Originally Posted by
Mike Rivers
I've read about that one, but I've never seen one in the flesh. There are a lot of parts to it, and in addition, I'd still need hot water. The couple of times that I've used my travel French press and used the fiendish one-cup coffee maker to heat the water, it wasn't hot enough.
The Aeropress actually has fewer pieces than a french press. They give you a stirrer, a scoop, and some kind of thing that is suppoed to be for a grinder I think, but there are only three parts that you need: The container, the plunger, and the filter holder. You do need a filter as well of course. My Bodum french press on the other hand requires 8 pieces; maybe 7 if you can manage without a handle. Another cool thing about the Aeropress is if you get an aftermarket metal screen and do an inverted brew with coarse grinds it will come out pretty much like a french press.
[QUOTE=Mike Rivers]
Amazon is good about taking returns, so I suppose I could buy an Aeropress from them, try it at home, and if it's too much bother I could send it back. But I'd prefer seeing things before I buy them. I'm not concerned about complexity in setup and operation, I'm more concerned with cleanup. I have a certain streak of sympathy for hotel housekeeping staff and I cringe a bit when when there's no liner in the trash can and I have to dump the grounds directly into the can. And I've been in enough hotel rooms with slow-running sinks that I don't want to wash the grounds down the drain. [\QUOTE]
The Aeropress is actually the easiest thing I have found for cleanup. The grinds come out as a puck like an espresso machine. You just hold it over the trash can and push it out. Then a quick rinse and you are done.