This is our first go at a video review, and what perfect way to show off the Airspresso!
Our goal is to review and reveal all of the gear we take bicycle touring around the world between 2012 and 2014, as well as provide you with expert tips on how you can make your next bike tour better.
Click HERE for the original Airspresso Review
I’m addicted to bikes, coffee and travel. By clicking on this review, I feel like you too probably share these passions. In that case, let me introduce to you the Australian-made Airspresso coffee maker. It’s the best espresso maker you’ll find for bicycle travellers. Really!
The Airspresso uses air pressure, rather than steam or pumped water to extract the coffee. By using hot water rather than steam, many of the bitter extracts normally flushed out remain in the grinds, allowing a smooth, almost sweet high crema shot to be produced.
Weight: 200g + 5g (Airspresso unit + luan tamper)
Size (LxW): 110x65mm
Price: Between AU $140 and $190 depending on what accessories you’d like
Pros: Best espresso you can make without using a machine. Small. Light. Thick crema. Made in Australia and designed in Melbourne. Spare parts easily available.
Cons: Bit of a bugger to clean, making multiple-coffee-production a slow process.
I began opening the package I had received from Airspresso with great enthusiasm, hoping that I wouldn’t break anything in this hurried state. After a successful unwrap, I picked the Airspresso up and the first thing I noticed was the relatively small size of the unit: it’s no bigger than a small jam jar.
Threading the coffee basket off the bottom gave me my first impression of the precision that had gone into making the Airspresso. I’m a sucker for mechanical precision. I remember buying a Hadley rear hub in my teens, taking pleasure in checking the hub’s insides as they were so incredibly well-crafted. The feel of threading the Airspresso coffee basket on and off its body offers similar satisfaction.
I love the laser etched details on the top, and the colour coding of the red basket to warn users that this part becomes hot when in use, is a great touch.
An industrial plastic tamper is included with the Airspresso which is size-perfect and thus provides a precise fit into the coffee basket. Both a plastic and wooden cup adapter are included in the kit, however, the KeepCups that I carry with me are small enough to ensure the Airspresso doesn’t fall in. I’ve been playing around with all kinds of cups at home and have found that a lot of small cups will allow you to sit the Airspresso atop them in this manner.
The coffee basket holds up to 26g of ground beans, still leaving enough room for the tamper to effectively compress the grind. This is roughly the same as what a home machine will use for a single shot espresso.
The Airspresso is four simple parts: a bicycle valve, a coffee basket (red), a plastic body and the top cap.
1. Load the coffee into the basket. Depress the coffee with the tamper.
2. Screw the basket into the bottom of the plastic body and sit the Airspresso over a cup.
3. Fill the Airspresso with hot water to your desired amount. The maximum amount of water it can take is about 110ml, but short black coffees are generally only 30ml. I go somewhere in between.
4. Screw the top on. Pump the Airspresso to between 80-120psi. Within 20 seconds your short black will have fully extracted.
5. Drink and enjoy! You are able to add the shot to some heated milk (heat it up in the same camping pot, after you’ve put the water in the Airspresso) if you prefer to drink it that way, or alternatively simply add hot water to make a long black.
Although the Airspresso is a relatively straight forward espresso maker, there are a few variables that you can adjust to make a better coffee. You can choose how much hot water you’d like to put into it, the temperature at which the hot water goes in, how fine the grind size is and how fast you’d like to extract the coffee. Like anything ‘coffee’, the quality of the beans and water will make the biggest difference, and of course the best gets you the best.
Through the extraction process, the higher the PSI measurement, the faster the coffee extracts and the thicker the crema. I personally prefer a slightly thicker crema, meaning I run a fine grind on dark beans, and pump to about 100psi most of the time.
I have tried the Airspresso in all different variations, including fine through to heavy grinds, hot to warm water, 30ml to 110ml of water, 80psi to 120psi of pressure and as a shot with heated soy milk.
There is one option that stands out for me:
– 50ml shot, fine dark-roasted grind, water straight off the boil, 100psi, drunk as a short black or with 3/4 of a cup heated soy milk.
What I didn’t enjoy as much:
– Anything less than 50ml. I found it didn’t extract properly as it was forced through the basket too quickly.
– The 110ml shot tastes way over extracted.
– Coarse grinds don’t get the full flavour out of the beans.
You will need to tamp the coffee grind in the basket before filling with water and pressurising. As of 2012 you can now get a super lightweight tamper.
It’s a luan ‘flat pack’ tamper and cup adapter. The total weight of the new luan tamper… FIVE GRAMS. I can quickly, easily and accurately tamp my coffee in the morning with this tamper. I used a bit of craft glue to tack the ‘rings’ onto the tamper. It took a few seconds, and I was away.
Once you’ve made your coffee with the Airspresso, you have to wait a minute or two before the coffee basket cools enough to unscrew it comfortably. Once that’s off you have to remove the used grind. The Aeropress allows for a pop-out discard of the used grind, however, the best process I have found for emptying the Airspresso’s basket has been to use a spoon and scrape around the edge. With the cool-down and spoon-clean process in mind, you can probably imagine that making four coffees is not exactly quick.
I have found that you can load the coffee basket almost to the brim (~26g of coffee) to make just under a double-shot espresso. On a number of occasions, I have split the 110ml shot – getting two coffees out of one Airspresso process. You may need to make your grind a little coarser to pull this off…
The Airspresso is a phenomenal piece of gear. It’s small, light and elegant. It produces the best short coffee out of any travel setup I’ve tried. It’s durable and perfect for bike touring. The cost may seem somewhat high, but when you factor in design, taste, precision of parts and the fact that it’s made in Australia – it’s not too hard to justify.
If you like your coffee short or with just a little heated milk – the Airspresso is a wonderful travel companion.
Coffee is probably an addiction for me. I may or may not have 3-4 cups a day when I’m plastered to my computer in an office environment. When I’m bike touring, I may or may not ride faster as I get closer to a cafe. I may or may not lick my lips when my coffee is near ready. I may or may not take the deepest breath that I can when I’m around freshly ground coffee beans. I may or may not check endlessly at my cup to ensure that all remnants of liquid coffee are down my gullet and not left wasted in my cup.
Sometimes I consider that I could live without it, but for what point? Who am I kidding, I am addicted and I love it.
To feed my addiction, one of my favourite travel companions (apart from Kat!) is the Aerobie Aeropress. The Aeropress is a simple coffee strainer that relies on paper filters to deliver a smooth and pure brew to your cup. The best part is that you don’t need an engineering degree to use it! I recommend the use of an Aeropress in conjunction with a Hario Mini Mill Slim (see my review).
Aerobie Aeropress
Price: $50 AUD
Weight: 273g (Aeropress, Stirrer, Filters)
Length and Width: 14cm and 9.5cm
I’ve used the Aeropress for over 300 coffees now. It is a delight to take on trips where the coffee is either non-existent or of a poor standard.
The Aeropress is dead easy to use. You start off by placing a paper filter into the black filter cup. The cup then screws on the bottom of the Aeropress unit and awaits some fresh grinds. Once you’ve put your grinds in, you fill up to your desired level and then press the water through the paper filter in an even and smooth manner over 10-30 seconds. Some people will prefer a shot, others like to add milk and others prefer an americano. There are so many different ways to do it, check out some methods from the Aeropress World Championships! I’d recommend reading directions from Aerobie first.
The Aeropress is so simple to clean! Once you’ve extracted your coffee, unscrew the filter cup and eject the spent-beans into a compost or regular bin. Give the bottom a wipe and you’re done!
If you have environmental concerns about using paper filters, Aerobie claim that 2000 filters equal the average newspaper. If you’re drinking coffee once a day, that is six years of coffee!
The taste of the coffee that is produce is always going to be dependent on the coffee beans that you use and how fresh your grind is. Using good quality beans I can guarantee a smooth and rich flavour with no bitterness and low acidity. What you won’t get is a thick crema, and coffee shots might be a bit watery for the coffee connoisseur.
1. Set the kettle to boil.
2. Freshly grind one level scoop of higher-end coffee beans which are purchased from a reputable dealer (ie. beans often priced over $15 per 250g).
3. Put grind into the Aeropress and wait ~2 minutes for the boiling water to cool from 100 degrees to around 80 degrees.
4. First, lightly wet the grind and then ensure that the Aeropress is filled in an even manner with the hot water.
5. Fill to the first level (1) on the Aeropress.
6. Stir ~4 times.
7. Extract over 10 seconds in a smooth and even manner.
8. Add a drop of milk to cool the coffee slightly, and drink!
The Aeropress is a really simple bit of kit. It delivers a coffee which isn’t far off what a household machine can produce. It is very easy to clean and is reasonably light weight for travel. I am keen to get my hands on, and review the Handpresso and Airspresso; both of which could arguably produce a better coffee shot due to their extracting technique. Update: We got our hands on an Airspresso – click the link to read our review!
Aeropress
Pros: Cheap, light, quick, easy to clean, durable, grit-free coffee, suits a variety of coffee drinking styles, cheaper than two weeks of lattes at a cafe, makes up to four shots of coffee at once.
Cons: Paper filters need to be protected from water/damage, lack of crema, a little watery, takes up a bit of space (how good would a smaller, single-shot specific Aeropress be!)
After travelling with no coffee equipment in the wilderness or purchasing mediocre coffees all over the place, I wouldn’t travel without my Aeropress again! It is a fantastic way to keep coffee addicts who are bike touring (not me – clearly) from breaking down on the side of the road.
If you, like me, enjoy a coffee to start your day, let me introduce to you the best travel coffee grinders that I’ve come across! Both are small enough and are able to grind fine enough to produce a coffee better than most cafes, wherever you are. I use these small hand grinders daily to induce a beautiful aroma in the kitchen and allow for my first, but not final coffee hit to do its thing. When touring, I use an Aerobie Aeropress espresso maker to obtain the smoothest, richest, purist and fastest cup of coffee. More on the Aeropress in another this post…
Hario are a Japanese company known more famously for producing glassware for tea and coffee drinkers, however their range these days extends to food containers, condiment cruets and sake coolers. Amongst coffee geeks, Hario is a brand that producers exceptional quality coffee syphons, drips, kettles and grinders.
There are two Hario grinder models which I have owned and tried, and that I am happy to recommend.
Mini Mill Slim
Price: $55 AUD
Weight: 247g
Length and Width: 18cm and 5cm
Skerton Hand Grinder
Price: $65 AUD
Weight: 463g
Length and Width: 18cm and 7cm
I started off with the Skerton hand grinder a few years ago. I was immediately drawn to how fine the ceramic, conical burrs were able to grind my coffee beans. This small coffee grinder was the real deal! I was able to take it camping or to towns that I knew wouldn’t be able to give me the flavour I was after.
The Mini Mill Slim is a new addition to the kitchen. It wasn’t a product of the Hario range when the Skerton was purchased. The Slim seemed like the perfect travel grinder when I saw it in a prominent cafe in Melbourne, with its slim plastic body, easily removable handle and lid. I had been looking for something smaller and lighter than the Skerton for the World trip…
Both grinders work in the same manner. The beans get dumped in the top, they feed through the ceramic, conical burrs and end up as a nice grind. Both grinders are adjustable; you can make your grind everything down to espresso-fine. They seem to grind at similar speeds, with the Skerton moving the beans through just a tad quicker. The Skerton also has the extra capacity to grind more beans without re-filling, making the Skerton the better grinder for at home.
I have had no issues with the fact that the handle on the Mini Mill Slim does not permanently connect to the grinder. Once pressure is loaded on the handle, it is not moving.
The Mini Mill Slim tends to work better in your hands. Its slimmer profile allows you to get a good grip on the cup. The Skerton is definitely a bench top grinder, relying on a space where you can gain the assistance of your body weight to grind.
Mini Mill Slim – Travel, as a handhold grinder, smaller grinding quantities
Skerton – Home, as a benchtop grinder, larger grinding quantities
The Mini Mill Slim is my preference between the two. Being a better grinder to hold than the Skerton, the Mini Mill able to grind your beans into a very fine coffee for excellent results with various coffee filters, wherever you are. The handle does not attach onto the grinding cup, resulting in a fast, packable product. The plastic container (as opposed to glass) is both lighter weight and smaller than the Skerton. The coffee grind is just as fine and consistent on both products.
The Skerton is great for grinding at home, as you can plant it to your bench and grind larger quantities at a time. From a travel perspective however, I will only be making 1-2 cups at a time, meaning that the Skerton is a bit of overkill.
If you’re looking at making the smoothest, most flavoursome coffee you can whilst cycling about, look no further than the Hario Mini Mill Slim for use as your coffee grinder.