Get a Melitta (brand) style ceramic coffee filter cone and some #2 paper coffee filters at your grocery store and make all the excellent drip coffee you want, one cup at a time. You need to buy DRIP GRIND coffee (I grind my own.) and use hot water just UNDER boiling temperature.
If you buy a cup of coffee at Barney's Coffee, which is more expensive than Starbuck's, cone & filter is the preparation Barney's uses.
AMAZON LINK:
Amazon.com: Coffee ceramic cone
My first choice in coffee is Trader Joe's whole bean Columbian.
I purchased an AeroPress through Amazon to test it against my 'standard' Melitta-style cone and paper filter drip coffee.
Before making my first cup I watched several AeroPress videos on U-Tube. I found it interesting that few twenty-ish brewers in the videos followed the printed instructions that come with the AeroPress.
This morning I made my fifth cup of AeroPress and the first cup that was better than my average cone drip cup.
The AeroPress scoop, which measures the recommended ground coffee portion is LARGE. Scoop capacity requires 25% more ground coffee to make one cup per AeroPress directions than my accustomed measure for Melitta style drip. While I do not buy really exotic, expensive coffee, mostly content alternating between geographic offerings of whole bean coffee from Trader Joe's, 25% is a significant increase.
AeroPress claims in its directions: "ACIDITY: AeroPress brew has one fifth the acid level of drip brew and one ninth the acid level of French press brew. It's easier on your tummy." Perhaps not intended as claim for quality. Acid in coffee, like acid in wine, is one of coffee/wine's impressions on the palate and certainly
pleasure impression of relative
acidity is subjective. The cup I brewed this morning is very smooth, one shade, possibly two shades less acid than my cone drip brew. Better? Every coffee drinker will have his or her opinion. Today's is a GOOD mug.
AeroPress directions recommend 175 degree brewing water. Recommended water temp for cone and filter drip is 198 degrees. Lower water temp likely accounts for reduced extraction in the brew and explains why AeroPress scoop has 25% more volume.
I grind my coffee in an electric Baratza 'Vario' burr grinder ($450 new, I bought mine for $200 from a coffee fanatic friend who wanted to buy the latest and greatest Baratza model.) Vario is a very nice machine. The coffee I am grinding now is Trader Joe's "Organic Sumatra Coffee" "Medium-Dark Roast, Smooth Earthy Notes". These are the SOFTEST roasted beans I have encountered. Even with the Vario adjusted to its coarsest grind, the Sumatra grind is fine. So, experimenting for the perfect grind for the AeroPress is in progress. I will be out of Sumatra in three days and my next container will be Trader Joe's "Columbia Supremo" "Medium Roast, Sweet & Rich" which is the Gold Standard of whole bean coffee for me.
So I will report again after transitioning to the Columbian and having more experience with grinding specifically for the AeroPress.
So far: A good cup. Messier, slower brewing process and 25% more ground coffee required per cup than with cone and filter drip. Messier, time consuming cleanup. May or may not displace cone and filter drip with me, longer term.
Output of AeroPress with espresso grind coffee is NOTHING like real steam expressed espresso.
