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Re-using Aeropress Paper Filters
ChicagoJohn
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Posted on 09/10/2016 8:26 AM
The users' manual tells us that while the paper filters can be re-used, it might be better to use a new one each time as they are quite inexpensive. But I discovered another reason; the hard way.

I started out re-using a filter for a few days. It always starts out like that; "Just a few days", I thought. Then a few days turned into a week, and a week turned into two.

Then I noticed I was recognizing unique characteristics of a particular filter over time -- the pattern of grounds that stuck to it after each morning when peeling it off the bottom of the Aeropress, the pattern of light and dark shades of brown stains that remained after rinsing, how it seemed to have an up and down, a left and right despite its intrinsic point-centered symmetry.... And I became increasingly more reluctant to eventually leave each filter attached when I ejected the wet grounds into the garbage can.

But then there was a more insidious turn of events, which brings me to the theme of this post and my warning to readers: I named my first filter. I kept Buffy for way longer than I'd kept any other Aeropress filter up until that time. I know I had used Buffy for at least two weeks before I named her, and while it now seems like I continued to use her for years after that, to be realistic, it was probably only an additional week or two more. Working with Buffy again each morning provided an added level of interest and expectation for my morning ritual.

But although I kept telling myself each morning that it wasn't happening, I couldn't not help but notice that Buffy held onto the grounds tighter and tighter every day, and when I tried to peel her off, it was ever clearer that she did not want to let go. She was tired. She wanted to go with the grounds.

One morning I couldn't take it anymore, and with more than a twinge of pathos I didn't peel her off; I let her go. That morning I also felt the need for a second cup. As I carefully separated a new pure white filter from the top of the stack placed it in the Aeropress cap and wet it, I forgot about Buffy and as Harold had my full attention. I'd forgotten how perfectly and completely a brand new filter releases from the surface of the grounds when peeled off....
Edited by ChicagoJohn on 10/08/2016 5:13 PM
So many beans; so little time....
 
seedlings
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Posted on 09/12/2016 10:16 PM
Great story. I bought an extra pack of a bazillion filters with my Aeropress. It hasn't crossed my mind to reuse one. Heard the inventor say the filters are reusable.

http://youtu.be/i...

CHAD
Roaster: CoffeeAir II 2# DIY air roaster
Grinder: Vintage Grindmaster 500
Brewers: Vintage Cory DCU DCL, Aeropress, Press, Osaka Titanium pourover
 
ChicagoJohn
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Posted on 09/13/2016 6:46 AM

Quote

It hasn't crossed my mind to reuse one. Heard the inventor say the filters are reusable.


CHAD


My advice -- Leave that possibility hanging, Chad.

One of Alan Adler's first inventions for the consumer market, if not the first, was the Aerobie, a hollow disc made of polycarbonate, a very tough plastic, with a soft rubber bumper rim. It was like a Frisbee on steroids, and, for a time, was used in setting the World Record long distance record forthrown objects.

One thing led to another and the Aerobie Aeropress came into being when Adler decided to venture into household products. The geometric point symmetry of the Aeropress filters and that of the Aerobie disc was inevitable. You try to throw the disc away, someone catches it, or you go and pick it up, and you wind up re-using it over and over.

The filters are among the least expensive products ever designed for a precision engineering application. So why would Adler toss out that suggestion, "Oh, they are so inexpensive you can use a new on each time ! ..... but.....they can be reused." ???

Just use a new one each time, Chad; that's my advice: The germination of that seed Adler has planted in your mind begins with rinsing off that first filter and saving it safely in the cap to dry for tomorrow; a door to a stair with a slow descent into madness.
So many beans; so little time....
 
seedlings
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Posted on 09/13/2016 9:25 AM
Now, I HAVE reused an Aerobie. Grin

CHAD
Roaster: CoffeeAir II 2# DIY air roaster
Grinder: Vintage Grindmaster 500
Brewers: Vintage Cory DCU DCL, Aeropress, Press, Osaka Titanium pourover
 
walt_in_hawaii
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Posted on 10/03/2016 3:11 PM
Just had my FIRST aero pressed coffee... it was the somewhat disappointing Kenyan Nyeri Rukira from SM's that I just got in... as a pour over it was nice, ok, but certainly not what I would call deserving of a 92 rating.

Just as a what-the-heck, I decided to bust out the aero press and WOWIE was it transformed. Very much different flavors! recognizably the same beans, much more intense flavors, now I can taste very complex fruity accents in it, but there is also much less liquid in the cup :( and I'm afraid to dilute it with more water and water down the intense flavors. Sort of halfway between an espresso and a pour over. The way Americano is supposed to taste, in my opinion.... but not something you can nurse in your lap on the drive in to work, I'm afraid, its just too small (and I won't allow myself more as I'm trying to limit how much caffeine I'm consuming, so don't even go there).
 
BenKeith
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Posted on 10/03/2016 7:54 PM
I've been making two - three cups a day for two years (all in an AeroPress) and it took me a while to get the AeroPress figured out for my coffee. The method the directions give didn't work for anything I liked. I'm using a 14 grind setting on a Virtuoso. I make a 10oz cup of coffee using 18 - 20 grams of grounds, depending on the bean and the press is inverted. I have never reused a filter or even considered reusing one, it's pressed out with the grounds in the trash can. I add about 100 grams of 205 degree water try t0 ensure all grounds get wet, let it sit several seconds, until the large bubbles quit rising, make three back and forth passes with the wide stir stick they supply and finish filling it up with the hot water. Put the filter on, flip it over on the cup and spend about 45 seconds pressing it all out. Finish adding water to the cup so I have approx. 10oz, add my sugar and milk and enjoy. I still experiment but so far, I keep coming back to this method and grind.
Edited by BenKeith on 10/03/2016 8:02 PM
 
ChicagoJohn
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Posted on 10/04/2016 6:33 AM

Quote

I still experiment but so far, I keep coming back to this method and grind.


Thanks for sharing your brewing process. Coffee preference is an interesting amalgam of the objective parameter values required to obtain reproducible results and the subjective, elusive aspect of personal preference. The former can be articulated and documented with great precision and in minute detail while it is difficult at best to speak about the latter at all, with terms like "notes of" this or that flavor of something else, like blueberries, falling pathetically short, in my view.

So my experience is like yours in that once I find a path that yields results I like, even though I cannot begin to convey my experience in consumption relative to my ability to state how I got there, like you I keep wanting to walk that path again, feeling satisfaction in re-recognizing the fundamentally indescribable result.
So many beans; so little time....
 
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