AeroPress Vs French Press Coffee Makers: In Depth Comparison and WHat’s Better?

The French press and AeroPress are both manual coffee makers that involve steeping coffee grounds in hot water, followed by pressing the grounds to filter the coffee.

But! They have some major differences

The main difference is that the French press is an immersion brewing technique where coffee grounds soak in water for a while and give a rich and full-bodied brew. And the AeroPress uses air pressure to push water through the coffee grounds quickly. It also incorporates a paper filter thus resulting in a clean and bright coffee drink.

I’m gonna discuss the “Pros and Cons” of both French Press and Aeropress thoroughly and how these coffee machines are different which will surely help you in making a decision.

What is an AeroPress?

The Aeropress is a unique and innovative coffee maker that brews coffee using a combination of immersion and pressure. It’s a compact, portable device perfect for campers and travelers.

Aeropress is a relatively new innovation in the World of coffee devised in 2005 by toy inventor Alan Adler. It’s made of BPA-free Polypropylene plastic with no phthalates and uses a paper filter to filter out the coffee drink.

An Aeropress basically comprises ”Two parts”:

• Chamber: A circular jar made of food-safe polypropylene.
• Plunger: It consists of a lid, an airtight seal made of silicon, and a paper micro-filter.

In the coffee world, Aeropress is known as a manual espresso maker since it makes concentrated shots of coffee much similar to Espresso. But without the signature layer of Crema as the brewing pressure is much less than the Espresso machine.

Aeropress forces water through a thin paper filter for smooth, grit-free, and clean-flavored coffee with no oils and sediments.

An Aeropress only offers a single design and that’s the traditional one.

What is a French Press?

The French press is an immersion coffee brewing method that involves soaking coarsely ground beans in hot water and pressing the coffee through a metal filter to make a full-bodied and flavorful drink.

A French Press mainly comprises Three Parts:

1. A Plunger– It consists of a lid and a mesh filter assembly
2. The Carafe- The carafe or coffee jar which can be made of one of three different materials: Stainless steel, glass, or Ceramic with Glass being the most popular one.
3. Filters – It consists of a spiral plate and mesh screen that filters out the coffee.

French Press is quite popular in the USA, a good 4 percent of American coffee drinkers brew their coffee using the French Press.

French press coffee is known for its bold and rich flavor although you do require some brewing expertise otherwise you will end up with a muddy cup of coffee.

Unlike other coffee makers, French Press only uses metal filters. These filters let most of the coffee oils pass through and give the coffee a unique and stronger mouthfeel.

French Press vs AeropRess (Showdown)

Let’s discuss the differences between French Press and Aeropress in detail to help you decided what’s a better option for your needs.

1) How Aeropress and French Press Compared in Taste

Considering the taste profile, both brewing devices can make exceptional coffee. Yet, they’ve some significant differences. Mainly, because of the brewing time and filter.

French Press makes a rich and full-bodied coffee drink, with somewhat gritty texture and a stronger mouthfeel as it is full of flavorful coffee oils. Nevertheless, the prolonged brewing process lends a slightly bitter taste to the coffee.

Aeropress makes a concentrated and clean coffee drink. It uses a microfilter, which removes much of the grit, resulting in a coffee that is clean and doesn’t have the sediments found in French Press.

With AeroPress, you can make both strong and dense shots of coffee similar to Espresso and regular serving coffee similar to pour-over.

In short, if you prefer a regular serving of coffee with a rich mouthfeel go with the French Press and if you like concentrated and clean coffee go with the Aeropress. In taste, I must say I like French Press more!

2) The Grind size

Aeropress requires Fine or Medium fine coffee grounds as it is a quick brewing method and fine coffee grounds with large surface areas extract flavors more quickly.

The ideal French Press grind size is anywhere between Medium Coarse to Coarse. That’s simply because French Press only uses metal strainers to filter coffee. If you use fine grounds you will end up with a cup of coffee full of fine coffee sediments.

I always recommend buying whole-bean coffee and grinding your beans right before brewing. It can be a game-changer for a fresh coffee drink!

3) Ease of use

French Press and Aeropress are both completely manual coffee makers that let you control the entire brewing process and requires some experience to brew properly.

That’s both a good and bad thing at the same time!

Good for coffee lovers who want to adjust brewing parameters such as coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, water temperature, and steeping time according to their taste.

The bad thing you can easily mess up the taste of your brew if you don’t know how to use it properly.

Although both French Press and Aeropress are fairly easy to use but in French Press the margin of error is high. A beginner can easily ruin a cup of coffee using the French Press. That’s why the ease of use point goes to Aeropress

4) Ease of Cleaning

It’s an Important Thing to consider which “Press” is easy to Clean. As it’s an Important Task that needs to be done on a Daily, Weekly, And Monthly Basis.

French Press contains oil residues and coarse coffee ground remains that makes it relatively harder to clean.

This time, an Aero press got a plus point as it’s easier and a matter of seconds to clean as compared to the French press.                            

5) The Type of Filters

A French Press uses a “metal filter”, That lets coffee oils and fine coffee grounds pass through resulting in a gritty texture. While AeroPress uses a “Paper Filter” with finer perforations that Filter excessive oils and make a grit-free smooth cup of coffee.

Coffee filtered with a Metal filter is Rich, thick, and Full-bodied. Also, fine coffee grounds can pass through these Filter Pores resulting in sediments at the bottom of the cup (which some people hate and others enjoy).

6) Capacity and time for a brew

If you’re living in a house full of coffee lovers or have to prepare coffee for a bunch of people then French Press is a coffee device for you.

• It can easily make 3-8 cups of Coffee of time (different sizes available)
•  A French press takes around 10 minutes to brew a cup of coffee (From bean to brew)

If you’re buying a device for traveling purposes or for solo use. Then an Aeropress is going to be a great choice!

• The capacity of Aeropress is typically around 10 oz.
• An Aero press is faster- Can brew a cup of java within 1-2 minutes.

Mr. Adler concluded a motive behind inventing an aero press:

“I want to have good, quick coffee always at hand, so I invented the Aero Press”

Ask a few questions to yourself before making a decision! Are you looking for a device for solo use or for family use? How much coffee do you need to prepare daily?

7) Which is best for travel AeroPress or French Press

While French Press also has a portable design and can be used for traveling and camping trips but it certainly can’t match the portability of an Aeropress.

The glass jar of French Press can break due to pressure or turbulence. (You can buy a metal one though, that can’t break easily!)

Aero press is designed with BPA-free plastic that’s easy to carry, portable, and lightweight.

8) The versatility

In terms of versatility, both Aeropress and French press have their advantages.

French Press gives you the option to make hot coffee, cold brew, and iced coffee. You can also froth milk in the French Press to prepare the milk-based coffee drink Cafe Au Lait. In addition, you can also make tea with a French press.

In contrast, Aeropress can make hot coffee in various different ways. Coffee that is simple and smooth with a low coffee-to-water ratio or Espresso-styled rich and dense shots of coffee that can be used to prepare Cappuccino and Latte.

9) The Budget

Both French Press and AeroPress are quite affordable so any coffee lover can easily add these to their coffee collections.

A French Press offers a wide range of Prices. A cheap one is easily available for under 30 dollars, while an expensive double-walled or ceramic French press can cost up to 100-150 dollars.

While an Aeropress has a Standard price that’s around 30 dollars and other than that you have to purchase paper filters separately.

So, What’s better Aeropress or French Press?

I have made both the Aeropress vs French press transparent in this detailed comparison

Now to conclude “which one’s going to be best for you?”

Well, the answer is it depends!

French presses are perfect for preparing coffee for a bunch of people, take almost five minutes to brew, and are better for household purposes.

Meanwhile, an Aero Press is better for solo coffee lovers, brews a clean and concentrated coffee drink within a minute, and is perfect for traveling.

Nevertheless, my vote goes to French Press as I love the taste of rich and full-bodied brew from French Press.

Also Read Other French Press Comparisons

• French Press vs Moka Pot
• French Press Coffee vs Espresso
• Percolator vs French Press
• French Press vs Keurig
• Pour Over vs French Press
• French Press vs Drip Coffee

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