Most home coffee bars are small corners in crowded kitchens. Understandable. But if you’re an enthusiast like me, you’re okay with giving up an extra bit of space for the craft of brewing.
If your brewer of choice is the Aeropress, I’ve got just the accessories you need to boost your Aeropress coffee bar’s efficiency and help you brew better coffee. These 5 Aeropress accessories are empowering and great additions to your routine.
And they’re totally worth that extra bit of counter space.
Let see them.
1. Rhinoware Milk Pitcher
Wait, a milk pitcher? That’s right.
Having a stainless steel milk pitcher accomplishes a few things:
- Enables spill-free coffee sharing
- Allows drinking from glassware
Even though the Aeropress only brews about 8 ounces of coffee at a time, there have been many times where I just wanted to share a small brew. Mostly in the evening when I just want to enjoy a small amount with a friend.
Read: 5 Reasons The Aeropress Is The Ultimate Brewer For The Coffee Connoisseur
However, the Aeropress doesn’t really make sharing easy at all.
You have to plunge the coffee directly into a mug. Then you have to pour some coffee from one mug into a second mug, which is never a clean process. You end up spilling 20% of the coffee trying to split it between two mugs
A milk pitcher allows you to easily pour into multiple cups without spilling a drop.
Another one of my biggest issues with the Aeropress is that it’s not safe to use with glassware or delicate ceramic. If I want to drink from a nice, tempered glass cup, I can’t, because when you plunge, the pressure is too much for glass. It’s just not safe.
Having a pitcher allows you to press the coffee into it safely and confidently. Then you can pour the coffee into whatever glassware or ceramic you’d like.
Read: A Recipe For Shaken Iced Aeropress Coffee
A 20-ounce milk pitcher is the perfect size for a round of Aeropress coffee (the 12-ounce size has too small of an opening). When it’s time to plunge, set the Aeropress funnel on the pitcher and place the AP directly onto the funnel. Easy!
2. Aeropress Drying Rack
The Aeropress is possibly the most durable coffee brewer out there, but it’s not indestructible.
One of the quickest ways to damage the brewer is to store it when it’s still damp. This erodes and compromises the rubber seal, which leads to spilled coffee mid-brew. That’s bad.
Sadly, the Aeropress is notorious for taking forever to dry, mostly thanks to the odd shapes of the parts. But fear not. Your drying problems are solved by this Aeropress Drying Rack.
Though it’s a bit of a space hog, it’ll make sure your brewer is dry as a desert so you don’t have to worry about it falling apart and warping in storage.
3. Fellow Prismo
Fellow is another coffee gear manufacturer with a strong record. Their new Aeropress accessory, the Prismo, is one that attempts to close the gap between Aeropress coffee and espresso.
Despite how the Aeropress is marketed, it does not, in fact, make actual espresso.
See, modern espresso is created when hot water is forced through fine grounds at an intense 8-10 bars of pressure. The Aeropress, though it can make concentrated coffee, can achieve only a max of 0.75 bars of pressure - not even close to espresso machines.
Even the Prismo cannot change this low pressure, but it does get you closer to “espresso-style” coffee by forcing the coffee through their 80-micron filter and pressure actuated valve. This combo gives the coffee a fuller body and mouthfeel and creates a longer-lasting crema-like foam that tops the coffee.
Though we have our own Aeropress espresso recipe at JavaPresse that uses any regular metal filter, the Prismo is a pretty cool device.
Aside from espresso-style coffee, it also creates a full seal, which allows you to brew immersion coffee without having to use the inverted method.
4. Digital Thermometer
Once again, a seemingly unrelated piece of equipment makes the list.
However, it’s not unrelated at all. It’s an incredibly empowering tool that every Aeropress coffee connoisseur should have.
There are more brewing recipes for the Aeropress than any other filter coffee brewer. Many of these recipes include using water at odd temperatures. These lower-than-normal temps work because of the Aeropress’s use of pressure to brew.
To the average coffee lover, these fun and strange recipes are out of reach because they have no way to measure the temperature of their water. But, for the light cost of a food thermometer, you can make those recipes accessible.
For example, the Aeropress recipe we used at the coffee shop I used to work at uses a water temperature of...
... 176 degrees Fahrenheit!
That’s almost 30 degrees lower than normal.
This recipe brews coffee that’s particularly creamy of body and fruity in flavor. It’s truly a stand-out recipe that I now use at home all the time. You can see the recipe here.
Sadly, most Aeropress lovers will never be able to try it because they don’t have a simple food thermometer.
5. Stainless Steel Filter
And lastly, the simplest, least expensive, and most rewarding of all: a stainless steel filter.
Metals filters expand the list of possibilities when it comes to how you brew in three main ways.
- They’re 100% eco-friendly. They eliminate paper waste completely.
- They brew coffee with a fuller flavor and body by letting micro-grounds and aromatic oils into your mug.
- They’re great for travel. Don’t lug tons of paper filters around - just a rinse and this filter’s good for round 2.
If you’re just going to get a single Aeropress accessory, make it a metal filter. The cost to benefit ratio is just too good to ignore.
Read: Take Your Aeropress Camping For Easy Outdoor Coffee
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Your Aeropress game is about to soar. Combined, these accessories would bring you...
- More flavorful coffee
- A better espresso-style coffee
- Eco-friendly brews
- A greater array of recipe options
- Easy coffee splitting
- And painless drying
Master your Aeropress, but remember, without great beans at the start, you’re cutting yourself short. Always start with freshly roasted, specialty-grade beans or your effort will be wasted on stale, bitter coffee (sad).
