My hand-operated coffee gear
Submitted by oncidiumfan on Mon, 2013/02/25 - 18:03.
in
Bonjour Coffee Dripper (similar to Clever Coffee Dripper but with internal filter), Aeropress, and Porlex Mini hand grinder in back. The coffee dripper I picked up at a local used good store; I imported the Aeropress with a metal filter and the Porlex handgrinder. The Aeropress also came with circular paper filters, a stirrer, a scoop, and a funnel. It works like a giant syringe and is upside down in the photo. Coffee Geeks has a 200 plus page thread on the thing. Some beans/roasts work better in the dripper with the shut off valve (under the filter); others work better in the Aeropress, which produces a concentrate like a moka pot. I don't know if anyone is selling them yet here, but one person who grows coffee and runs a hotel had heard of them.
Nice! I will have to look
Nice! I will have to look for the Aeropress. Right now I have been using this awesome travel mug that is also a frech press that my daghter got me when she worked at Starbucks. I really like the hand grinder too, where did you get it?
The Aeropress came from Kaffeologie through Amazon
They were about the only place that would send an Aeropress to Nicaragua (along with a Kaffeologie S fine metal filter for the thing which works well).
The hand grinder came from eJapan through Amazon, again, issues with mailing to Nicaragua. Any of the small hand grinders seem to be about the same and don't work well for French Press coarse grinds without modification (see Orphan Espresso for the modification kit for one of them). I also ordered a Lido from OE, and am waiting for it to show up. OE will also ship everywhere and seems to be very reputable. They've got the relevant brands of hand mills and put a video on YouTube on how to do the modification for coarser grinding with one of the Hario grinders.
A somewhat larger hand grinder than the Porlex Mini would work better with the Aeropress -- to get a mug of coffee, the standard instructions are to put in two Aeropress scoops of fine almost espresso grind and add water to the 2 mark to get an extract and then dilute it with water. The Porlex Mini won't swallow two scoops of beans all in one batch. The standard Porlex will, as will one of the other brand's mills.
People have also come up with other ways to use the Aeropress inverted and as a pour through. It sits on a mug when doing the standard press. Comes with scoop, stirrer that won't break the paper filters, about a year's worth of paper filters, and the Aeropress. Some variations come with a travel bag. The premise is grind fine, stir for ten seconds, and press for 20 to 40 seconds. Dilute to taste.
If you've got the French Press travel mug and are happy with it, an Aeropress is sort of secondary, but it's around $25 solo, so not a huge investment as far as coffee toys go. It's easier to clean, I've heard, than a French Press. All these little grinders do fine grinds quite well, even some down to Turkish, so are nice matches for the Aeropress even if they don't grind coarse that well.
The guy who invented the Aeropress prefers no bitterness and no fines at the bottom of his cups, and paper filters for health reasons.
Rebecca Brown