The AeroPress is a versatile brewer that, depending on how you use it, can offer body and richness like a French press or more clean clarity like a pour-over. It's durable and easy to clean, making it a fantastic option for road trips, camping, and traveling — though you may just love it enough to start using it as your homebrewer too.
Performance Comparison
The AeroPress is durable, easy to clean, and delivers the best flavor of all our coffee makers.
Brew Features
The AeroPress is a unique coffee maker that facilitates total immersion and even, rapid filtering. Depending on your mood you can alter your brewing style to achieve a stronger richer cup or a cleaner brighter one (more info and resources on this below). Say goodbye to bitterness and muddiness and hello to a delicious brew, time after time. Whether you're new to craft coffee or an experienced veteran, the AeroPress is worth exploring.
The AeroPress loaded and ready for brewing.
Taste
Properly brewed coffee from the AeroPress has no bitterness and an extremely clean, rich taste. In our taste tests, this device easily outperformed all the others when used correctly.
The AeroPress has captured the heart of novices and professionals alike, to the point that there are now national competitions. The brewing process is delicate but forgiving and provides enough versatility to really tweak the final flavor and consistency. Check out this fantastic article for tips on how to properly use your AeroPress and how to dial in those different flavor profiles.
The Aeropress is versatile and fun to use - and delivers an amazing cup of coffee.
Ease of Use
The AeroPress involves a more elaborate process than many other coffee makers, though once you have it figured out it's quite straightforward.
There are many ways to use this device, as outlined in the article referenced above, and detailed information comes with your purchase or can be found on the Aeropress website. It can be used in both an upright and inverted manner and is able to produce everything from a clean full cup to a smaller, stronger brew resembling espresso. Lots of options, all delicious.
Check out this
fun and informative video from Stumptown for tips on how to get brewing properly, no matter where you are.
Linda Long pushing water through the AeroPress on a cool morning in the Upper Pines Campground in Yosemite Valley.
Group Cooking
This isn't really the brewer for larger groups, though you can serve 1-3 people fairly efficiently.
Because the AeroPress is so easy to clean (just push the plunger and pop the puck out), turn around time from cup to cup is pretty fast. And, if you make a very strong brew more like espresso, then your group can split the coffee from one pressing and add water or milk for an Americano or latte-style beverage.
The AeroPress being put to use on a car-camping morning.
Portability
This brewer isn't large or heavy, so it's definitely portable. However, it is made up of multiple pieces that you will need to keep track of.
To make it easy to keep everything together, the Press comes with a bag to keep all of the pieces in. You may also find that you don't need the funnel, scoop, or large stirrer and, if you happen to have a reusable stainless steel filter, you won't need the stack of paper ones either.
Everything that comes with your Aeropress purchase. Once you figure out your process you'll realize that you don't need all these pieces - though they can definitely come in handy.
Weight
The AeroPress by itself weighs 7.98 ounces, which isn't exactly lightweight. If you include just a few extras, like the spoon and stirrer, then it weighs 9.39 ounces. This would not be the ideal choice for a backpacker who is counting every ounce. But for a car-camper who wants a gourmet morning, this is perfect.
Along with everything else, you'll need to make sure you bring a cup with a wide enough mouth to allow the Aeropress to nest inside - otherwise, you won't be able to properly press your brew.
Value
The Aeropress is a bit of an investment, but nothing outrageous. There are certainly cheaper options, but this unique device is versatile, highly durable, and produces one of the most flavorful cups available. It does require a filter, but your initial purchase comes with a package of 350, enough to keep you going for a long time before having to re-purchase. At that juncture, you can buy a reusable cotton or stainless steel filter if you'd like to ditch the paper, though many people prefer the flavor of the final brew from the paper version. Your purchase of the Aeropress will also include a funnel for easy filling, stirrer, and scoop. When you consider all of that, the price is actually kind of a bargain.
Conclusion
This press is so wonderful that several of our reviewers use it for making coffee every day at home. It also works superbly for car-camping or traveling, but is probably not ideal for backpackers as it is on the heavier/bulkier side. While the AeroPress is pricier than many other options in our review, we love how versatile, durable, and easy to clean it is, and the taste just can't be beaten.
You can brew with the Aeropress in many different ways - here it's being brewed in the inverted style often preferred by coffee professionals.
If you'd like to learn about brewing in the inverted style preferred by many coffee pros, check out
this informative tutorial.
