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AeroPress: Paper vs Filter

The flavor also remained in my mouth longer after swallowing. I hesitate to use the term "after taste" because to me that implies negativity and this was wonderful.

Its called "finish".


This is where the HUGE difference comes into play. This is important to me. I usually make my coffee at 5:00am and so ease of cleanup and time of cleanup is important to me. I don't want my wife to wakeup to my coffee mess, and I also believe it is important to clean my equipment immediately after use. As any Aeropress user knows, cleanup is simple: eject the puck, rinse and wipe. Well, add a metal disk filter and this changes drastically. The "puck" ejected in two pieces. I had to retrieve that half that was stuck to the filter and hand wipe it. This is not something that I am all that keen on at 5:00am when wearing dress attire for work. I also try to limit what I am flushing down the drain, and this method caused more grinds to wind up in my sink. Cleanup with the paper filter wins by a long shot.

I use the kaffologie S filter (stainless steel mesh 50K holes/square inch). What works really well for cleaning is to pull back on the plunger a 1/2" or so before you remove the plastic holder - this pulls the puck off the filter so you can pop it off with very little grounds stuck to it.


I find the hand grinders do a better job with finer grinds. The whole Aeropress grind recommendation is based on the brew time - finder grind = shorter brew time yadda yadda. You won't get all grind particles exactly the same size - even the best grinders have a variance. I hand grind myself and mine isn't the Skerton, it's the other Hario and I have it set to 6 or 7 clicks from full engagement. Crank speed consistency also helps, as well as using a relatively slow speed < 100 rpms. Also, setting the grinder flat on the counter and giving it the occasional shake to (re)settle the beans when you feel/hear the grinder start to "skip". You don't want to grind willy-nilly, "air guitar"-style as you'll end up with a lot of fines. And fines get over-extracted, leading to bitterness.

The basic variables are amount of coffee, grind size, water temp and brew time. Keep 3 consistent and adjust the other variable in increments of 5 or 10% and start taking notes.
 
I have an Able FINE disk filter, but I prefer the taste with the paper filters, at least for the espresso (Cafe La Llave) I prefer. I haven't tried the metal filter with anything else yet, but it was way too oily for my taste with the fine grind espresso prepared using the inverted method.
 
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