Eleven years ago I bought an Aeropress coffee maker. At first I only used it a couple of times a week since I was trying to limit my coffee consumption, but for the last year or so I started drinking coffee every day, using it to reduce my soda consumption. The clear plastic of the Aeropress has gotten stained over the years, a problem mitigated by the latest Aeropresses by using smoky colored plastic. Over the last few months I have noticed the top of the plunger starting to crack. I tried to repair it with superglue which was completely ineffective except in staining the plunger with cloudy white superglue stains that can’t be removed (and doesn’t touch the coffee). This week it broke off completely and I tried superglue again, but I heard some cracking noises as I was making coffee today, so I don’t think it will last. I feel like 95% of the time I try to use superglue, it doesn’t work. Here is my old one with plunger showing the superglue stains near the flange and the container part showing coffee stains:
I looked at buying some other form of coffee maker including french press or pour over or even a moka pot, which Nicole says she likes. But the Aeropress is simple and easy to clean and it gives you a lot of control over things like water temperature and steep time, not that I would know the difference. So I looked at getting another Aeropress. The going price just about everywhere is $30. Then I thought maybe I could buy just a new plunger which you can find for $9 from Aeropress as a replacement part. But really the container part, which is stained, also has some cracking in the flanges where you screw on the end cap, so I would want to replace it too and it is only $6. I guess it is a simpler part since it doesn’t have a rubber end like the plunger does. So for $15 I could have mostly a new Aeropress except for the end cap, which is only $3.50, so might as well get that too. If you buy a new one it includes 350 filters, a funnel (that I have never used), a stirrer (a spoon would work fine, but there is nothing wrong with my stirrer), and a scoop to measure the beans.
The filters are silly expensive. Amazon wants $7 for 350 filters. Aeropress (where I was buying the other parts) wants $5, but when I added it to my cart, they bumped up the shipping price by $2.50. These are just little circular filters. Here is a picture of 7 filters on a flattened regular coffee filter. You can get regular coffee filters for less than a penny each. I tried to see if I could get a punch that I could use to punch out Aeropress filters from regular filters, but instead I found 350 filters at REI for $3.95, which isn’t terrible. But you know things are bad when you have to go to REI to save some money. Based on area of material used you should be able to get Aeropress filters for 1/7th the cost of regular filters instead of paying more.
Anyway, Aeropress charged no sales tax, but $4.32 shipping, so I am getting a new barebones Aeropress for $22.82, but no new filters. I kind of like the approach environmentally of getting only what I need instead of the unnecessary replacement of the plastic accessories. Of course it will get shipped in a box . . .
The plunger may still be a weak part of the design, but it probably takes a lot of stress when you go to dump out the used coffee grinds by removing the end cap and pushing the plunger all the way in, when it suddenly pops as it bottoms out. Then you pull on the plunger flange again to get the plunger back out. I think if I make sure not to push on the flange when dumping the grinds and push up on the rubber end of the plunger instead of pulling on the plunger flange when I remove it, I could prolong the life of the plunger.
Some people will reuse the filters to save money or paper. Given the small size, it doesn’t save much paper. But I started getting low on filters and decided to try reusing them. I have to wash the Aeropress parts by hand every day anyway, so washing the filter as well isn’t that big a deal. I don’t know how long you could safely or practically use the filter (some people online say they use them 20 times), but I have been doing a week. It certainly changes the math. Instead of 5 filters lasting less than a week, now they would last over a month. Also some people recommend rinsing the filter before using it because the bleached paper could impart a flavor on the first use, so I am avoiding that bleach flavor (I absolutely cannot taste it) 6 out of 7 times at the risk of adding soap flavor, I guess. I have maybe 10 filters left before I get to my last box of 350 filters. So these could last 7 years!