Coffee notes - The Aeropress

2010 Aeropress on the left; 2012 Aeropress on the right

Thought I'd follow my Kenya post with a very brief coffee digression. You might know this piece of kit, the Aeropress. It's a brilliant way to make coffee and it has won diehard fans among several cyclists I ride with. Why? Simply, you get a nearly-espresso without any of the hassle of a machine; you retain creative control over the strength and intensity of the brew; you can use an espresso grind to considerable effect, short of generating 9 bars of pressure like a machine, and finally, the paper filter through which you 'plunge' the syringe leads to a cup of coffee without of the sort of detritus and granular residue you get in a cafetiere. I'd add that it's unbreakable, eminently transportable for travelling, and very suited to offices with no kitchen, like mine. You squeeze out the puck of spent coffee, wipe off the rubber surface and you're done - again unlike cafetiere. Oh - and it's cheap at £19.99. Spend your budget on the grinder instead, which is the most important piece of kit by far. I'm not personally an espresso snob. The Aeropress is perfect for long, strong coffees, lattes, filter equivalents, mochas and so forth.
I've been running two x 2010 models every day at home and work for two years. Recently one of them attained an unshakable odour of tired coffee beans, indicating that some of the oils had somehow become ingrained in the plastic and gone rancid. Intensive cleaning didn't solve the lingering taint. Then, the black rubber plunger was one day sticky of its own accord, which spelt more trouble. I called my coffee guru friend Jonathan Money, founder of Cream Supplies Limited (www.creamsupplies.co.uk). He said it was a known problem with early generation models that came with clear plastic. "The plastic can also go crazy paving, with micro-cracks and then porous as a result," he noted. This helps account for the staining shown in the photo above, Aeropress on the left.
I ordered two replacements from Jonathan, one of them shown above. They came within 24 hours, which reflects the fact that he supplies the trade too - no messing around when your coffee shop lives and dies by haviung good kit that works. Brilliant. The newer version has a different plastic composition and a smoky appearance. So I'm up and running again.