OT - Coffee Burr Grinders and French presses

I have a Bodum and a Le Crueset French Press.

For grinders, the Baratza Virtuoso is a nice one for an auto grinder. 

Don't use the same grinder for coffee and rubs!!!! (trust me)

For burr grinders, Baratza and Capresso are the best for home use.

For coffee presses, why not an aeropress?  It is cheaper, more durable, faster, and does better at coffee competitions.

To nerd out to coffee advice, check out SCAA

French press is the best. I have several and the one that has held up the best, is one you can buy at any outdoors or sporting goods store. It is about $20.00 and I have literally carried all over the world. Impossible to break, it has an insulated cover to keep it warm, and takes a freaking pile of abuse. It is easy to maintain, works 100% every time.
I have backpacked with it everywhere, and used it for coffee at home. I have owned this unit for 4 years and it has not missed a beat. Try it. Light weight, and dishwasher safe on all components.

Grimders, dunno. I use the coarsest grind for mine at the grocery, I use a 5:3 ratio of Dunkin Donuts to the cheapest house brand columbian supream. Works great! SWMBO loves it.

Coffee nerd here. You can get crema with an Aeropress which, in my opinion, gives the best cup of coffee hands down. It's also incredibly easy to clean. I've used a french press, a moka pot, an Aeropress; I have a KA burr grinder modded out for espresso and a Pharos hand grinder that I use for my La Pavoni Euripiccola lever espresso machine. Get the Aeropress. Also, if you want to go full coffee geek get a Lido2 or Lido3 hand grinder.  If you want something inexpensive and relatively cool looking get the KA Burr grinder. I got mine off Amazon for $99 shipped. Good Luck!

I have a Baratza Virtuoso burr grinder. Does well for espresso up to French press grinds. I also like that there are many user replaceable parts in case it needs maintenance or repair. Mine is several years old, I assume the new ones are built as well.

JohnB said:

Coffee nerd here. You can get crema with an Aeropress which, in my opinion, gives the best cup of coffee hands down. It's also incredibly easy to clean. I've used a french press, a moka pot, an Aeropress; I have a KA burr grinder modded out for espresso and a Pharos hand grinder that I use for my La Pavoni Euripiccola lever espresso machine. Get the Aeropress. Also, if you want to go full coffee geek get a Lido2 or Lido3 hand grinder.  If you want something inexpensive and relatively cool looking get the KA Burr grinder. I got mine off Amazon for $99 shipped. Good Luck!

Was just gonna recommend the Aeropress.  I have a couple other coffee makers and the Aero definitely gives me the smoothest and best tasting cup of the bunch.  Watch some youtube videos about the process to make sure you're on board with it before you buy but you're talking about a french press so this isn't much different.

IMO the key to good coffee with the Aero is proper water temperature.  Personally I just boil water and then let it cool for about 5 minutes.  Through testing with a thermometer I've found that gives me the right temp.  If you're really into coffee you may want to buy an electric kettle with a temp adjustment knob.

Baratza Encore, Chef's Choice Kettle, and Frieling FP.  Good stuff. 

Aero press easy, fast, and quick cleanup oh great coffee too 

I would look into Espro for pressed coffee. Great dual filter for fine pressed coffee.  

http://espro.ca/shop

Not a fan of Bodem but that is personal preference. +1 on the aero press. It travels with me every week along with a thin reusable filter disc.

For a grinder, what is needed is one that provides a consistency in the grind which can be quite expensive. >$400.  My go to for daily usage is a hand grinder, Porlex (google). Uses ceramic conical burrs that will provide a consistent grind and allows smaller steps within settings to dial in your preferences. I have had the cheapo burr grinders and you can see the really fine grind vs the course grind under the same grind setting. Changes the flavor profile which might not matter to most. 

Crema depends on grind and beans. You're not going to get the same kind of crema on a cup of coffee, regardless of the method, that you'll get with an espresso machine. It's been a while since I've used the AP, but I would suggest experimenting with the grind. I would think going about as fine as possible before choking the AP would be a good start to getting a head on your cup of coffee.

xiphoid007 said:

@JohnB  how do you get crema with the aeropress? I've watched a ton of videos and it seems like the inverted method works well, but most videos still don't show crema. Do you have any tips?

Freshness of beans, type of beans and temp of water are critical.  TBH you're never going to get a crema with an aeropress like you do with a good machine.  It still tastes great, just skimpy crema (if any).