French Press vs AeroPress -which one and why?

[SeaJim]

Gotta love the forums. Ask about two options and you get advice about every other option under the sun.

+1 here for the Aeropress. We used to use a french press but switched to the Aeropress some years ago. We just returned from over a month out, each morning I grind the morning's coffee with a little hand grinder and load up the Aeropress while the water boils, then 3 minutes later we've got two cups of great coffee to start the day. Clean up is easy - just pop the grounds out and give the Aeropress a quick rinse - and takes up less space for the press and filters. Great way to start the day!

[Gibson3798]

French Press - More volume of coffee

Aero Press - 1 cup at a time

French Press - More to clean up - Some grounds in your cup

Aero Press - Easy Clean up - No grounds in your cup

My vote is for Aero Press.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by SeaJim

Gotta love the forums. Ask about two options and you get advice about every other option under the sun.

+1 here for the Aeropress. We used to use a french press but switched to the Aeropress some years ago. We just returned from over a month out, each morning I grind the morning's coffee with a little hand grinder and load up the Aeropress while the water boils, then 3 minutes later we've got two cups of great coffee to start the day. Clean up is easy - just pop the grounds out and give the Aeropress a quick rinse - and takes up less space for the press and filters. Great way to start the day!

Sorry we offended, we caffeine snobs have no options, our choice is always the best....For us.

Bob
🇺🇸

[Tschupp]

French press with French press coffee ground bags. No grounds to clean up just empty used bags into trash. Coffee is as strong as you want it to be. We’ve used this for 2 years full timing now use in our home as well as camping. French press bags available on Amazon.

[Ch47d1sg]

Well after reading this thread I will have to check out this Aeropress. Currently at 8600 ft in Colorado. French press every morning. I found a couple of things that are key. 1. Water at just under boiling point 205 degrees, never boiling water. 2. Never use metal spoon to stir wooden spoon. 3 balance of how much coffee and steep time. Find your own sweet spot. 4. And always use fresh coffee

[Atwebs]

We've camped for 45 years and at one time or another have used EVERY method of making coffee. Here are the things to think about: One cup, two cups or more? Metal pot, glass pot, thermal or in the cup? Steaming hot, hot, warm enough or on the cool side?

Stove top Percolator? Works for a hot cuppa, but you have to be vigilant to be sure it perks just long enough or else your coffee is too weak or very bitter, clean up is middling messy.

Pour Over one cup? Well, it works, but your coffee isn't very hot, especially if you are in a cooler place, one cup at a time, easy clean up.

Pour Over a Thermal Pot? If you preheat the pot and sit near by to keep adding water it can be warm enough, but there is the potential for a mess (too much water added, coffee grounds coagulate and grit flows everywhere, it gets knocked over), if you don't make a mistake, clean up is easy.

Instant? Even Starbucks is still instant...yuck (easy clean up though).

French Press? Good coffee, more than one cup, messy clean up-we sacrifice a paper towel to get off as much as we can to either clean or make another pot, you can find grounds everywhere even if you did it perfectly, add a thermal pot and it keeps it warm for quite a while.

Aeropress? Good coffee, comparable to French Press, easier clean up but best made one cup at a time. Warm enough.

When there are 3 or more coffee drinkers we go with a French Press so we actually make a pot (stainless thermal carafe). Only 2 of us camping and we have an Aeropress. Gave away the drip + thermal pot, tossed out the instant and still use the old percolator (sans guts) to heat water for the Aeropress (guess I could get a teakettle, huh?).

[Larry1492]

Don’t much like French press coffee. I hate k cups and always manage to make tar with a stove top perculator. Check out the ChemeX pour over coffee maker. It’s fast, easy, perfect every time. You just heat the water in kettle. I got rid of all my other coffee makers.

[Vagabonds_2]

Originally Posted by Gibson3798

French Press - More volume of coffee

Aero Press - 1 cup at a time

French Press - More to clean up - Some grounds in your cup

Aero Press - Easy Clean up - No grounds in your cup

My vote is for Aero Press.

We have used the French press and it does OK; believe it''s more cosmopolitan to use the Italian expresso machine which is best exemplified by the Bialetti Moka Pot used all over Europe. We own the 6 cup stainless steel model--recommend watching the You Tube videos on how to operate them. Need to start out with expresso (not espresso) grind which is a little coarser but still pretty fine. You can have an expresso or a diluted regular cup of coffee. LOLOHO's Kristi and Sean Michael espouse the lowly Moka Pot, see
http://longlonghoneymoon.com/coffee/

Vagabonds_2

[Off-we-go]

AeroPress Is the way to go!

[Fungus]

Originally Posted by Atwebs

French Press? Good coffee, more than one cup, messy clean up-we sacrifice a paper towel to get off as much as we can to either clean or make another pot, you can find grounds everywhere even if you did it perfectly, add a thermal pot and it keeps it warm for quite a while.

Aeropress? Good coffee, comparable to French Press, easier clean up but best made one cup at a time. Warm enough.

+1

Both...

1. Lots of coffee on non-travel days - Secura insulated stainless steel French press. The coffee stays hot a long time. We're replacing our glass French press at home because the coffee stays hotter, I usually have a cat in my lap at breakfast, and the glass carafe is very fragile. We sacrifice a paper towel and a half-cup of water for cleanup on the road.
2. One-cup travel days - Aeropress. Easy cleanup.

We grind our coffee beans (which we have shipped from Kona, the Big Island) with the 1Zpresso JX Manual Coffee Grinder.

[C Gin Go]

French Press all the way ...
The French press also has a filter for easy clean up ( Caffi coffee filters)
I would have to do aeropress 4 times
Don't talk to me till I finished my coffee..LOL
Ginger

[DustyTrails]

Originally Posted by Tschupp

French press with French press coffee ground bags. No grounds to clean up just empty used bags into trash. Coffee is as strong as you want it to be. We’ve used this for 2 years full timing now use in our home as well as camping. French press bags available on Amazon.

You've just blown my mind here with these bags that I did not know existed!! And you also have changed my response to the original poster.


We used to use French press exclusively in our RV for years and found a lovely stainless steel double wall one from Starbucks that no longer exists. At home we prefer glass French press, but that stainless one was perfect for RVing. But the downside to French press is the mess. While I actually prefer the taste to the aeropress, the aeropress does have less mess with use of the filters. However I do believe that this suggestion of using a French press bag might be a game changer!

[Tyler2you]

I really like immersion brews like the Aeropress and French Press as they are very forgiving and make great coffee.

The only thing I don't like about the French Press is the sediment and heavy mouth feel you get. I like the Aeropress, but the small capacity turned me off after using it for a few weeks.

A couple of alternatives that maintain the immersion approach without the sediment are the Hario Switch and the Clever Dripper. They're both similar to a V60 pour over, but they have a valve at the bottom that holds the water until you release it. The Hario is made of nicer materials (glass and silicone) while the Clever is all plastic which might be preferred for trailer use. That's what I settled on since they can brew 2 cups and all I need is hot water I can warm on the cooktop.

[Piggy Bank]

Originally Posted by sherrylynne

I work in a coffee shop. At home, we use a French press. In the Airstream, we use a Pyrex glass measuring cup and a fine-mesh strainer… we heat water on the stove to 205 F, ( look for little bubbles— not a full boil) pour into the Pyrex over coarse-ground coffee, stir, wait four minutes, pour through the strainer into cups. We prefer to travel with multiple-use items.

Wow-mind blown!!
Just to make sure I've understood.
1-heat water on stove (same process as using a french press)
2-put course grounds measured into the bottom of a pyrex measuring cup and then pour water into grounds and stir and steep (same process as using a french press)
3-pour from spout of pyrex cup through strainer into coffee cup or thermos and then tap tap tap strained grounds into trash.

Thank you
You are a genius!

[Piggy Bank]

Thanks for all of the info.

I already have with me
a collapsible holder for a paper filter pour over (I feel it is not the safest to use as it is a bit tipsy for making a lot of coffee, and it's just OK coffee)

Bialetti Moka-yes makes great cup of espresso, but not enough to fill a thermos for the car.

I will have the nespresso with me, but we will be doing a lot of early sunrise outings and can't use the nespresso unless using the generator.

I am going to try the pyrex mock french press procedure and see how that goes for me. Sounds like the least outlay of new equipment and most likely to be the kind of flavor I want.

[Voltair]

Tiny spoon, small glass, warm water, 6 seconds its ready, its derived from an Espresso Extraction method nothing else is added, very Smooth and Mild but Powerful. No creama as the manufacturing process removes all the volatile’s.
Its roast comes from a rather unique ellectical solar vortex Roaster .
All I need is the benifits off the substance not the drama. One at 10am one at 2pm.

[Piggy Bank]

Originally Posted by Ch47d1sg

Well after reading this thread I will have to check out this Aeropress. Currently at 8600 ft in Colorado. French press every morning. I found a couple of things that are key. 1. Water at just under boiling point 205 degrees, never boiling water. 2. Never use metal spoon to stir wooden spoon. 3 balance of how much coffee and steep time. Find your own sweet spot. 4. And always use fresh coffee

Thanks for the wooden spoon tip!

[Peter417]

Pour over works good for 2.

[JunkYard]

I also use the chemex pour over. I just rinse the glass and bang out the filter on a tree. If it’s cool outside with a breeze I wrap the glass in a towel. Keeps it from cooling off too quickly.

[Wayne&Sam]

French press here. Unless water is at a premium, then I use a Melita type filter cone that has a valve at the bottom (i)t saves water on clean up. That way the coffee can steep before going in the cup.

I tried Aeropress and was disappointed. Unless you like espresso, very dark roast, it will make weak coffee.