Best AeroPress Coffee Makers Tested and Reviewed (2025)

Best AeroPress Coffee Makers Tested and Reviewed (2025) Leave a comment

As soon as upon a time, each AeroPress was one of the best AeroPress. However the humble AeroPress espresso maker has since multiplied. It has turn into numerous. The previous half decade or so has introduced an explosion of latest variations of AeroPress: a plastic-free premium AeroPress (7/10, WIRED Recommends), a giant AeroPress, a small AeroPress, a purple AeroPress, a blue AeroPress.

However at its coronary heart, the AeroPress stays a compact and ingeniously easy espresso maker, utilizing strain utilized by hand to extract a easy however richly flavorful and fragrant cup. Famously created by a Stanford-educated inventor beforehand identified for bettering the aerodynamics of the flying disc, every AeroPress seems to be a bit like a fats syringe that injects brewed espresso by way of a filter and into your ready mug. It would not appear to be it ought to make espresso nearly as good because it does. And but it does, attaining a end result someplace between French press, espresso, and filter espresso. Be happy to observe the recipe on the field. However the machine additionally permits a exceptional quantity of management over your espresso as you regulate grind, brewing time, agitation, bloom, and filter of alternative.

The AeroPress has impressed cultish fandom since its introduction in 2005, to not point out a burgeoning aftermarket of equipment and mods. And but it took until 2019 for AeroPress to launch a second mannequin, a barely smaller journey model known as the AeroPress Go (9/10, WIRED Recommends). After fairness firm Tiny Capital acquired a majority stake in AeroPress in 2021, the portal to the AeroPress multiverse was thrown open. Aeropress now makes alternate filters, flow-control caps, gadget organizers, and a scorching pink AeroPress (as a result of why not?). A few of that is advertising and marketing. Some’s an actual enchancment—or no less than an alternate imaginative and prescient for an already quirky espresso maker.

This is our greatest recommendation on which model of AeroPress to get, and our favourite equipment from AeroPress and different makers.

You’ll want to try our different espresso guides, together with the Greatest Espresso Grinders, Greatest Drip Espresso Makers, Greatest Espresso Bean Subscriptions, and Greatest Espresso Machines.

Up to date April 2025: We’ve added the AeroPress Premium, Fellow Prismo, AeroPress Journey Filter Holder, AeroPress Stainless Metal Filter, Hexnub Bamboo Organizer, and Coffeesock wool filters. We’ve additionally retested earlier AeroPress gadgets, and up to date hyperlinks and costs all through. The unique model of this information was written by WIRED contributor Joe Ray.

Greatest AeroPress Total

The WIRED crew has lengthy admired AeroPress. Reporter Steven Levy profiled its inventor in his Palo Alto workplace a decade in the past, when AeroPress mania was first reaching fever pitch. However like lots of low-cost, handy issues, the unique AeroPress is product of (BPA-free, pthalate-free, licensed food-safe) plastic. And microplastics are a priority that’s quickly rising in scope and significance, amid some actual well being questions.

At a little bit of a worth premium, the brand new plastic-free AeroPress Premium is the reply: a steel-and-glass AeroPress with sturdy development and the identical nice means to make AeroPress-style espresso. WIRED commerce director Martin Cizmar, a longtime AeroPress fan, has stowed his beloved authentic AeroPress along with his tenting gear in favor of the brand new Premium as a house machine. Be aware, nonetheless, he had intermittent points with espresso blowouts on one evaluate pattern, a “manageable quirk” he solved by utilizing AeroPress’s stainless-steel filter we focus on beneath.

Prettiest AeroPresses

Magnificence is not free. It prices $10 further. The brand new Clears and Colours (that are additionally thought-about Clears) are just about the identical machine as the great old style AeroPress Unique. They only occur to be better-looking, brighter, extra numerous, and barely dearer. Some AeroPress lovers recognize that the Clear enables you to see the brewing course of—although if I’ll be trustworthy, espresso slurry is not precisely a fireworks present. The true good thing about the brand new designs is that you simply get to decide on a shade that matches your shirt, your kitchen decor, or your entire vibe.

Greatest Funds Traditional

In the event you’re a longtime AeroPress proprietor, likelihood is that is the one you’ve got bought. You most likely really feel nostalgic and deeply connected, and rightly so. That stated, the unique Unique AeroPress shade was truly clear. This “smoked” shade was added in 2010 to cut back notion of espresso staining, again when AeroPress was made with a unique materials. Now, this smokiness has developed right into a design hallmark. Amid the proliferation of AeroPress sizes and colours, the Unique’s design has remained largely unchanged for 15 years. And nowadays it is $10 cheaper than the newer bright-colored and clear AeroPresses, which work the very same approach. Shopping for the Unique marks you as a sensible one that cares not for frippery.

Greatest for Frequent Fliers

The travel-friendly 8-ounce Go (9/10 WIRED Recommends) is, on the one hand, only a barely smaller AeroPress. On the opposite, says WIRED contributor Joe Ray, it is an “ingenious” improve he could favor to the unique, nestling inside a mug for straightforward transport to a campsite or a lodge. Voila: no extra unhappy lodge Okay-cups. Grind no matter beans you’ll be able to earlier than heading out tenting—or in the event you’re in a brand new metropolis, purchase a bag and ask them to grind for AeroPress. (Though, in the event you actually wish to go for it whereas tenting, attempt our favourite hand grinder, the Kingrinder K6, at a grind setting between 60 and 90 clicks.)

AeroPress additionally launched an up to date journey AeroPress known as the Go Plus ($80), however this one’s a little bit of a dud, in accordance with Ray: It is made for an insulated journey mug whose magnetic slider makes it disagreeable to drink from. The Go Plus can also be too small to make use of with standard-sized mugs at residence, limiting its use case significantly. Stick to the usual Go.

Greatest for (Actually) Large Boys

AeroPress followers have been clamoring for a much bigger model of the basic brewer for years, largely as a result of the Unique’s 10-ounce capability signifies that making espresso for a couple of individual could be a ache within the butt. These followers bought their want with a mannequin that is twice the scale of the unique. However larger doesn’t appear to be higher. The truth is, larger appears a bit of extra harmful. Whereas the Unique, Clear, and Go all use the identical measurement cap and filter, every bit of the XL is bigger. It has its personal filters, and also you brew into the carafe it comes with, as a result of the XL’s bigger diameter makes it too huge to brew immediately into most mugs. It additionally good points lots of top. With the plunger prolonged and linked to the barrel, and all of that sitting on the carafe, it is 19 inches excessive. In our testing, 5’3″ Seattle barista Reyna Callejo from Olympia Espresso Roasting Firm stood on a stool to get it to work, a balancing act involving scorching liquids you possible won’t wish to be doing earlier than your morning espresso, or ever, actually. Utilizing the inverted technique additionally feels extra perilous—that is half a liter of scorching water you are perching excessive above your countertop, legs, and personal elements. In the event you actually love AeroPress, need an additional cup’s value each time you brew, and are not postpone by the potential perils, go for it, however most of us who crave extra espresso would possible be higher off with a unique type of brewer. —Joe Ray

Put a Lid on It?

The Fellow Prismo, initially launched in 2020, was a revelation, although not for the explanation it was marketed. The massive concept is that by changing the usual filter cap with a cap outfitted with a pressure-actuated valve, you’ll be able to pave the best way to make precise espresso together with your AeroPress. You do that by grinding your espresso finer after which pushing actually, actually arduous on the plunger. In apply, this can be a little little bit of hooey. Your arm is just not creating the 9 bars of strain required to provide espresso, irrespective of how arduous you lean. However by grinding tremendous, utilizing much less water, and pushing the brew by way of the tiny holes of the Prismo’s stainless-steel filter, you’ll be able to certainly make a robust and espresso-like substance with some crema. It is a bit extra astringent than espresso, to my style. However right here we’re.

For me, what made the Prismo terrific was that its valve fastened the sluggish leak by way of the AeroPress’s customary filter cap. The usual model dribbles a bit whereas steeping, inflicting aficionados to do bizarre stuff like brew “inverted,” after which flip over a column full of boiling scorching liquid earlier than plunging. The Prismo avoids the necessity for such early morning adrenaline, and in addition stops your treasured elixir from dribbling into your mug earlier than you plunge the AeroPress. I just about completely use the Prismo or AeroPress’s circulate management cap, for this exact cause. And although the stainless-steel filter is required for the Prismo to work, you’ll be able to add a paper filter atop it for extra readability of taste.

AeroPress now has its personal model of flow-control filter cap known as, catchily, a “Circulation Management Filter Cap.” The unique circulate management had an inclination to leak, in accordance with some on-line experiences, however AeroPress appears to have fastened this concern within the meantime: I’ve not had the issue. The Circulation Management Cap prices the identical because the Prismo, and each are equally profitable at stopping the AeroPress from leaking earlier than its time. So the primary distinction between AeroPress’s and Fellow’s filter cap is as follows: The Prismo comes with a stainless-steel filter on the similar worth, but in addition requires that you simply use the metal filter. (The rubber O-ring on Prismo’s metal filter stops the machine from leaking.) So in the event you like a stainless-steel filter? Use the Prismo. If not, roll with AeroPress’s model.

Additionally, this is a tip for individuals who cannot determine how one can expel espresso pucks utilizing the Prismo or Circulation Management with out making a multitude. Pull again the plunger a bit of after brewing. This can create a vacuum and suck the espresso puck again up with it. Then take away the filter cap, and plunge out the espresso puck into the bin. You are welcome.

Filtered Outcomes

AeroPress makes reusable metal filters in a number of colours as a substitute for disposable paper filters. Some individuals pitch this as an environmental resolution, in lowering waste. However on condition that paper filters are small, and also you’re utilizing water and cleaning soap to rinse espresso oils off this metal filter, it is all possible a little bit of a wash (see what I did there?). The true distinction is choice and taste. The metal filter will supply physique that is a bit extra like French press, with extra espresso fines and oils within the espresso, however to some (together with me) the flavour will style extra diffuse or muddy. The metal filter will even offer you a little bit of satisfying crema in the event you push tremendous espresso by way of it with the Prismo or Circulation Management Cap. The usual paper filters will supply extra readability of taste and take away all sediment and lots of the espresso, however will not have the physique of the steel-filtered stuff. However observe for the heart-conscious: Research going again many years present that unfiltered espresso accommodates chemical compounds known as diterpenes which might be related to a major improve in LDL ldl cholesterol. Paper filters have been proven to take away these chemical compounds. Metal filters haven’t.

One other theoretically environmentally pleasant choice is cotton-wool filters, not not like the filter used within the basic Toddy to make chilly brew. An Austin, Texas, firm known as CoffeeSock makes reusable woolen filters for chilly brew, pour-over, AeroPress, you identify it. A 3-pack goes for $15. I did not overwhelmingly like the flavour I bought utilizing woolen filters on my AeroPress—it was a bit of muddy-tasting, and perhaps even a bit of gym-socky—and it is lots of work rinsing and drying and mainly doing laundry on my espresso filter. However perhaps you will prefer it greater than I did.

The Greatest AeroPress Caddy

The AeroPress is each a remarkably easy espresso machine and a tool with lots of humorous little elements. There is a scoop in the event you’re a scooping sort, a funnel in the event you’re a grinder and pourer, a tamper in the event you like to combine up your AeroPress whereas it brews. There are filters. There is a filter cap, and perhaps your alternate valve-modulated filter cap. Thank goodness for Hexnub, a British firm based by former F1 racing gearheads, which makes by far probably the most compact and downright handsomest resolution I’ve discovered. This little bamboo caddy sits properly on a countertop, with slots for an AeroPress and all of the . It sports activities equally good-looking little silicone mats to catch stray liquid. AeroPress makes its personal stainless-steel countertop organizer ($100) for its gadgets, in the event you’d quite a cyberpunk vibe.

Taking the Case

Every AeroPress used to return with a bit of vertical stand on your filters. That is now not true. As an alternative, this compact little journey case is offered individually. Do you want a bit of filter-holder? I dunno. But it surely would not price rather a lot, it is compact in the event you’re taking the AeroPress on the go, and it seems to be undeniably nicer than a ziplock baggie. It additionally removes the prospect you splash all of your paper filters with water out of your sink. What I can say is that I am a bit of happier now that I’ve it.

When You’re Having Funnel

This can be a funnel. It additionally used to return with the AeroPress however now not does. In the event you pour fresh-ground espresso into your AeroPress quite than scooping, you will most likely recognize having this. It is also good for not spilling water whereas pouring rom a kettle. Funnels are good for not spilling stuff, normally. A couple of corporations make knockoffs, however the ones we have seen aren’t even cheaper than the one from AeroPress. And this funnel says “AeroPress” on it, which is classier.

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