richedie Senior Member Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 615 Location: Pennsylvania Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Nov 29, 2006, 9:59am Subject: Re: Aerobie Aeropress
Interesting about the French Press vs espresso. What about Stove top espresso like Brikka and Moka? That is my favorite method along with true espresso. I rarely use Press pots any longer.
I do use unbleached Melitta flavor-pore filters - was this in the study?
So basically, Espresso, Brikka/Moka and Melitta (maybe a Chemex someday).
They'll likely fold space post haste, once they realize you've placed a thumper outside the Guild and there's one big MoFo spice worm heading for them!
I'm not a believer in organized roasting, so I can only speculate their behavior. I seriously doubt they'd give me the time of day, being I'm so, all over the place, in my amateurish roasting habits with only a cheap SS Wally*World roast pot, SS spoon, and one-eyed hot plate -- I'd bet there's not even a category for the likes of me! But, I can handle their rejection of me since that spice worm is soon to tear them another one while Sting and I have the last laugh!
Have you ever determined the percentage of available coffee oil that a polyester filter passes when used in an Aero? Is temperature a major factor?
ChristianRoth Senior Member Joined: 28 Nov 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Hutto, TX Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: El Cheapo Black and Decker Grinder: Armin Trösser Coffee Mill Vac Pot: Bodum Santos Drip: *YUCK* none!! Roaster: IRoast 2
Posted Wed Nov 29, 2006, 12:02pm Subject: Re: Aerobie Aeropress
rasqual said: Likewise, I think metal is a geek phenomenon, more than a Joe Consumer one. I'm sure that's true for polyester, which isn't as low-maintenance as metal. In other words, if Alan believes his sample cohort represents coffee lovers with consumer tastes, he may have little reason to embrace accoutrements that would only be purchased by ubergeeks. I know I think this way about poly; I ain't gonna make any money once I do start selling it. The stuff won't exactly be in Target.
I agree with that statement, but I'd wager to say that the Aeropress itself is an Übergeek phenomenon (right now), so I still think this would be the appropriate target market.
I have not heard anything about the Aeropress mainstream. It's usually on speciality web sites, such as this one, home roatsing or co-op websites frequented by more "geeks" than "normal" people.
I think the transformation of a "normal" person to "geeky" person starts by a normal person getting a good cup of coffee served by a geek friend and getting them interested in different brewing methods, home roasting, etc.
If the poly makes the coffee taste way better than paper, it's probably worth the extra "maintenance" effort. If it's something that can be mass-produced because a lot sell, they will eventually get cheap enough to throw away each day or even after each use (kind of like the paper filters now, you can wash and re-use then several time, but they are so cheap that barely anyone does this).
AlanAdler wrote: About a year ago, when I was younger and more naive about just how passionate internet forums can get, I quoted a bunch of medical studies which had identified the serious health hazards of drinking metal-filtered or unfiltered coffee.
Alan,
I think what matters to people more is taste more than health.
Sure, I can go eat a Boca burger which is supposedly more healthy than a hamburger, but guess what, I'll take the hamburger because it suits my taste more.
Ditto with the metal filter. If the coffee tastes better, gimme the LDL boost. Gotta die from something, might as well be from something I like... ;-)
Not sure about temperature. I brew hot. And I don't have a good answer to your question (how much does the method get what's gettable into the cup), but I know I get a heckuva slick. It's a cup you'd hesitate to serve to some people who might think you just don't wash your dishes very well. :-P
I posted a shot a while back; here's another. A 7 oz. cup of standard SCAA grind/water ratio, made with poly and inversion. It's a lightly roasted (City) FTO Colombian. The stuff around the miniscus is NOT foam. It's pure oil.
Posted Wed Nov 29, 2006, 4:35pm Subject: Re: Aerobie Aeropress
Hi Rasqual,
I'd like to propose the following experiment with your polyester filters, just to rule out that the polyester is contributing to the slick you observe.
Brew about a cup of coffee in an AeroPress with the normal orientation and a standard paper filter.
Now take half of that brew and heat it to your regular temperature and AeroPress it through a new poly filter (just liquid with no grind).
Now compare the appearance of the non-poly half cup and the poly half cup.
rasqual Senior Member Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 970 Location: Chicago area Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: *$ Barista, non-pressurized Grinder: SMP, KAP Vac Pot: Aeropress Drip: Porcelain Melitta 103 Roaster: "ring roaster", mod popper
Posted Wed Nov 29, 2006, 5:05pm Subject: Re: Aerobie Aeropress
AlanAdler Said:
I'd like to propose the following experiment with your polyester filters, just to rule out that the polyester is contributing to the slick you observe.
The simplest way to check that is to just run boiling water through the stuff. Done that. Not a trace of oils -- but if there were, I'd be screeching like a banshee to my supplier. ;-)
An inverted press with poly yields oils because the bloom and upper portion of the extraction column is pressed through the media first, and poly passes oils handily. A regular orientation doesn't yield as much oil because the bloom and upper portion is pressed through the formed puck last, and the oils are mostly trapped before they make it to the poly.
Again, anyone wanting to know why this works need only dip their finger in the bloom ("ouch!") and rinse it, noting the oils left on their finger. Then decide whether you want that bloom to be the first thing to go through very permeable poly, or to be the last thing to go through a formed puck and probably not make it to the poly very well.
BTW, if it looks like less strength than standard, that's the fault of the flash penetrating and reflecting off the white cup's sides. I should have used a dark cup, I suspect the oils would be better visible.
OK, here's another picture -- this one a Harrar, still a fairly light roast. The top picture is a bit of a side shot, the bottom section is the in-focus part of a straight-down-at-it shot.
If anything in the top image looks like just general coffee flotsam, rest assured it's not. It's light here because of how it's refracting the flash. It's all oil -- as the bottom image of the same surface shows.
I realize the bottom picture might freak some people out, but I'm sure there are French press users here who simply recognize something they're already familiar with. Well here it is in the Aero -- without fines.
This is a pretty good cup with a 9 day rest, BTW. Posting as I drain it (edit: tipping the cup to drink keeps the oils spread out on the surface, such that each sip only gets some of it. Thus, though I'm not too keen on the topology of liquids in cups, it seems to me as I stare at the last couple sips in this cup that I'm getting the same proportion of oils in the sips at the bottom as I was at the top. Yeah, that was a good cup. ;-)
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