French Press vs AeroPress vs Pour-over and More - Coffee Methods Compared

This is just too much , too much coffee here .

There are so many ways to brew coffee out there as a certified coffee nerd snob .

I've tried nearly all of them .

But for people who aren't coffee obsessive , it can be really confusing .

I'm gonna walk you through some of the most common coffee brewing methods .

The pros , the cons and who I think each one is best for guys .

The first method is a pour over .

The pour over requires uh a brewing cone with a paper filter that you pour water over and it funnels through into a decanter or a car .

There are a number of different pour over brewers out there .

This is the Rio V 60 .

Some other popular ones are the Kalita Wave and the bee house brewer .

Another kind of pour over is the chem has a similar method of making the coffee with a cone and a paper filter with the chem .

You're doing a very similar technique to other kinds of pour rovers , but you have one single piece of equipment which makes it a little bit more difficult to clean , to get in there and wash out the glass .

Some people absolutely love chems .

Some people , it's just a little bit too much of a pain .

The pros of a pour over are that you can really extract some very high quality coffee out of your beans if you know what you're doing , that's why coffee nerds love it so much .

You have a lot of control over all the variables .

So if you like to fiddle around and find exactly what works for you , the pour over is great .

And another pro is just that it's a very gratifying ritual doing a pour over every morning kind of lets you focus .

It's very meditative and people kind of love that the cons of a pour over are that it really takes a lot of practice .

It's not super easy .

It's just hard to get a consistent perfect cup every single time .

Another con is that doing a pour over might involve a little investment in some extra gear such as a digital scale .

So you can get the dose and the ratio coffee water .

Exactly .

Right .

Also a goose neck pouring kettle like this , which lets you pour a really even consistent flow of water over your coffee bed .

Some people don't think a goose neck kettle is absolutely necessary , but it does make things easier and more consistent .

So who is the pour over for ?

Well , it's for coffee nerds .

First and foremost , if you're obsessed with the quality of your coffee , if you want to learn and experiment pour over is a great method .

Next way to brew coffee is the classic French press with a French press .

You put your coffee into this glass graft , let it steep , which is what's called a full immersion style of brewing coffee .

And then you simply press down on this metal filter which strains out the grounds and gives you your coffee that you can just pour into a mug .

Pros of a French press are that it's very easy to do .

It doesn't require a whole lot of special knowledge .

Just a bit of timing , there's also no paper waste .

It does not involve any paper filters .

So if being environmentally friendly is important to you , the French press is a great way to go .

The other pro about a French press is that it's fairly cheap .

French press brewers cost between maybe 20 to $40 .

They're really not expensive and that's really all you need to get going and you don't have to buy any other extra gear .

Cons of a French press are the type of coffee that it really is suited to brew , which are more rich , heavy bodied coffees .

It's not great for brewing lighter tea , light coffees .

And that's because you're using this metal mesh filter instead of paper and mesh filter does tend to leave a little bit of sand or sediment at the bottom of your coffee cup .

Some people really hate that some people don't mind it .

The last con is that it is a little bit of a pain to clean .

You can't just dump a paper filter with your grounds .

You have to dump the grounds out of your French press , clean it out each time .

It's not a huge deal , but it is a definite con .

So who is the French press for ?

Well , it's for people who want convenience without a plug in machine on their counter .

It's also for people who really like those rich heavy bo coffees .

Ok .

Let's talk about espresso .

Espresso is kind of its own beast .

It requires a lot of equipment .

It's very different than brewed coffee .

Pros of Espresso is that it's very versatile .

You can make a lot of different drinks with an espresso base , especially milk drinks like lattes or cappuccino espresso .

Just also has that unique espresso flavor .

It's super concentrated , super rich .

It really feels like something totally different than regular brewed coffee .

The cons of espresso .

So are that it's very expensive .

Great espresso machines can cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars and you need a very good grinder .

You need a lot of accessories .

So it's not a cheap thing to get into .

It's also pretty difficult to get really great consistent results with an espresso machine .

People devote hours and hours and years of their life to mastering espresso .

So if you really want to go down that rabbit hole , just be forewarned .

It's not easy .

And the last con of espresso is that you only really get a single serving at a time .

You can't brew a whole pot of espresso to serve at a party .

Each serving requires its own process .

And it just takes a bit of time who is espresso for it's for coffee fanatics who love the purity of espresso who love experimenting and getting down to the highest quality espresso you can get .

It's also for people who love milk drinks .

If lattes and cappuccinos and macchiato are your thing .

Espresso might be the way to go , then you have the ubiquitous drip machine .

Like this one drip machines are one of the easiest methods because it's all automated .

You just set it and forget it and let it do its thing , believe it or not .

If you invest in a good drip brewing machine , you can get really high quality results .

Companies like Bonavita and Oxo and many others are making really high quality drip machines so you can get great quality coffee without having to resort to a manual method .

The cons of a drip machine are that you kind of give up the control .

You're at the mercy of the machine , you can't change up the variable , you can't fine tune the coffee if that's your thing .

And while drip machines are great for making large brews , they're not super great at making single serving coffees .

So if you live by yourself , if you're just making coffee for you every morning a drip machine might not be the best choice .

So who is a drip machine ?

Really ?

For , it's for people who want automation who don't want to have to do over their coffee in the morning .

They just want an easy quick cup .

Drip machines are also great for people who are regularly making large batches of coffee for large groups of people .

Next , we have the Aero press .

Aero press is a really unique , interesting kind of coffee maker and it kind of has a cult following .

What you do is you put your coffee in here , there's a paper filter at the bottom .

And after your coffee brews , you press down and squeeze the coffee into a mug sitting below .

Pros of an aero press are that it's really customizable .

There are hundreds of recipes you can try each with their own variables and variations and it can be really fun to experiment and get exactly the kind of brew that you want .

It's also really portable aero presses collapse down to a really small size .

So if you're traveling and want to bring a coffee brewer with you , you really can't beat the aero press for portability .

Aero press is also a pretty fast way of making a single serving of coffee .

It takes around 2 , 2.5 minutes to brew your cup .

There are some cons about the aero press .

Number one , the difficulty level I would say is medium .

It's not super easy .

Have to do a little bit of fiddling depending on the recipe you use .

It's not super hard , but it's definitely not the easiest way to brew coffee .

And the last con is that it only brews one fairly small cup at a time around 200 to 250 mL , which is a little more than an eight ounce cup .

So you can't use it for brewing coffee for multiple people .

So the arrow is great for travelers who want to bring some coffee here with them .

It's for people who really only need to make a single serve of coffee at a time .

And it's for people who love experimenting with different recipes and variables .

Next up is the mocha pot .

A lot of people think the mocha pot creates espresso and that's not technically true .

But the coffee you get from a mocha pot is very espresso like it's a small quantity .

It's very rich and very strong .

The pros of a mocha pot are that .

It's the best method for creating an espresso like coffee without actually going down the road of buying a giant espresso machine .

It's also really great for milk drinks because you have that richness that marries well with milk .

And it's a very unique method .

There's a romance to it of putting it over an open flame and seeing the to kind of sputter out the top .

It's , it's a fun process .

The cons of a Moka pot , it only makes a small quantity .

So it's not great for large groups of people .

Another con is that it's really only capable of making that concentrated rich type of brew .

So if you don't like that , you're out of luck with the Moka pot .

And lastly , it doesn't require a stove or an open flame .

You can't just use boiling water .

You have to have a heat source underneath it .

So that might limit you in terms of where you want to use a mocha pot .

Who is the Moka pot for ?

Well , it's great for Campers , people who wanna make coffee over an open flame and it's for people who really love that rich espresso like flavor and texture in their coffee .

Moving on to the clever drier .

The clever dripper is uh a really unique device .

You place it over a cup of coffee and it sort of combines the French press and a pour over , put the coffee into a paper filter that sits in this cone .

You let it steep in a full immersion style of brewing .

And then once you place the clever dripper over a mug , it automatically drains out the pros of the clever dripper are that .

It is pretty cheap .

It's also an easier version of a pour over .

It gets you almost the same quality , but you don't have to worry about technique as much the cons .

It doesn't create quite as crisp and clean a flavor as a pour over So you're almost getting to pour over territory but not quite .

It also only brews a single serving or the amount of coffee that can fit in this cone .

And the last con is that for a single serving brewer ?

It is on the slow side .

Can I get a bit more coffee in this day and age ?

We can't talk about coffee without talking about a Keurig or an espresso .

These single serving pod based coffees have their pros and cons for sure .

Pros of both of these are that it's the quickest , easiest , fastest , most convenient way to get coffee into your mouth .

And really , that's the reason you would buy a Keurig or an espresso .

It's not great for good quality .

It's not great freshness and it's not great for being environmentally friendly .

But if speed is your primary concern and you just want a quick fix as fast as possible .

A Keurig or an espresso may be for you .

Then we have a siphon brewer or a vacuum pot .

These are really crazy contraptions that not many people brew with .

But it's worth mentioning because it is out there and a lot of people wonder about it .

Siphon brewing is known for creating the absolute clearest , cleanest , most clarified kind of coffee you can make cons are that it is a very involved process .

It's not easy to do right off the bat .

You really have to learn about the science and the equipment is fairly expensive ranging from 80 to $100 and up .

Who is a siphon ?

Really ?

For ?

Well , it's for science nerds .

People who love to make a show of their coffee brewing .

People who are obsessed with that really clean crisp flavor .

Of course , there are many other ways of brewing coffee .

There's cold brew iced coffee , there's Turkish coffee makers , Vietnamese coffee makers , percolators .

But hopefully this gives you an overview of what's popular , what's accessible .

So you can make your own decision and find the best cup of coffee for you .

If there's a coffee brewing method that you're curious about , let us know in the comments and for more product reviews , tips and advice , please subscribe .