What’s Simple, Precise, and Highly Adaptable?

Alan Adler and his coffee invention. And who’s Alan Adler? An inventor extraordinaire who created, most famously, the Frisbee. But also the AeroPress. The AeroPress was born not that long ago, debuting in 2005. Apparently it started with a dinner time question at the Frisbee company’s team meeting, “What do you guys do when you just want one cup of coffee?” I highly recommend reading Adler’s fascinating story. It’s an inspirational story of a quintessential curious Silicon Valley tinkerer.

I learned of the AeroPress only since getting into the coffee farming business. Over a year ago my brother-in-law sent us a link to a Tim Wendelboe how-to video, in which he used the AeroPress. When we were recently at the cafe in Oslo, the barista made our coffees using the AeroPress. According to the World AeroPress Championship website, the event was born with someone asking, “Wouldn’t it be fun to see who could brew the best cup of AeroPress coffee?” “The first competition took place in a small room in Oslo, with only three competitors and Tim Wendelboe as the judge. It was a modest and understated affair.” Read more in “The History of the AeroPress, from Concept to Championships.”

The winner of the 2019 United States Aeropress Championship in August was a woman from Honolulu, Hawaii, Towa Ikawa. Congratulations! In the news article, there was a photo of the finalists, judges, and emcee, and I was struck and pleased by the diversity.

Also mentioned in that news article was the notion of using the AeroPress for cold brew. I finally tried it today using this Perfect Daily Grind article as my guide. Two minutes versus 16+ hours. In my first attempt I learned that I hadn’t ground the coffee finely enough. Adler says there should be enough coffee and it should be fine enough that there shouldn’t be more than 3mm drip-through before you begin pressing. I had more than that. I did a second pressing with the finest grind our grinder could do. The second pressing tasted better, but the first wasn’t bad.

Anyway, if you have an AeroPress, try it out. If you don’t have one, they are only in the $30 range. If I were to get one now, I’d get the new AeroPress Go. Here’s a link to a crazy amount of recipes. Abbreviating a few of Adler’s inventing tips, also apropos for life: learn all you can; scrupulously study; be willing to try things; try to be objective; and persist!