Several years in the past, I ended by the AeroPress sales space at a commerce present and requested if there was something new in the pipeline. The reply, which I could now be overinterpreting, was a bemused however understanding “wait a few years.”
The authentic AeroPress is sort of a large snub-nosed syringe that makes scrumptious espresso. It is compact, travels nicely, and is pretty straightforward to wash. To brew a batch, put grounds in the chamber, pour scorching water over the prime, stir, after which use the plunger to press the espresso out via a flat, round filter into your mug. It was invented by the identical man who got here up with the Aerobie, and because it was first launched, the firm has solely put out one further product of observe: the AeroPress Go, a near-perfect mannequin for making espresso on the street. The authentic and the Go have a cult-like following amongst baristas and different espresso lovers.
Fans have all the time wished extra although. Now that the firm has modified fingers, they’re getting every kind of extra. Out now, or popping out quickly, are a few equipment; a transparent mannequin fabricated from Tritan plastic; a fancier glass, aluminum, and stainless-steel model; and the just-out XL. I simply received my fingers on the supersized AeroPress XL just a little over a month in the past and have used it nearly day by day since. It’s twice the quantity of the authentic, with measurement will increase for all the predominant components—the plunger, chamber, cap, filter, and stirrer. It additionally comes with a carafe to press the espresso into. Altogether, the entire factor feels a lot bigger than the authentic.
Photograph: Aeropress
There wasn’t a lot to be taught. It works similar to its predecessor, so I merely added bigger quantities of espresso and water to every brew. The espresso tasted prefer it ought to, however the entire factor felt nearly disproportionately huge. Then I took it over to the lab at Olympia Coffee Roasting Company in Seattle; I wished to see what their retail coach, Reyna Callejo—one in all the nation’s prime baristas and an avid AeroPress fan—considered it.
We chatted about an 18-day journey she took to Japan some years in the past, and the way she used her AeroPress day by day. Then she pulled the new model out of the field. She appeared shocked by how a lot bigger it was than the authentic. She nestled the plunger into the finish of the chamber such as you would when brewing and held it as much as her arm, the place the entire meeting prolonged from her wrist to the center of her bicep.
Reyna heated water and fired up the grinder for what she calls her “good for most people” methodology. Scaled as much as match the bigger quantity of the XL, this used 30 grams of beans with 500 grams of water. (That’s a 1:16.67 ratio, for all you espresso nerds on the market.) Then, in an indication of the unwieldiness to return, she climbed on a stool to work with the XL. She had good cause to stand up there: When you stick the plunger on the chamber and put that on prime of the carafe, it’s about 19 inches tall. I’m 6 ft tall, and on a 36-inch countertop that setup comes midway up my sternum. At 5′ 3″, Reyna felt it was too excessive for her to soundly function with out the stool.