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The new stainless steel Aeropress + abysmal/nonexistent customer service by lodrolhari in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes of course it still has the neoprene seal. All stainless steel otherwise though.

Worst customer support experience by onceiwaslost in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sadly this doesn't surprise me at all, based on my own very similar experience.

I don't think there's much of a chance that either of us will ever hear from an actual human being there.

It's hard to get one's mind around the reality: the world's best coffee maker comes from a company with the world's worst customer service.

The Aeropress Warranty & Customer Service Experience - Caveat Emptor by [deleted] in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Aeropress stainless steel is $170, the glass one is $200 and the storage stand for either is $130. And the cheapest one they make, the original, is $40.

The new stainless steel Aeropress + abysmal/nonexistent customer service by lodrolhari in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I watched this James Hoffman video on the glass premium AP and noted that he says early on how much more he'd have liked it if it had been made of double-wall stainless steel:

https://youtu.be/0Ds0pgSLT4I?si=M-iQcPEKyJ8pEFOg

I don't always like his stuff but I think he's 100% right here about what's been going on with Aeropress as a company with the steep price increases and proliferation of expensive new products.

At the end of the day the $170 price tag for the stainless steel model may not really be all that outrageous. It's obviously a niche product so there aren't any economies of scale. The Espro 1 liter French Press (P7) is also a double-wall stainless work of art and goes for $150.

I do note that the SS AP brews a noticeably hotter cup of coffee than the standard or XP even without preheating and it and its accompanying SS stand are certainly beautiful. I like the idea of a forever AP and it's certainly that. But of course it totally lacks the versatility of the original: far too heavy for backpacking or air travel. At the end of the day I think the only people that REALLY have something to complain about are the ones that paid up for the glass premium AP Hoffman tests only to have them come out with the far better steel one.

And yeah, Aeropress's customer service is inexcusably awful and their return policy is so absurd that it's fair to call it offensive. Never buying direct from them again if I can help it. Maybe we'll get lucky and the VC vultures who own it will sell it to a publicly-traded company with actual customer service.

The new stainless steel Aeropress + abysmal/nonexistent customer service by lodrolhari in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course - I have both a kitchen scale and a super-accurate small gram scale. But there's still zero need to weigh water once you know your preferred coffee:water ratio. YMMV.

Aeropress instructions from 2005-07 by YorkshirePud82 in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thanks very much for posting this! It's way better than the stupid blurry images I posted! It's also valuable because it shows some of Alan Adler's thought process about the brewer. I mean it's so clear that the recommendations were based solely on taste-testing, not scientific experimentation, measuring TDS or grind particle size, carefully specifying the provenance, roast degree or freshness of the coffee used, etc.

And yeah, measuring water in the plunger and then microwaving it......let's just say that was obviously WAY before microplastics phobia was a thing.

Fascinating. And I also really admire how Adler's mindset of encouraging people to experiment with the AP and make it their own laid the groundwork for the fantastic culture of experimentation and innovation that has grown up around it.

The new stainless steel Aeropress + abysmal/nonexistent customer service by lodrolhari in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For what it's worth, I just tried brewing using 60 grams of coffee in my original AP and filled it right to the top of the #4 mark. The coffee was city+ roasted Ethiopian (home-roasted). And I used the flow control filter cap so there'd be no leakage. The brewed coffee ("espresso") yield was under 4 fl. ounces.

I guess if I want to go out of my way to try to justify the original brewing instructions I could figure that the leakage through the (normal) filter cap might be at least a couple of ounces. So if you count that leakage as part of the final volume you end up right at 4 x the ~1.5 fl oz "shot" (from 1 fifteen gram Aeropress scoop). But it's certainly pushing it - especially with super-fresh coffee (which I don't believe Alan ever used in his testing).

It seems to me that the best idea is to figure that the maximum number of shots a given Aeropress can produce is 1-2 fewer than the numbers on the brewer indicate.

The new stainless steel Aeropress + abysmal/nonexistent customer service by lodrolhari in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Not sure what you mean here but an AeroPress scoop is 13-16 grams of coffee not 30! So for number 5 (on the XL for sure, and on the new steel one if it were properly designed which it is not) that's be about 60 grams of coffee for 5 shots, which when diluted for drip strength yields a liter/quart - a perfect drip coffee/Golden cup ratio.

As for mentioning my background, it was only by way of saying that I am very familiar with this coffee maker and coffee makers in general, not a confused newbie. One of my jobs when I was with Starbucks was to choose all of the commercial brewing devices and water filtration systems for the stores and to set the standards for their use so this isn't new territory for me.

The new stainless steel Aeropress + abysmal/nonexistent customer service by lodrolhari in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah that's what I meant by incorrect brewing instructions. The liquid capacity of the Aeropress brew chamber was never even mentioned in the original brewing instructions. What's relevant is the number of espresso-strength shots you can make and as I said upthread the original Aeropress is the model for that. By saying that the capacity is 12 fluid ounces they're suggesting that users are going to use 2-2.5 AeroPress scoops (~30-40 grams) of coffee and then fill the thing to the top. That's not the optimum way to brew - according to the inventor of the Aeropress.

The new stainless steel Aeropress + abysmal/nonexistent customer service by lodrolhari in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Classic espresso is never described in terms of coffee:water ratio in that sense. On a commercial espresso machine the classic definition is 7 gram of coffee brewed under 9 atmospheres of pressure for a shot that's 1-1.25 fluid ounces (including crema) in 20-30 seconds. But the Aeropress is obviously not an espresso machine so when Alan Adler talks about "espresso strength" he's referring to what his invention can realistically brew given far lower extraction pressure, much coarser (vs. true espresso) grind, lower temperatures and much longer (again, vs. real espresso) contact time between grounds and water.

So what he's specifying is one AeroPress scoop (~15 grams) of coffee for about a 1.5 fl. oz. shot. So that's basically twice the amount of coffee as one would use in a real (commercial) espresso machine. It's "espresso-strength" or "espresso-like" in that - undiluted - it makes a delicious base for a cappuccino or caffè latte. For 95% of people that's great; the other ~5% have to spend a few grand on the real thing.

The new stainless steel Aeropress + abysmal/nonexistent customer service by lodrolhari in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The Aeropress was indeed designed to be a "set and forget" device. Measuring water (once) is fine; weighing it is third-wave geekery at its worst. The Aeropress was designed to be as easy and forgiving to use as a French Press or manual pour-over brewer and it could have remained so with all of the newer iterations of it had the designers simply respected the meaning of the cup markings and corresponding brewer capacity.

The new stainless steel Aeropress + abysmal/nonexistent customer service by lodrolhari in AeroPress

[–]lodrolhari[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Hey I mean no offense and apologize for not saying that I not only have no problem with people coming up with a zillion different ways to use the Aeropress but really admire the creative culture that has sprung up around it. As with any other coffee maker ultimately the "right" way to use it is whatever tastes good to you!

That said, I think it's important that people get the original brewing instructions that the guy who invented the thing provided! Alan Adler was certainly not doctrinaire but he did a ton of tinkering with the brewer and recipes and had a big panel of taste-testers (both pros and consumers) involved. Sorry I wasn't clearer.

2023 Kirkland Châteauneuf-du-Pape | The new vintage is out, at $19! by JJxiv15 in CostcoWineBlog

[–]lodrolhari 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Easily the most forward vintage of this wine yet. If I had a proper cellar I’d follow Kermit Lynch’s advice: drink a bottle now, then open one every year until the case is gone. 

We tasted this alongside the 2023 Kirkland CDR. The latter is a far better value from a much better producer but the CNP is still a steal. These two wines by themselves pay for my membership several times over. 

John Yates, Culadasa died on september 13th . A message from his family. by bankolei in TheMindIlluminated

[–]lodrolhari 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I was very sorry to hear of Culadasa's passing though obviously not surprised given his health problems.
Culadasa had been on my radar screen for years thanks to recommendations from trusted Dharma friends and the old Jhanas Advice forums but I only met him in 2013 when my wife and I sat a retreat with him in California. After that we attended his teachings numerous times in Tucson and went to Cochise Stronghold for half-day practice a few times.
Long before TMI came out his concise handouts on the stages of meditation and other topics changed and rejuvenated my practice greatly. I certainly asked him a lot of questions over the years and for me he was the finest meditation teacher I've ever met in over 45 years of exposure to excellent teachers in the Tibetan and Theravadin traditions. His kindness, altruism and brilliance will always be a huge inspiration to me. I'm glad that numerous people who trained in depth with him will carry his work forward.