I had a friend and his family over last night for New Years eve and we did a head-to-head demonstration of the Aeropress and Siphon pot. I don't make Siphon pot coffee very often any more as the cleanup is a definite disincentive. But the preparation of coffee with that method is a fun show, especially for people who haven't seen one before. It's like a science lesson in every cup.
The clear winner between the two in prep time was the Aeropress. The siphon pot takes not only time for the water to boil, but also about 4 minutes to brew.
With the aeropress, after the water is boiling, you pretty much have a cup of espresso in seconds.
And last night we foamed up some milk and made cappuccinos. I'm more of a black coffee drinker myself, but this was good. I can see some more espresso drinks in my future.
(And I just heard that he bought his own Aeropress this morning on Amazon.)
Aeropress Hacking
The coffee produced by the Aeropress is also much more versatile. Since you have espresso, you can simply add water to it to get regular coffee (Americano). Or you make any number of espresso drinks, if you have the means to steam or foam up some milk.
As I experiment, I'm seeing the differences when changing variables like amount of coffee, grind, amount of water, etc. Obviously these things will affect it, but the outcomes are interesting.
Crema!
The finer the coffee and the more of it, the harder it is to push the plunger down. This results in higher pressure, and therefore some nice foamy crema. This is what I did this morning:
Two scoops of coffee (Starbucks Beans, Espresso Roast)
Finest grind my grinder produces
Water for two cups
The cup in this picture is a double-shot with the Aeropress this morning. There was actually a good deal more crema stuck to the bottom of the Aeropress. I'll be working on the technique.
In my book, still the best, cleanest, smoothest cup of coffee you can make.
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I had a friend and his family over last night for New Years eve and we did a head-to-head demonstration of the Aeropress and Siphon pot. I don't make Siphon pot coffee very often any more as the cleanup is a definite disincentive. But the preparation of coffee with that method is a fun show, especially for people who haven't seen one before. It's like a science lesson in every cup.
The clear winner between the two in prep time was the Aeropress. The siphon pot takes not only time for the water to boil, but also about 4 minutes to brew.
With the aeropress, after the water is boiling, you pretty much have a cup of espresso in seconds.
And last night we foamed up some milk and made cappuccinos. I'm more of a black coffee drinker myself, but this was good. I can see some more espresso drinks in my future.
(And I just heard that he bought his own Aeropress this morning on Amazon.)
Aeropress Hacking
The coffee produced by the Aeropress is also much more versatile. Since you have espresso, you can simply add water to it to get regular coffee (Americano). Or you make any number of espresso drinks, if you have the means to steam or foam up some milk.
As I experiment, I'm seeing the differences when changing variables like amount of coffee, grind, amount of water, etc. Obviously these things will affect it, but the outcomes are interesting.
Crema!
The finer the coffee and the more of it, the harder it is to push the plunger down. This results in higher pressure, and therefore some nice foamy crema. This is what I did this morning:
The cup in this picture is a double-shot with the Aeropress this morning. There was actually a good deal more crema stuck to the bottom of the Aeropress. I'll be working on the technique.