Snacking with Adel

(First published 0n 08/12/2009 12:56 AM; http://abs-cbnnews.com)

A friend of mine loudly expressed a considerable amount of cynicism about a line in my first column, when I wrote about the things this space will be about that went, “Less often, we buy something so phenomenally wonderful that we turn into evangelists for the damn things.”

Do such things still exist, she asked? In this world of poor quality control, shortsighted vision, substandard materials, programmed obsolescence, uninspired innovation, cost-cutting and lack of originality, do “phenomenally wonderful” products still get made?

Great question, really. Conventional knowledge says, after endless disappointment, empty promises and overstated advertising, we’re hard pressed to think of something, anything so good that it’s worth that most mythical of appellations “A Good Buy.”

As the nature of things in commerce go, I will certainly have a surfeit of things to bitch about here in the future, but as often as humanly possible I would like to write something positive in this space rather than negative. In point of fact, I recently came in possession of such a rare creature: an espresso maker.

No, not a shiny European steampunk copper contraption with bells and whistles and hissing valves that cost as much as a new car and requires two semesters of barista training and weeks of tamping practice to make coffee. It’s an inexpensive hand-operated plastic-and-rubber gizmo made by an American company that makes frisbees, but a gizmo that brews coffee better than nearly anything else on the planet.

It’s called the Aeropress, invented in 2005, made by a company called Aerobie, which makes toys. The official name on its birth certificate is the Aerobie Aeropress Coffee & Espresso Maker. The device it comes closest to is a French Press, but that would be like calling McGyver a handyman.

What it does look like is a big fat syringe. It’s a thick and tough transparent polycarbonate tube with a big polycarbonate plunger with a rubber stopper at one end. You put ground coffee in the tube, add hot water, mix it up, stick the plunger in, and push the mixture through a paper filter at the end where the needle would be if this were a real syringe, straight into a mug. A perfect espresso, without fuss or French horns.

Nothing fancy at all. In the box you get the Aeropress syringe-thing. A tube of special paper filters good for a year, a scoop, a funnel for putting in the grinds, a stirrer, the filter attachment. All plastic, no metal. No electricity required, just pure muscle. Not that it’s hard to press – maybe just 20 to 25 lbs of pressure. No sweat. And it takes just 30 seconds to prepare a great cup of coffee, all told.

I’m not going to make a habit of writing recipes in this column, but here’s how you make a delicious cup of Café Americano in half a minute with an Aeropress: Attach the filter holder with a paper filter to the syringe body and mount it over your mug. Position the funnel over the open end and use the big scooper to ladle in two scoops of a medium or coarse grind. Pour in a half-cup of hot water. Remove the funnel and use the stirrer to mix it all up for ten seconds. Then insert the plunger and push it in slowly for about 20 seconds or until all the liquid is squeezed through the paper filter into the cup. Put the Aeropress aside, top off the cup with more hot water, then add sugar to taste.

If you’re making espresso, skip adding more hot water and take it as is. Krema purists will miss the fancy foam, but as one connoisseur said, krema is “just decoration”. Believe me when I say it puts most other coffeemakers and café-chain brews to shame. In fact, it’s so easy to prepare, the biggest problem is keeping yourself from over-caffeinating before leaving the house. I’ve since stopped buying brewed coffee from the usual sources and find myself wanting to get home and just make a better cup at home. I look forward to getting up in the morning to make my Americano.

The big dealmaker here is the ease with which you clean up after yourself. Just remove the filter holder, hold the Aeropress over the trashcan and push the plunger all the way in. The hockey puck of grounds will just pop into the trash. Rinse off the rubber top of plunger (the syringe itself remains squeaky clean) and stirrer and put them all away for the next use. You can even reuse the filters; just let them dry flat and use until they fall apart before you pop in a new one. Extra filters are easily available.

Of course, all the myriad variables of preparation still hold – freshly roasted and ground beans are better; the fineness or coarseness of the grind; the beans, or blend of beans, used is a matter of preference; the heat of the water, the length of time mixing or pressing, prolonged steeping are all still parts of the Great Coffee Debate. But the fact remains that the thing is idiot-proof; it’s hard to screw this up and not make a clean, great tasting cup, without floating grounds on top or sludge in the bottom, on your first try. Google it, don’t take me at my word. You’ll find coffee experts worldwide give it top marks.

For less than P2000, the Aeropress is A Good Buy, if you love coffee. That’s just about two weeks worth of Tall Drips at the usual café chain. A good deal, if you realize fancy metal espresso makers that require training to use can cost anywhere from P20,000 to P200,000.

Full disclosure: Of course I’m not getting anything from the Aeropress people. I bought my unit on the recommendation of a friend, and I am a Thoroughly Satisfied Customer just paying it forward. If you want one, the local distributor of the Aeropress is Blue Sierra Enterprises, and you can call them at 02-746-6384/85. And wonder of wonders, they even offer free delivery.

Yes, Virginia, there still are ‘phenomenally wonderful’ things in this world of ours.