Coffee Headache

I go through phases of drinking coffee. I love the stuff, but don’t like the idea of being addicted to caffeine. Last Spring, while I was in the height of a “I WANT COFFEE” phase, I bought a product called the AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker. It’s a really simple vacuum pressure system with very few parts, quick brew time, and no messy cleanup. It was recommended by a local coffee shop, and I figured for $30 it was worth a try. The one thing that scared me about the system is that I try not to drink hot water from plastic. I researched the Aeropress before I bought it and found that it is made with BPA-free platic that’s FDA approved and has been tested by an independent lab to show that it does not leach chemicals into the coffee. I would still rather have a stainless system, but with such reassuring data I figured I was just being paranoid.

So I bought the Aeropress, and it makes AMAZING coffee. It’s smooth, rich, (can be) SUPER strong, and, unlike french press, it lacks acidity and coffee grounds. In short, I like it better than any coffee maker I’ve used before it. So I recommended it to my mom and to Courtenay (who bought one for her mom as well) and a few other people with a need for the easy traveling, no mess coffee maker. Then Courtenay visited me a couple months ago, and she brought her Aeropress – which is made from a different plastic! She ordered hers off Amazon, and I – in an attempt to support local business – purchased mine from a family owned kitchen shop in Manitou Springs. Apparently, mine is from an old stock, and has the BPA in it. I called Aerobie, who makes the Aeropress and the woman sounded surprised that I ended up with the older plastic (mine’s blueish and the new ones are not). I fully expected her to replace it for the cost of shipping, at-most, but she said it would cost $20 (including shipping) for the replacement parts. I told her that I’ve recommended the product to several people, it didn’t change the price. $20? The original cost me $29.99: retail! I told her I thought they should replace them for free since their advertising of BPA plastic is why I purchased the product, but I ended up giving her my credit card info and agreeing to pay $20. So it goes…

Or does it? I was just finishing that last paragraph and trying to decide how I could recommend the coffee maker without having to recommend a product from a brand with poor customer service when they called me back. “Hello, Ben? This is Michelle from Aerobie, I just talked to our manager and we agreed that we could replace those parts for just the cost of shipping.” Sweet! That’s what I expected in the first place! Way to go Michelle! Moral? Wait at least 10 minutes for the company to call back before you post a nasty blog about a company’s customer service. And buy an Aerobie Aeropress if you want a low-cost, zero-mess, zero maintenance, easy to travel with coffee maker – which produces better coffee than machines ten times its price. (I would say 100 times its price, but the one $3000 espresso machine I’ve had the pleasure of using did make a very good cup of espresso – still, the aeropress can compete.) Just double check before you buy that you’re not buying the older blueish plastic (she told me they haven’t made them in over a year). The new ones are grayish, or just clear.