Aeropress: how is it different to / better than a cafetiere?

[whynogutfeeling]

Considering one of these as a gift for coffee-loving DH. He's not a fan of coffee machines in general and prefers the simplicity and lower kitchen clutter of a cafetiere. But does the aeropress offer something better? It looks quite compact too. Thanks!

It gives a bit of a crema, which you don't get with a cafetière, and I think the taste is better, but I definitely found it more of a faff.

We've got an aeropress and a tassimo and tend to favour the aeropress! Once you get the hang of it, it's dead easy. My DH is a proper coffee lover too and finds cafetiere coffee too bitter, despite trying different methods/brew times. The aeropress is so much smoother somehow.
I can recommend the app Mister Barista to get you started!

Aeropress can give something like an espresso. I prefer it to a mokka pot which does similar. I don't find it too much faff to clean, just needs a rinse off and there's not the fiddly stuff like in a cafetiere.

The taste is far superior in my opinion. It's a very easy clean up too, as you pop the coffee cake into the bin, then just rinse it - none of that scraping out of coffee beans that drives me mad. Also, I find the glass in the cafetiere is prone to breaking - aeropress looks like it should last forever (although you do need to buy the filters.)

Oh, also, other downside to an aeropress is that if you have a group to make coffee for, then it would be a faff - I.e. It only really makes one or two coffees at a time.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but well worth it as makes amazing coffee but as others have said just for one or two, very easy to clean up too, no mess, so really recommend!

You can reuse the aeropress filters. I reckon they are better after a few goes (I did have one going for about 2 months ).

Really? I didn't know you could re-use them! That's great, I will try it. Yep, hope I didn't sound negative because I love my aeropress and would highly recommend.

The Aeropress was on the BBC What to Buy programme last week. The coffee expert chose it over two more expensive machines (£440 & £180) as their preferred espresso.

You didn't sound negative Floris, lots of people seem to think you have to throw the filters away. I think of it like developing a patina on a pan (and find it strangely hard to throw them away....I really shouldn't get so attached). At the rate I'm going the 300 filters it came with will last 25 years!

I'd love to do proper espresso, but I can't stand the nespresso things, and cheap machines aren't worth it. I looked into how much I'd want to spend on a machine and grinder (the grinder is if anything more important) and it came to about 1.5k. So I haven't done that! Will stick with my 20 quid aeropress.

DH has just got one and is over the moon with it. He usually uses a cafetière as he's too lazy to use the espresso machine but he never cleaned the thing out. He loves the taste and best of all he cleans it every day! Win for me.

Thanks all!! I'm going to order one.

We even take ours on holiday. Love it.

another aeropress fan. Have had ours for 7 + years, no parts to break, simple to use, lovely coffee.

Yes to aeropress, absolutely. Only makes one cup at a time but amazing coffee, takes seconds to rinse after use no mess like a cafetiere. Had it a few weeks but its ruined me for all other coffees except in good cafes.

You need fine espresso grind coffee, (moka pot style) it can be hard to find, waitrose do it or a hipster coffee shop will sell it for an arm and a leg.

www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-roasted-ground-espresso-coffee/023095-11229-11230?gclid=Cj0KCQjwqPDaBRC6ARIsACAf4hC0RJLseL_5ggOdshYkfjoLaS2QvJrgmVy0ZIWWQf0qVQ0__elhk4YaArGsEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CIeYsoq_wtwCFYoe0wod7I4Axw this if my link works.