As soon as upon a time, each AeroPress was the very best AeroPress. However the humble AeroPress espresso maker has since multiplied. It has change into numerous. The previous half decade or so has introduced an explosion of recent variations of AeroPress: a plastic-free premium AeroPress (7/10, WIRED Recommends), a massive AeroPress, a small AeroPress, a pink AeroPress, a blue AeroPress.
However at its coronary heart, the AeroPress stays a compact and ingeniously easy espresso maker, utilizing stress utilized by hand to extract a clean however richly flavorful and fragrant cup. Famously created by a Stanford-educated inventor beforehand recognized for enhancing the aerodynamics of the flying disc, every AeroPress seems to be a bit like a fats syringe that injects brewed espresso by a filter and into your ready mug. It does not look like it ought to make espresso pretty much 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 gadget additionally permits a outstanding quantity of management over your espresso as you alter grind, brewing time, agitation, bloom, and filter of selection.
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 referred to 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 sizzling pink AeroPress (as a result of why not?). A few of that is advertising and marketing. Some’s an actual enchancment—or at the least an alternate imaginative and prescient for an already quirky espresso maker.
Here is our greatest recommendation on which model of AeroPress to get, and our favourite equipment from AeroPress and different makers.
You should definitely take a look at our different espresso guides, together with the Finest Espresso Grinders, Finest Drip Espresso Makers, Finest Espresso Bean Subscriptions, and Finest 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.
Finest AeroPress General
The WIRED workforce 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 a number of low-cost, handy issues, the unique AeroPress is fabricated from (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 value premium, the brand new plastic-free AeroPress Premium is the reply: a steel-and-glass AeroPress with sturdy building 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 gadget. Word, nonetheless, he had intermittent points with espresso blowouts on one assessment pattern, a “manageable quirk” he solved by utilizing AeroPress’s chrome steel filter we focus on beneath.
Prettiest AeroPresses
Magnificence is not free. It prices $10 additional. The brand new Clears and Colours (that are additionally thought of Clears) are just about the identical gadget as the great old school AeroPress Unique. They only occur to be better-looking, brighter, extra numerous, and barely costlier. Some AeroPress lovers admire 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 advantage of 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.
Finest Funds Basic
Should you’re a longtime AeroPress proprietor, chances are high 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 scale back notion of espresso staining, again when AeroPress was made with a distinct materials. Now, this smokiness has advanced right into a design hallmark. Amid the proliferation of AeroPress sizes and colours, the Unique’s design has remained principally unchanged for 15 years. And nowadays it is $10 cheaper than the newer bright-colored and clear AeroPresses, which work the very same manner. Shopping for the Unique marks you as a sensible one that cares not for frippery.
Finest 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 might choose to the unique, nestling inside a mug for straightforward transport to a campsite or a lodge. Voila: no extra unhappy lodge Ok-cups. Grind no matter beans you’ll be able to earlier than heading out tenting—or if you happen to’re in a brand new metropolis, purchase a bag and ask them to grind for AeroPress. (Though, if you happen to actually need 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 referred to as the Go Plus ($80), however this one’s a little bit of a dud, in line 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 house, limiting its use case significantly. Keep on with the usual Go.
Finest for (Actually) Huge Boys
AeroPress followers have been clamoring for an even bigger model of the traditional brewer for years, principally as a result of the Unique’s 10-ounce capability signifies that making espresso for a couple of individual is usually a ache within the butt. These followers bought their want with a mannequin that is twice the dimensions of the unique. However larger doesn’t appear to be higher. The truth is, larger appears just a little extra harmful. Whereas the Unique, Clear, and Go all use the identical measurement cap and filter, each 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 massive to brew immediately into most mugs. It additionally features a number of peak. 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 sizzling liquids you possible won’t need 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 sizzling water you are perching excessive above your countertop, legs, and non-public components. Should you actually love AeroPress, need an additional cup’s value each time you brew, and are not delay by the potential perils, go for it, however most of us who crave extra espresso would possible be higher off with a distinct sort of brewer. —Joe Ray
Put a Lid on It?
The Fellow Prismo, initially launched in 2020, was a revelation, although not for the rationale it was marketed. The massive thought is that by changing the usual filter cap with a cap outfitted with a pressure-actuated valve, you’ll be able to pave the way in which 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 follow, it is a little little bit of hooey. Your arm isn’t creating the 9 bars of stress required to supply espresso, regardless of how arduous you lean. However by grinding fantastic, utilizing much less water, and pushing the brew by the tiny holes of the Prismo’s chrome steel filter, you’ll be able to certainly make a powerful and espresso-like substance with some crema. It’s kind of 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 gradual leak by the AeroPress’s normal 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 sizzling liquid earlier than plunging. The Prismo avoids the necessity for such early morning adrenaline, and likewise stops your valuable elixir from dribbling into your mug earlier than you plunge the AeroPress. I just about solely use the Prismo or AeroPress’s circulate management cap, for this exact cause. And although the chrome 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 referred to as, catchily, a “Circulation Management Filter Cap.” The unique circulate management had a bent to leak, in line with some on-line experiences, however AeroPress appears to have fastened this challenge 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 chrome steel filter on the similar value, but in addition requires that you simply use the metal filter. (The rubber O-ring on Prismo’s metal filter stops the gadget from leaking.) So if you happen to like a chrome steel filter? Use the Prismo. If not, roll with AeroPress’s model.
Additionally, here is a tip for many who cannot determine easy methods to expel espresso pucks utilizing the Prismo or Circulation Management with out making a multitude. Pull again the plunger just a little after brewing. This may 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 an alternative choice to disposable paper filters. Some folks pitch this as an environmental resolution, in decreasing 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 desire 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 may also offer you a little bit of satisfying crema if you happen to push fantastic espresso by it with the Prismo or Circulation Management Cap. The usual paper filters will supply extra readability of taste and take away all sediment and a number of the espresso, however will not have the physique of the steel-filtered stuff. However notice for the heart-conscious: Research going again many years present that unfiltered espresso comprises chemical compounds referred to as diterpenes which are related to a major enhance in LDL ldl cholesterol. Paper filters have been proven to take away these chemical compounds. Metal filters haven’t.
One other theoretically environmentally pleasant possibility is cotton-wool filters, not in contrast to the filter used within the traditional Toddy to make chilly brew. An Austin, Texas, firm referred to as CoffeeSock makes reusable woolen filters for chilly brew, pour-over, AeroPress, you title it. A 3-pack goes for $15. I did not overwhelmingly like the flavour I bought utilizing woolen filters on my AeroPress—it was just a little muddy-tasting, and perhaps even just a little gym-socky—and it is a number of work rinsing and drying and mainly doing laundry on my espresso filter. However perhaps you will prefer it greater than I did.
The Finest AeroPress Caddy
The AeroPress is each a remarkably easy espresso gadget and a tool with a number of humorous little components. There is a scoop if you happen to’re a scooping kind, a funnel if you happen to’re a grinder and pourer, a tamper if you happen to 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 chrome steel countertop organizer ($100) for its gadgets, if you happen to’d fairly a cyberpunk vibe.
Taking the Case
Every AeroPress used to return with just a little vertical stand on your filters. That is now not true. As an alternative, this compact little journey case is offered individually. Do you want just a little filter-holder? I dunno. Nevertheless it does not price quite a bit, it is compact if you happen to’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 just a little 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. Should you pour fresh-ground espresso into your AeroPress fairly than scooping, you will most likely admire having this. It is also good for not spilling water whereas pouring rom a kettle. Funnels are good for not spilling stuff, typically. A number 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.
