Tools that work & Etc.

[ebb]

http://prima-coffee.com/catalog/able...lter-aeropress

Bet some people think I've hi-jacked the Tools That Work & Etc thread with this coffee-maker rant. Figured that ETC left the door open!
My old PORTABLE, $26, java-maker, the plastic syringe, Aeropress, is still going strong after I forget how many years. Had to get a new rubber plunger.
Sometimes I stop drinking coffee - but I always come back.

This disk ($12.50) takes the place of paper filters. The stack of paper disks (350 for about $.01 ea) in their holder are a major part of our coffee making kit, eventually become waste. My morning regimen included rinsing paper filters after use and drying them on the bottom of upturned water glasses to reuse the next day. Cheapskate environmentalist.
This stainless filter came about by popular demand - the makers of the AeroPress were not interested in offering an alternative to paper.
Used this metal disk filter for a couple weeks now and it is perfect - makes almost perfect coffee (at 190degrees.)
You have to learn to use it. It's slower than pushing coffee and hot air thru paper. Patience, brother....

It IS perfect for the inverted Aeropress method of pressing that translates more of the oils and bloom - that fanatics insist is the only way - to the cup. The inverted method puts the aromas and oils at the bottom of the squeeze - right at the filter - where the good stuff is first to come thru when you invert it over your mug to do the press. Quite logical, really. You get instructions printed on a card with your new s.s.disk to perform the reverse method. Reads like a botony experiment!
The stainless filter doesn't remove flavors like the paper seems to.
Sometimes the bottom of the cup ends up with some visible fines in it - but they are so fine that (my) tongue can't feel them. Down the hatch!
The first "celebrated" stainless disk on the market had larger holes and produced a turkish chew.

This is the one.

Don't make my coffee inverted - normal makes me a contrary snob.
This is a better brew, for sure. I'm a two cuppa. Sometimes later in the day I find my second cup
untouched & forgotten in the microwave - obviously the one richer cup by the new disk seized the day!

In My Considered Opinion you cannot make a better tasting cup of coffee in your galley by any other method. Even with paper!
This new, by popular demand, Able Disk Fine is paper thin. Be interesting to see how long it lasts.
As we might expect, when you go to the Q&A page on the Aerobie site, they insist using their paper makes better coffee. What can they say?
Purists argue that filtering thru paper makes coffee flavored tea. Ebb knows his cuppa is more robust and tastey using the new filter.
If the metal filter lasts in the long run, it will reduce the portable kit, making it more compact. The paper has no pedigree (do you know where your paper has been?), it could contain manufacturing residues, and it represents a waste cost for every cup that doesn't have to be part of the ritual. It is a smart upgrade for the Aeropress. [Right! Do you know where your stainless has been?]

On site Prima flogs an 18k gold plated coarse disk for $50.
Has to be a popular product for this kind of tackle !
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OK, later EDIT.
What alloy are the Able stainless steel etched (not wire mesh) disks made from? 316? I went to their relatively new site. They do not say - and I will say - that for real purists, and for anybody who swallows - what and how your personal coffee is made isn't something that can be glossed over.
You want to know if you are drinking dioxins & furans when you filter your coffee with paper.
You want to know if the stainless filter disk is food grade. I did see "laboratory grade" mentioned - but not on the Able site.
I obviously think - because I'm primed to think - that if important information is missing, that is a deliberate form of DECEPTION. The metal disks may be made in the US, but the metal roll the disks are made from may come from China, eg. Alloy stainless steel (even labeled 316) sheet made from recycled metals can be infused with poisonous rare metals, that can invert the immune system. Suspect are the paper disks that come with your new Aeropress, if they are specifically silent about the filter. Paper is notorious for carcinogens hidden in it. Makers of food related products have to be totally transparent - if they are not, then they are not.
On site Aerobie talks about materials used to make their product. BPH & polycarbonate are mentioned and pthalates are not found in tests done on the coffee their coffee making syringe produces. Were the tests any damn good?
Their very white paper filters are not discussed. Come Monday I'm calling the manufacturers.