Current coffee setup

I recent wrote about my switch to using the Aeropress for making coffee at home. What I quickly realized is that although it’s a fantastic, easy to use coffeemaker, it also brings out the worst in poorly roasted mass produced coffee (cough Starbucks cough). But up until now I didn’t have a proper coffee grinder, so I was stuck buying beans that I could get ground at the Starbucks by my apartment. Well, now I’ve upgraded my grinder, and have some great 49th Parallel Epic Espresso beans to grind.

Having a decent burr grinder makes a huge difference, especially because the Aeropress is designed to use a very fine grind. I’m using the Bodum Electric Burr Grinder on the finest espresso setting, which seems to work very well.

Now I just need a better kettle and water filteration (the tap water in my apartment is horrifying).

Parlour Coffee featured in Cash Out promo video

Local video guy Matt Wiebe made this excellent promo video for the iPad app Cash Out that features my favourite coffee shop, Parlour Coffee.

Aeropress first impressions

I finally broke down and bought an Aeropress and this morning was my first time using it.

It was incredibly easy to use. Admittedly I could have had better beans and my next purchase needs to be a good burr grinder, but even with the preground Starbucks beans I used it tasted wonderful.

Unlike the what the instruction say, you can’t really make espresso with the Aeropress. If you use a fine grind you can make a slightly weaker espresso equivalent, that when topped up with a bit more hot water makes a good Americano. I’m looking forward to experimenting with different beans, different grinds and some of the alternate Aeropress methods I’ve seen online.

If you enjoy coffee and hate the cleanup involved in using a French Press or a similar coffee maker I highly recommend the Aeropress.