It's American Press Coffee and Tea Maker, 12 oz.

Love it

I have pondered whether to give this coffee press 4 stars or 5. In the end, I have opted to give it 4 stars, primarily due to the fact that I do not find one of its main claims to be true... That is, 'compared to a standard French Press, its unique filtration process results in a 'more complex smooth, and sweet coffee'. In fact, I struggle to find any difference in flavour between between the coffee made by this device and a standard cafetiere. That being said, it still makes a very good coffee, uses premium materials, is easy to clean afterwards, and is beautiful to behold. I love the appearance of the clear water turning into coffee as you press the plunger down. It did take me longer than expected to post this review since I was unfortunate enough to buy ground coffee which I simply didn't like. Eventually I ended up buying 7 different packets of ground coffee and whole beans, trying them all until I found a coffee which I actually enjoyed drinking. You can't review a coffee press if you don't like the coffee it is producing !! People who already know which ground coffee they like will no doubt find the process easier. A significant point to note is that there is a lot more variation in flavour in ground coffees than with instant coffees. You may have to experiment for a while to find the one you love. A standard cafetiere (French Press) uses a single metal mesh filtre. When the plunger is pushed down, the rise in pressure is slight, and in practice, some of the coffee grounds usually bypass the filtre, resulting in sediment or 'mud' at the bottom of the cup. The 'American Press' has a pod system to hold the ground coffee, 100 micron mesh filtres both above and below the pod, and a water-tight silicone seal to ensure that all the water passes through the pod and filtres - and none bypasses along the edge of the container. It does definitely produce a cleaner coffee with less 'mud' at the bottom of the cup. It also requires considerably more pressure to depress the plunger. With a full pod of coffee grounds, and a finer grind of coffee, it might take more than a minute of consistent pressure to push the plunger down. With a less than full pod, and a slightly coarser grind, it would likely take closer to 30 seconds. Does this double filtration, at increased pressure, produce a coffee with noticeably smoother, sweeter, more complex notes (compared to a standard cafetiere)? If it does, then it is too subtle a difference for my taste buds to pick up. Once I had settled on a coffee which I definitely liked, I set out to compare the 'American Press' with a regular (£50) filtre coffee machine, as well as a standard good quality cafetiere. My tests were 'simultaneous', meaning I made coffee using both methods at the same time, so I could compare the flavour of coffees A & B at the same time. In my tests, I used identical amounts of coffee along with identical amounts of water. Additionally, when testing the American Press against the Cafetiere, I let the coffee steep in the hot water for identical periods of time. In both cases, once the plunger was fully down, I poured the coffee out into the cup immediately. Over about 2 weeks of daily testing, I did taste comparisons using varying amounts of coffee and water, varying steeping times (20 seconds to 3 minutes), with & without sugar, and with & without milk. I consider the taste tests without added milk or sugar to be the most important, since adding milk or sugar will disguise the more complex flavours and make more bitter or over-extracted coffee seem more acceptable. American Press vs. Filtre Coffee Machine... The winner was the American Press which produced a cleaner smoother flavour. I think that is because my filtre coffee machine pushes water through the ground coffee at 100 degrees celsius using steam. The filtre coffee machine produced a more bitter, over-extracted flavour. Coffee is best when produced with water at 92 - 95 degrees Celsius, which is what I think the American Press does, allowing for a few seconds of cooling before pressing down the plunger. American Press vs. Cafetiere... Although the American Press produced a more smoothly filtred coffee, with less visible grounds at the bottom of the cup, as stated above I did not notice a difference in the flavour of the coffees. The two tasted pretty much identical to me. The American Press also produces slightly less coffee when poured from the container, since about 50mls of coffee remains inside the pod after pouring. That's probably a good thing, since that last bits of coffee inside the pod are the final dregs which, if they made their way into your coffee cup, would make it taste bitter and over-extracted. Materials... The American Press uses 'Tritan', a patented type of plastic, which is long lasting, will not cloud up in contact with hot fluids, is BPA free, and is strong enough to take the high pressures which are generated when you push the plunger down. The carafe is double walled, like a vacuum flask, so you don't burn your fingers when holding it. The choice of Tritan and the double walled design does add to the complexity and price, but are necessary, and certainly worth the extra expense. I have used the American Press daily for about a month now, and the carafe, filtre, pod, silicone seal, and stainless steel parts are still pristine, and showing no signs of wear. The Pod... Pod based coffee machines such as the Nespresso and Tassimo produce non-recyclable plastic or aluminium waste when you have finished using them. You are also for the most part restricted to using the coffees which the companies choose to put inside the pod. If you want to use your own favourite ground coffee, then American Press is definitely the way to go. The pod is re-usable, obviously !! Tweaking the Coffee... You can vary the type of coffee, the amount of coffee, the amount of water, the time for 'pre-infusion' (steeping the coffee in hot water before pressing down), as well as the force with which you press down the plunger. The instructions suggest you use between 20 - 24g of coffee, medium grind, pre-infuse for 30 seconds, and then press the plunger for 1 - 2 minutes. Experimentation will get you the best results, and with a bit of practice the coffee will be consistent. Cleaning... Once you have made your cup of coffee, swirl the remaining water in the pod a couple of times (to wash the coffee grounds from the upper filtre), and then pull the plunger up to the top of the carafe to extract most of the water from the pod. A couple of minutes later, allowing some time for things to cool down, you can tap the pod down on your waste container, and a clean round puck of coffee grounds will fall out. The rest of the apparatus is clean again after a quick rinse with warm water... Very convenient. Cleaning the grounds from a coffee machine or a cafetiere is definitely more fiddly and messy. Things the American Press does not do... It does not make anything approaching an espresso. It does not generate the high pressures required for this, and there is no crema generated. It produces an Americano coffee !! Other things to note... The 24g of coffee you can fit in the pod makes enough for a large cup of coffee - for one person. Use a medium coffee grind. Too fine a grind, and you will find it difficult to 'press'. It is not microwave safe - there is metal in the rim of the carafe container. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with this purchase. It does make a very clean tasty cup of coffee, it has premium materials which I'm sure will last a long time, and looks great in a modern kitchen. It's claim to reduce sediment at the bottom of your cup is quite true. Its claim to produce a more tasty and complex flavour of coffee than a cafetiere I haven't personally found to be true. If someone can demonstrate to me where I have gone wrong in preparing my coffee (to produce that sweeter more complex flavour), then I will happily update my review. The device is already popular in the US, and was originally funded successfully with Indiegogo. I did have some questions about the device before I bought, so I wrote to Alex Albanese, the founder & CEO of 'American Press'. I found him to be responsive and very committed to his product. In the unlikely event of you having a problem with your device, I'm quite sure he would go out of his way to ensure a satisfactory resolution.

It suppose to be easy to clean. It’s not. Coffee can be oily so after brewing, you need to wash all parts to have it cleaned properly. So not just a bit where you put the coffee in, as it is shown on many online videos. I basically see washing this press as a time taking exercise. Good luck with drying it after you the wash. From some reason water sticks to this high quality plastic like crazy. Instead evaporating, it leaves a layer of vapor on the insight of the container and stays like that for tho couple hours before eventually evaporates. Is the coffee good? Sure it is. It’s decent, but not like “oh wow now this is what I call the coffee”. It’s just decent. Is it worth the money? No it is not. For what it is I would be willing to pay max £30. I am disapoonted, I’ve paid £60 for this press.

Waiting for this Item to be available in UK for a while as I do enjoy a good coffee. Came supper quick next day delivery. Frustrated buying in big named coffee shops as they can never maintain quality of a good coffee it depends on the one who makes it. With this items if you want a consistent good quality coffee and don’t want the hassle of a aero press or a French press this is the one, best of both world I love it. A coffee lover with understand also it’s a bit pricy but the coffee makes up for it. Happy days😊

High quality parts, easy to use and clean.

This is a cafetière type coffee maker with an improvement: the coffee is contained in a top chamber which is pushed down through the water to release coffee. It works very well. You need to let it steep for a few minutes, otherwise the coffee turns out too thin. As long as you have the patience to do that, it works really well. The body is twin-walled plastic, not glass, so take care not to scratch it when washing. The price is high for what it is, but perhaps we should think of it as a unique luxury item.

This is one excellent coffee maker I just love it have had it since the original launch and the coffee is just great. I had a small problem after much use and needed a replacement filter which was delivered to me from America at no cost outstanding service you won’t be disappointed

Absoluter top Kaffee Wer handgepresst mag wird diese Presse lieben Gebt euch mindestens 5-10 Pressungen bis ihr wisst wie sie tickt ! Wer selber mahlt kann verschiedene Stufen testen ich bin mit sehr groben Mahlungen am besten gefahren Maximal 90grad heißes Wasser sollte eh klar sein Wenn ihr euch eingewöhnt habt werdet ihr viel Spaß zusammen haben

Ovviamente bisogna trovare un caffè di buona qualità che soddisfi il proprio gusto e centrare la giusta dose, ma fatto ciò il risultato finale è assolutamente soddisfacente. Ottimo acquisto, ben fatto solido e curato.

Very happy with my It’s American Press. I use one heaping tablespoon of medium grind coffee (fills the coffee pod about half full) and let it ‘pre-soak’ for 2-3 minutes before SLOWLY pressing down the plunger. I basically rely on the weight of my hand to push the plunger down - takes about a minute to get to bottom. Be sure to use medium grind coffee. Fine ground particles will block and effectively plug the fine-mesh screen on the top of the coffee container pod. My guess is that using the cheaper ‘blade’ grinders will be a problem in this regard.

8/31/2019 Update - Been using the device every single day, so I can comment a bit on how it holds up over extended heavy use. In a nutshell, it still works like the day it arrived from Amazon. I have noticed, though, that the filter screens are beginning to warp a bit - mostly the upper filter, where all the back-pressure is at, when you use a too-fine grind. Stick with a medium to medium-fine grind, and you won't have that issue. I also found a paper filter that works reasonably well. The AeroPress filters were OK, but were a bit of a pain to fit. I tried the Melita pod style filters - they actually work pretty well. They're a bit wider than this press, but it doesn't hurt anything, and it makes it easier to put the top on. I actually use a pair of scissors to trim around the barrel, but it isn't necessary. The only complaint I have with this coffee brewer is that coffee gets into the seam between the metal outer ring and the black plastic insert in the lid and stays there. The next time I go to use the press, I've got cold, stale coffee leaking into my hand as I prepare to brew my next cup. It's not a BIG deal by any means, but it is rather annoying that when I pick up the lid in the morning, I've got yesterday's coffee dripping onto my hands, or on the counter top. I've tried rinsing and rinsing and RINSING the lid, but can't seem to completely rinse away the residual coffee that gets caught in the seam. But, in all honesty, the device still makes the best cup of coffee I've ever had. And I've had a lot of fun, trying lots of varieties of coffees. ++Original Review++ I can't pretend to be a coffee aficionado. I know that I liked the taste of coffee when made in a French press, but I hated the mud and sediment in my cup. That quirk, I think, limited my ability (willingness?) to explore really good coffee. After growing tired of the expense and waste of single-serve pods, I grew interested in the AeroPress, after seeing a YouTube video on it. I was just about to pull the trigger on one when I happened on another vid comparing the AeroPress with the It's American Press. I liked the simpler and sturdier design of the American Press, but took note of the fact that it was quite a lot more expensive than the AeroPress. I also took note of the fact that there were paper filters made for the AeroPress, while there weren't any for the American Press. No one talked much about the filters, and the vids that talked about them made it seem like they were more of a nuisance than anything. The paper filters - to me, anyway - mean a clean cup of coffee, without mud and sediment, so when I saw a vid where the barista said he used the AeroPress filters in the American Press with great success, I decided to go that route. Plus, there's this 'you can do it THIS way, or you can do it THAT way...' thing going on with the AeroPress, which I thought was maybe a bit too avant-garde for my simpler mind. Anyway, cut to the chase, I love the thing - the simplicity, the clean cup of coffee, the TASTE of the coffee, that crazy column of clear water disappearing under the column of brewed coffee thing, the whole thing. Love it. I have to do a bit of 'engineering' to make the AeroPress filter work in the American Press, but it's pretty simple, especially once you rinse the filter. The filter also increases the brew time by quite a bit. The manufacturer talks about a 2 to 4 minute brew time ("freaky full-bodied cup"!) but with the filter I'm always really close to 5 minutes, with a straight push-down brew, none of that push-pull-push stuff. For my first batch, I decided to use Pike Place with a medium-coarse grind, and no filter. It was actually hard to press slowly enough, and I wound up tossing that first cup. I played a bit with the grind, and settled on a medium-fine grind (6.5 on my KitchenAid Pro burr grinder). No filter again, and I was more prepared to keep an eye on how quickly I pressed it. I got a much better brew, still coming in under 4 minutes, just a touch of sediment, and CRAZY good cup of coffee. I stayed with that grind, and added in the filter. Now I was approaching 5 minutes, and, more importantly, I felt I was FINALLY getting a cup of coffee where I could really appreciate the nuances of flavor. As in, I was tasting coffee in a whole new way, and it was a beautiful thing. So, yeah, that whole 'play with the type of coffee, play with the grind, how much to put in the basket, tamp or not, filter or not...' all kind of opened up for me - I can really fine tune my coffee the way I like, instead of just trying one brand or type of bean over another. And now that I think about it "How I like it" may still be a bit of a moving target... So, yeah - I've got a whole lot of exploring ahead of me, but I've got the one tool I need to do it right. Really glad I took the chance on the cost for the Its American Press. Think you'll like it too, especially if you - like me - are at the point where you really want to find out just what 'good coffee' really means.

The American Press makes a great cup of coffee and stays hot in the vessel for a long time. Cleaning is much easier than a french press without coffee grounds ending up down the drain.