re: Is AeroPress the best affordable coffee maker currently on the market?

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I will take a chemex for $40 over the aeropress any day.

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AeroPress is superb for single cup. Its a different animal than a French Press (AeroPress product is clear with no sludge, finer ground, less steep time, smaller quantity), and what comes out is very similar to a Chemex, which is the taste and texture I go for. My problem with the Chemex (I have one and use it) is that I rarely need to make that much coffee, and clean-up is a bit of a PITA (special brush, fragile, have to take off wood "handle", etc).

AeroPress provides a ton of flexibility in what you get out of your beans as well. I think its pretty darn hard to beat, unless you are brewing for several people. I actually cut out some of the chemex filters using AeroPress filters as a template and used them as filter to see how close it approximates Chemex taste - and the answer is pretty darn close. I use the inverted method then add back hot water to the concentrate I get from the AeroPress to make an Americano style coffee.