Main difference is the fact that the aeropress uses a paper filter which filters out sediment and oils giving the coffee a “cleaner” taste. From my research before I bought it, I remember it also being slightly healthier because, again, you filter out those oils.
This changes alot though, because of the filter, the aeropress can take finer grounds than the french press. Also when you press, you press all the water through the grounds.
Interesting. I don’t know if I’d ever describe the coffee I brew as oily or anything like that. I suppose I have to try this sometime.
Not quite. I said that was the main difference, but if we go into details, the physics of the thing, it’s a bit more complicated. The guy who invented the aeropress, afaik, tried to make a handmade espresso replacement. He didn’t succeed, but the way the aeropress works is a hybrid of immersion, percolation and pressure brewer, whereas the french press is all about immersion and that it’s. It has the plunger, but that’s for filtering, nothing else.
If anything, I think the aeropress is closer to a moka pot than anything. But it’s its own thing, honestly.
