GroundLevelCoffee

The Aeropress arrived late last week and I’ve had a chance to make a few brews with it.

First impressions are that the variables take a bit to pin down. How much water? Temperature? Quantity and grind? Do I dilute the product? If so, by how much.

After probably 8-10 cups over the weekend, I can produce something drinkable. I grind around 1 2/3 scoops of coffee at a grind perhaps half way between my usual espresso and SwissGold/plunger grind. I use enough water to come to the top of the oval ‘2′ on the Aeropress piston. I dilute around 1:1 with hot water and add my usual milk. The result is similar to a moka pot or Americano-style drink in terms of flavour and strength. I’m guessing my grind is a tad too fine because plunging the Aeropress takes a deal of effort - I wonder how easy it would be to break a cup?

It seems to require about twice as much coffee as the SwissGold, but with a relatively short extraction time (30 seconds, maybe), I guess that makes sense.

The coffee from the Aeropress is stronger but thinner than my usual brew from the SwissGold. There are no fines, and the coffee lacks a bit of the substance as a result. You can drink to the bottom of the cup without coating your tongue in mud.

Clean-up is fairly easy - about on a par with the SwissGold or a plunger.

After a bit of pondering, I’ve plonked down some readies for an Aeropress brewer.

They seem to have been in Australia from earlier this year - being available from Coffeepress.com.au. Cost is $54 including delivery, and I’ve opted for an extra couple of packs of the filters. News around the CoffeeGeek forums is that the filters are reusable and so I should be set for years to come.

I’ve also checked out Sweet Maria’s and Tom has some pictorial instructions on using the Aeropress.

Mine should arrive in a couple of days and so I’ll put it to use one the weekend. If it’s a better, cleaner cup than my SwissGold One-Cup, then I’ll probably spring for another one to use at work.

After plunging my coffee at work for close on two years now, I’ve sprung for another SwissGold one cup coffee filter. I’ve had a SwissGold at home for over two years with intermittent use but hadn’t used it too much until on and after our holiday last month.

SwissGold filters don’t seem to be readily available here. I bought my first one at a slightly up-market homewares store, but they don’t stock them anymore. The latest purchase came from The Coffee Company.

So how does a SwissGold compare to a plunger?

• Slightly easier clean up.
• Not as portable (I’ll need to brew in the kitchen then toss the grinds).
• The grind seems to be a touch more critical. A bit too coarse and the coffee is noticeably weak. A bit too fine and the coffee easily overextracts and the brewing stalls.
• It’s a different tasting cup. The SwissGold gives a cleaner brew.

So what sort of grind setting is appropriate? In my Zassenhaus, I turn the nut one full rotation open from where the burrs bind. For the Macap a setting of around 5 seems OK. That equates to a grind similar to drip - which makes sense since that’s what the SwissGold is.

Is the SwissGold a permanent feature of my work coffee brewing? No. It’s different, and I’ll use it for weeks-months-years; but one of the facets to coffee brewing is that different brewing methods yield different results in the cup - not necessarily better, but different.

We’ll soon be embarking on a week’s holiday ‘in the country’. Since an espresso machine and grinder isn’t near enough the top of the packing list, I’ll take a lighter approach to coffee-making for the duration.

The kit will comprise:

• A SwissGold one cup coffee filter
• A Zassenhaus knee mill
• A 7 gram scoop
• Two types of pre-roasted beans: A Dominican Republic and an Ethiopian Harrar.

On the bean front, I reckon the Dominican is one of the best coffees I had last year, and the Harrar will offer a good contrast to the Dominican.

I reckon that kit is about the smallest and lightest allowing for on-demand grinding. For those times when more than one cup is required, the SwissGold also serves as a very useful filter through which steeped coffee can be poured.

A question posed on my previous site was for suggestions for one-cup brewers.

I’m not an expert on brewing methods, but there are a number of ways of brewing a small quantity of coffee including:

• Using an espresso machine
• Moka Pot (aka ’stovetop espresso’)
• Chemex
• Plunger/French Press/Cafetiere
• SwissGold One Cup brewer
• Vac Pots

Some of these are faster and cheaper than others. For speed, I reckon the SwissGold one cup brewer or plunger would be quickest; followed closely by the Chemex and other drip-type cones. Vac pots and moka pots are probably next up in terms of speed.

For further info, check out Sweet Maria’s for a range of products and brewing tip sheets.

For those in Aus, many of these products can be purchased from places such as Coffee for Connoisseurs, Pioneer Coffee Roastery, Peters of Kensington, Coffee Company.