All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

I bought an AeroPress because:

1. I want to save money by not buying Starbucks on a regular basis.
2. I want to save time.
3. I want to cut down on the sugar and calorie intake that comes from buying a tall or grande non-fat no whip mocha in the mornings.
4. Smooth brew, no bitterness and extremely low acidity.
5. You can store the concentrate for a few days.

First, I tried it Friday morning with Gevalia coffee I had from December 2004. [1] It didn’t taste that great.

Then, I bought a bag of House Blend from Starbucks, then ground the beans with our new Magic Bullet. I’ll probably make four servings at a time, because I can supposedly store the concentrate for a few days.

Saturday morning, I drank one cup of coffee during breakfast (American coffee, with 2 tsp of sugar), then a 12-oz. mug on the way to a conference. I was up kind of late the night before, so I felt I needed that much. My leg was shaking profusely for the next few hours.

That afternoon, I made more concentrate so I wouldn’t have to grind the beans Sunday morning and wake up everyone in a 100-yard radius of the Magic Bullet. [2] I put a sticky on the coffee concentrate (covered with a saucer) so mom would know what it was.

So, this morning, I woke up to the sound of my mom heating up the mug. Fortunately, she just scooped 2 tbsp and added water. [3] After adding creamer and sugar, she was it tasted really good. Sweet! As for me, I fill the mug about 6 oz. then add milk and a teaspoon of sugar. Very nice!

I’m sure I have lots to learn. I’m using the microwave, heating for 2 minutes 30 seconds, but I don’t have a thermometer to check it.

An awesome idea would be to bring some of the concentrate to make an afternoon cup of coffee from work. That’s awesome!

Recommendation: If you like coffee, buy it!

AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker

Aerobie, Kitchen, $25.95

Update 3/26/2007 @ 5:10pm: Like I said, I brought the coffee concentrate to work. I also told a couple coworkers about it. So, when I was making it, one of them came into the kitchen. She didn’t want a whole cup, so she tried a spoonful from the cup I just made, which was still without sugar. She was very impressed! “I’m gonna come to your office for coffee now!” High five!

Footnotes

[1] Don’t worry, they were all still vacuum-sealed. I was buying Gevalia for awhile, because I received a free 10-cup coffee maker from them. But, it’s simple using a big coffee maker when I’m the only one drinking coffee on a semi-regular basis, so I stopped using it.

[2] You’ll probably get the best results when the coffee grounds are fresh and you make the coffee extract immediately.

[3] I showed her the scooper she needs to use for a serving.