero. That's a datum Aero users need to integrate with their thinking about coffee if they decide they like the brew. As an aside, I really do find that Aero brew is good all the way down to room temperature with several beans. Interesting. - Scott On 2/24/06, Justin Marquez wrote: <Snip> leave <Snip> r <Snip> so <Snip> ess <Snip> at <Snip> w. <Snip> l <Snip> of <Snip> t <Snip> but <Snip> p <Snip> rs <Snip> ust <Snip> t <Snip> . <Snip> e <Snip> ut <Snip> d <Snip> ce. <Snip> he <Snip> ll. <Snip> is <Snip> ave <Snip> t <Snip> and <Snip> e <Snip> e <Snip> ed <Snip> -- Scott |
Instant-read thermometer? Tell me more! |
Safeway sells them here for about $20. It has a digital display, and quite a thin probe. If you want to know what temp water you're adding to the grind, put thermometer into piston, add water, and mix. Dave S. Scott Marquardt wrote: <Snip> -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.1.0/269 - Release Date: 2/24/2006 |