Too Much Coffee

I roasted some of Hasbean Steve's Yirgacheffe the other day and myself and a colleague at work have been making it in the Presso. Before you even taste it you get the grapefruit, citrus-y floral aroma. Nice!

I decided today to make one in my Aeropress, and much as I love my Aeropress, I could barely detect all those great flavours - I just got a smooth, slightly sweeter cup of coffee.

I thought the smoothness of the Aeropress usually made it easier to taste the subtle flavours of a coffee, but I was surprised at how the Aeropress seemed to strip them out compared to the Presso.

Blindfolded, I could have spotted the Yirgacheffe made in the Presso a mile off. In the Aeropress, I definitely wouldn't have got it.

Any thoughts?! Is it the oils that the Aeropress is removing that contain those subtle flavours?

maybe the paper filter is taking something delicious out, yes. Or, is the time vastly different? how long do you take, with each method?

The timings aren't vastly different really. About a 10-15 second wait before pressing and about a 20 second press in both machines. I suppose the different factors are the AeroPress gets stirred, the Presso doesn't, there's no paper filter in the Presso and the pressure is probably greater in the Presso. And the AeroPress uses quite a bit more coffee too.

Don't get me wrong, I love the AeroPress and it's still my coffee device of choice at work and mostly at home too. I could get the flavours very subtley in the aftertaste, just nowhere near as 'full-on' as with the Presso.

Paper can be an issue a swiss gold and a pair of sissors can open up a new world of aeropress for you.

Steve wrote:Paper can be an issue a swiss gold and a pair of sissors can open up a new world of aeropress for you.

Thanks Steve. I've considered this before, but you've convinced me to give it a try!