Aeropress Live! First impression

Alan Adler (center) talks to Adam Tindale (left) and Sam Jones (rightt)

Alan Adler came to town for 5 days with his wife and grand-daughter. They saw the sights and sounds of Victoria, B.C. Canada. They took my wife and I to dinner.

We gave them a walking and driving tour of the city and its surroundings. They have been here before but they loved it all over again.

Alan was kind enough to come down to Discovery Coffee and pit the Aeropress coffee maker against the Clover Coffee maker... and the Synesso espresso machine.

That's right readers: He wagered his 39$ coffee maker against an 8000$ single cup coffee brewer and a 12,000$ espresso machine.

The Aeropress won hands down!

No. Sorry. Only in your dreams.

The Aeropress is a wonderful product for those who love a full bodied cup of coffee. Perfect for campers, hikers and traveller's, the aeropress is the solution for those far and away from a decent cup.

What is it exactly? It is a paper-filter coffee maker press-pot. Without the sediment of course - the Aeropress brews a cuppa at a strength suited to your taste.

We found it brews a modestly comparable cup to the Clover Coffee maker. The Clover won out in extracting more of the subtle flavors of exotic coffees like Yirgecheffe.

Still, for 39$, noone is complaining.

Does it make espresso? Most certainly not. Part of the brewing process involves creating a slurry by pouring hot water into the brew chamber and stirring for a preset time period.

Yes, it makes a beverage as "thick" as espresso. Alan used a digital device known as a Brix refractometer to measure the amount of suspended solids in the brew.

Yes, the brew was as concentrated as the espresso from the Synesso. But it is not espresso. It is drip coffee with a gentle push.

Plain and simple.

All good stuff. Curious? Buy one. What have you got to lose other than 39 dollars?

In our next chapter on the Live Aeropress Experience, with its creator, Alan Adler, we will report on how the participants responded to this new product.

Colin Newell and Adam Tindale are two of Victoria's many coffee enthusiasts. They report on the cafe scene around the great Northwest.