AeroPress Improved Brewing visavis Pourover

For a long time now, I had switched over to the pour over process, which definitely has been giving me a better coffee. No second thinking. But as part of my current endeavor to go ultra-minimalist, I wanted to see if an AeroPress-based coffee ritual for the first coffee could be good. But the coffee turned out no good at all, one more time the last time i tried. Today I wanted to give it one more shot before I gave it up.

I fell into the process recommended by many people — inverted brewing for a long time since I bought the Aeropress. But the last I used, I suspected that while it allowed more brewing time, perhaps it was coming in the way of extracting the finer flavors from the beans. Also, rather than trying to trap the early gases (as pleasant as they may be for aroma), perhaps I should let them go, as they could be adversely affecting the final taste. And finally, since filtering with a paper filter was cleaner, it was also carrying less of the coffee grounds into the extract compared to the metal cone filter I would use in a pour over method.

So I altered my process today:

1. Used the regular upright method instead of the inverted one

2. Allowed the gases to escape fully, and extracted the coffee under natural gravity through the filter — without inserting the plunger until extraction stopped

3. Used a slightly finer grind, since the AeroPress would use high pressure to push water anyway

4. Stopped pushing plunger upon hearing hissing

I observed that today's coffee was definitely better. It is stronger and more satisfying than my last attempt. The flavor is good. 

That said, I would go back to the pour over method for daily coffee — not that this coffee wasn't good, but the entire process, including cleaning and all, felt more cumbersome than the pour over apparatus. The slightly cleaner cup with improved filtration through its paper filter isn't too important to me. Even with my metal filter in the pour over, the negligible quantity of fine tiny grounds settle at the bottom and never get into my mouth anyway — what I taste in both cases is clean coffee.

So I am not going to let this plastic apparatus make coffee for me routinely! The pour over gets to keep its throne for my morning coffee ritual, to start the day in a beautiful way.