I've written about any number of coffee-brewing methods. These range from the very easy, like using a Melitta plastic cone and filter, otherwise known as pour over coffee. One of my favorites is the French press. Until recently, I thought the French Press made about the best cup of coffee I think you can make, especially, if you use just ground quality beans. I've even written about some of the more outré methods, like cold-brewed coffee. Cold-brewed coffee is particularly fabulous as the base for iced coffee on hot summer days, and for cooking with coffee. Then, there are the regional variants, like Greek coffee, and Chicory coffee.
Last fall a friend introduced me to the AeroPress as a method of brewing coffee. The AeroPress is a sort of variant of the French Press. You heat your water and while it's heating, measure espresso ground coffee into a slim plastic tube with a cap and paper filter one end of it, and an opening in the the other. You pour the hot water into the tube, over the coffee, and briefly stir the coffee-grounds-and water with the plastic stirrer. Then you insert a plastic plunger, position the entire assembly over a coffee cup, and press the plunger.
The resultant coffee has the advantages of the French Press—it is simple, fresh, hot, and low-acid. You can use it as is, as a sort of ersatz espresso, (or add milk) or you can add more hot water to produce something more like drip coffee. But because of the small paper filter, the coffee is clear, without the grounds that inevitably appear in the cup when you use the French Press. It truly is excellent coffee, and the entire process, including heating the water, takes about five minutes, maybe less. It's also easy to clean the AeroPress.
Since its introduction in 2006, the product of Stanford faculty member Alan Adler's inventive mind (he also invented the Aerobie flying ring, sold by the same company as the AeroPress), the AeroPress is making in-roads not only in the hearts and homes of coffee aficionados, but in the hearts and hands of coffee professionals. Barristas are using the AeroPress to produce "manual" espressos, or for making quick sampling brews to aid customers in selecting a bean for home use. There's even a brisk after-market add-on trade, with coffee cups designed specifically as companions for the AeroPress, and stainless-steel mesh reusable filters, among other items. AeroPress users have begun making a noticeable mark on various online coffee forums, where they attempt to determine the exact temperature of the hot water for effective brewing, the perfect grind, and various advanced techniques for producing more crema.