Aerobie Inc., a company usually known for it’s high-performance sports toys, introduced the travel-sized and durable AeroPress: a practical time-crunching machine for coffee lovers to use anywhere, anytime. 

Alan Adler, Standford engineering instructor and the man behind the machine, invented AeroPress after becoming increasingly frustrated with conventional coffee makers. On a quest for the perfect cup, Adler realized the importance of controlling water temperature, coffee ground fineness and filtering in making coffee. 

The solution? Adler designed a simple, inexpensive hand coffee press that allows for controllable conditions while you brew. The total immersion brewing process gives you the freedom to select a water temperature, to stir the grounds evenly throughout that same temperature and hand press the ideal cup of joe. 

“It’s the closest mouth feel and taste to a cupping,” Graham Bargen, of local coffee shop Thom Bargen, says. “Cupping is a way in which coffees are judged and scored. Similar to a wine point system.”

The bitterness and acidity that’s expected from coffee is surprisingly less prominent in an AeroPress brew.

“The acid that can upsets one’s stomach is reduced by over 80% when compared with coffee brewed in a drip coffee maker,” Aerobie Inc. says, “and by 90% when compared with coffee brewed in a French press.”

Aeropress is durable. Unlike other presses made to be esthetically appealing, this hand press aims for practicality.

“We’re frequently asked if we plan to start making coffee makers out of glass or stainless steel (to make them a bit more artistic in appearance),” Constance Adler, Marketing Coordinator at Aerobie Inc. shares. “Interestingly, we also receive numerous emails from consumers thanking us for not making the AeroPress of glass. We suspect those people are tired of breaking glass coffee carafes or presses.”

As a reliable product that’s available for purchase in over 50 countries, AeroPress has undoubtedly conjured up quite the following. Every year coffee enthusiasts compete in AeroPress competitions around the globe.

“It’s come up because there are a number of different ways to use the AeroPress and different brewing recipes you can try” Adler says. “Competitors show up to the competitions with unique recipes they’ve developed, and the judges blind-taste-test each cup to determine who’s brewed the tastiest one.”

Founded in 2008 by Tim Varney and Tim Wendelboe, the competitions have become vastly popular. Want to use your brewing chops on a national scale? Keep an eye out for The Canadian AeroPress Championship in Calgary on Mar. 22. If you thirst to be deemed the ultimate champ, there’s always Seattle’s World AeroPress Championship in April.

If you’re looking to get your caffeinated hands on your very own AeroPress, they’ll run you a modest $29.99 and can be found at Black Pearl Coffee, Scoop and Save Natural Foods, Parlour Coffee and Bed Bath and Beyond.

Whether you need a quick brew, or you’re experimenting with recipes to compete, Aeropress offers durable versatility and quality supplies for endless pick-me-cups this winter.

Published in Volume 69, Number 23 of The Uniter (March 4, 2015)