Aeropress - The Mini Coffee Maker

While I would love to spend my days buying cappuccinos and enjoying the café lifestyle, the reality is it can get pretty expensive paying $4 per coffee, and sometimes I’d rather just stay in my PJs and enjoy a coffee at home.

So what are the options? Well you could buy yourself a domestic coffee machine and grinder. While this would require a fairly large financial investment (if you wanted a good one of course, and not one that gives you substandard coffee and is a drain on electricity) it would also require you to actually learn how to make it well - tamp properly, texture the milk so it’s micro-foam and how to adjust the grind. Of course you don’t need the training, and often when buying a domestic machine a basic course is included (I know Sunbeam has free courses with their machines), but if you’re going to make the investment, you might as well do it properly!

Alternatively you can get some handy little coffee makers that are cheap but still make a great cup of coffee. The latest thing I’ve come across is the Aeropress. It’s easy to use and you can make a decent cup pretty quickly. The best thing about it is you can alter the strength of the coffee you make. Therefore, you can either make yourself a long black, or make it shorter and add milk for more of the latte taste.

In fact, just check out a quick demonstration on the Aeropress website:

The French Press

This is really just a variance from the traditional French press which is quite popular in Europe. The only difference is that it’s aimed more at individual cups of coffee. While that makes it not ideal for when company is over and you have to make numerous coffees, the upside is that you can constantly make yourself a fresh cup throughout the day.

I’m not going to lie, it doesn’t compare to a good coffee from a proper coffee shop, but I’d rather an Aeropress than Starbucks. Also, I’d rather stay at home, use some well roasted beans from my favourite coffee shop and enjoy the coffee at a fraction of the price. This is, therefore, a good alternative which is easy to use and not that expensive – plus it looks a bit quirky whenever someone comes over and you make them a cup!

Coffee According to Kelsy

We all drink it. We all love it. We all start our day with – coffee. Yes the other black gold that men and women fight over and which is now the second highest traded drink commodity after tea.

When it comes down to it, we all have our preferences. Some like the high end, elite, single origin coffee with the newest brewing methods including cold drip, drip filter and aeropress which all set you back around $6 per cup (yes, that’s right, $6 per cup). Others just prefer a good cup of coffee with the more familiar sounding flat white, cappuccino, latte, long black, etc. Then of course, there are those who just have instant – but really, if you drink instant you can’t consider yourself a proper coffee drinker!

I myself am an avid coffee drinker , and I like to consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur. With my family active in the coffee scene I cannot reduce myself to drinking bad chain-store coffee (sorry Starbucks, that includes you and your delicious cinnamon scrolls), nor can I simply just drink a coffee anymore.

When a coffee arrives I have numerous questions thrown at me – what’s the latte art like? Is the milk foamed appropriately? Is the coffee burnt? What is the flavour profile? Is it under or over extracted? Is there too much acidity?... and the list continues.

Only one thing is certain about coffee.... Wherever it is grown, sold, brewed, and consumed, there will be lively controversy, strong opinions, and good conversation.~Mark Pendergrast

Coffee used to be the faucet for discussion and debate over social and political issues between great men and women, but now we see a growing trend for coffee itself is the ethos of discussion. While sitting here drinking my morning coffee I already ask myself many questions about this amazing beverage, and as such I’ll devote this blog (with the occasional lecture content interruption) to looking at coffee in general.

For now though, let’s get this caffeine kicking in!