Apparently, word has gotten out that Jessica and I live in Seattle, a city obsessed with coffee.  I was never much of a coffee fan until Jessica introduced me to Turkish coffee a few years ago, which soon had me curious about espresso and other high-strength brewing methods (I still can’t drink “normal coffee” because it tastes watered down).  A coworker recently caught my attention with an unusual device he kept on his desk.  It’s made of industrial grade plastic, and doesn’t really look like anything to do with food, but he assured me that it produces some of the best coffee that anyone has ever tasted.  It’s called an Aeropress, and it’s made by Aerobie, a company better known for frisbees than for cooking.  I’ve been obsessed with this device ever since I got my first taste, and have been recommending it to friends and family alike for the last couple of months.  When I woke up this morning in need of some coffee, I knew that it would be the perfect thing to use for my first “Tools and Gadgets” post.

The aeropress basically contains 4 parts: the main chamber, the plunger, a stir stick, a funnel, and a coffee scoop for measuring.  Pieces like the funnel and stir stick are made of what appears to be industrial strength black ABS plastic, and the main chamber and funnel are made of an equally-durable semi-transparent variety.  The plunger also has a high quality rubber tip.  The aeropress uses small paper micro filters that cost about $0.01 each (the kit comes with 300 or so to start you off).  You’ll need to provide your own coffee, water, and coffee mug.  For the purpose of this demonstration, I chose to use a glass instead of a mug, so you can see the whole operation in progress.

The funnel is only required to keep your workspace clean when filling the chamber, but it does a good job.  The scoop is made to measure out enough grounds to make one “shot” of coffee, and the chamber has numbers on the side to mark out the water fill line, depending on how many shots you would like to make.  You can use whatever grind setting you like with the aeropress, but I would recommend using as fine of a grind as possible so that you can get the best flavor extraction.  The only caveat is that you will have to apply considerably more pressure with fine grinds, which some people may find difficult.

When making coffee for myself, I usually measure out two scoops and fill to the 2-shot marker, but have found that I need less coffee when using an espresso grind to make larger batches.  My coworkers and I have found that the water absorbs slowly into four scoops of espresso-grind coffee, and if we use four scoops and fill to the 4-shot marker, we usually only get 2 shots worth of coffee out.  When making two double-shot cups with espresso grind coffee, we usually put in 3 scoops of coffee, but fill to the 4-shot marker.

Aerobie recommends using water at 170–190°F (75–80°C), and I’ve found that the hot-water spout on the water cooler at work produces perfect coffee.  At home, I use the automatic “beverage” setting on my microwave, which heats the  water to  just below 190°.  I tried using near-boiling water a couple of times, but the coffee was so bitter I had to throw it out.

Making the coffee couldn’t be simpler.  You pour the water into the chamber, stir for 10 seconds, and press it into your cup.  I should warn you that if you are making more than 2 shots with finely ground coffee, you will need to apply quite a bit of pressure to extract all of the liquid.  It’s not uncommon that  I have to put most of my weight onto the plunger in order to make four shots.  Make smaller batches or use a standard drip-coffee grind setting if you find that you don’t like this effort — personally, I appreciate having to work a little for my food.  For those who prefer something that looks a little less like tar, you can top off a single- or double-shot cup with hot water or (soy) milk to produce an americano or caffè latte.

I haven’t quite figured out what it takes to get a nice crema like good espresso, but it appears to happen more frequently when making 2 shots at a time.  Different styles of coffee beans also produce better crema than others, too.  I miss the visual appeal of seeing crema on top of my coffee, but I usually like to drink my espresso with a bit of honey and the crema is usually gone by the time I’m done stirring, anyway.

Cleanup couldn’t be simpler: you unscrew the black plastic filter cover from the bottom of the chamber, and press the plunger down all of the way to eject the filter and grounds into your compost bin.  As you can see, the grounds are pressed into a “puck” just like in an espresso machine, so they won’t produce much of a mess if you prefer to use a trash can.  Once the grounds have been ejected, you can just rinse the aeropress pieces under warm water (soap if you like) and set aside to dry.

If you’re not trying to set things up for a photo shoot, the entire process takes about 60 seconds if your water is already hot.  This makes it ideal to use at work; it doesn’t really take any longer to make yourself a good cup with an aeropress than it does to pour yourself a cup of the burnt overcooked drip coffee that you’ll find in most offices.  You’ll soon find yourself sharing the duty of making “space coffee” as your coworkers get a taste, too.

The aeropress costs $20-30 and is available online and in many brick and mortar stores.  Replacement filters cost about $4 for a pack of 350.  Compared to a $250 espresso machine (about as little as you can pay for a decent one), or the $10,000 Clover device Starbucks is starting to advertise, it’s worth every penny.

Update: Please see the Aeropress inventor’s comments below about applied pressure. I still run into the occasional situation where I have to apply a decent amount of pressure (usually when making four shots from fine espresso grounds), but by following his advice you should be able to slowly press out a nice double shot of espresso with very little effort. I should also point out that the resulting coffee definitely tastes better, and even consistently has a nice crema on top (small bubbles that linger, unlike the larger foam shown in my photos, which quickly dissipates).

Keep in mind that you don’t need all of this stuff to get started in the wonderful world of sugar! I’m planning on showing as many things as I can think of that require little or no specialized equipment besides a candy thermometer. Most of this equipment is only necessary for pulled and blown sugar. While those are sort of the main attractions of sugar work for many people, they aren’t the only thing you can do with it.

Here is more or less how I’ve been setting my equipment up in this kitchen. Fortunately, I have a nice tall space in the center of our long counter where the side-by-side “vintage” oven and range used to be. (I don’t miss them at all!) Center stage is my sugar warming box. Mine is homemade by the chef I learned to do sugar from. Compare it to a commercially-produced version. Professional sugar equipment is expensive. For the most part, I recommend you make or improvise any of it that you can. Part of the fun of doing sugar or chocolate work is taking creative trips to the hardware store! I managed to find a blog post written by someone who made his own sugar warming box.

The acrylic box stores in two parts: the sides connect to the back with with acrylic hinges, and the top has pieces that run along either side of each of the side pieces to keep it in place. I take the extra step of using clear packing tape to make sure nothing is going to move in the middle of my work. The top of the box has a slot running from back to front which the narrow plug of the cord from the heat lamp fits through.

Here it is with the heat lamp on. It’s very bright and very hot, and you work right up in front of it. I always feel like I’ve been lying out in the sun for an hour after I’m done! The bulb hangs above a warming platform, which in this case is a Silpat nailed over a wooden frame. As the bulb heats the space below it, the warming box keeps the heat in, and the platform traps heat beneath it, helping to warm the sugar from both above and below.

The heat lamp is adjustable thanks to a small clamp that I attach to the cord above the top of the box. It’s very important to be able to not only keep the sugar warm, but to be able to adjust the amount of heat you’re bathing it in by lowering and raising the lamp.

Here I’ve lowered the lamp all the way to remelt some leftovers from the last time I played around with sugar. You have to be careful because it will melt all the way if you leave the lamp down there too long.

Because we have granite counter tops, I don’t want to work with anything so hot directly on top of them. I use a large wooden cutting board from Ikea to shield the counters beneath the warming box. It has a downward lip in front and an upward lip in the back, which are great for keeping everything where it’s supposed to be. I also have a butcher block and a marble slab beneath the Silpats I have set up on either side to pour hot sugar onto or work with pieces that are in progress.

Here’s some of the other equipment I use: a good pair of kitchen shears with all-metal blades; a sugar pump (more on that in a moment); disposable plastic condiment cups for mixing food color with water to add to the sugar; a small, very fine strainer for skimming impurities off of cooking sugar; a paring knife for shaping blown sugar; a natural bristle pastry brush to wash down the sides of the pot while cooking the sugar to avoid crystallization and a candy thermometer (I would much prefer to use a digital candy thermometer, but I haven’t been able to find any of the three I own since the kitchen remodel).

In the back of the photo, you can see an overflowing box of food service-grade gloves. These are nitrile gloves, which we’re trying out because that’s all that Costco had, but I’m going to go back to latex because the nitrile seems more brittle and prone to break than latex during contact with the hot sugar. Also, I have a number of silicone molds, which are great for using up extra sugar by pouring it into them and letting the sugar cool in that shape.

The sugar pump is the one thing that I splurged on and got the very best. Matfer’s sugar pump is the best one I know of, and that’s what I got as a Christmas or birthday present back when I was really into learning the craft. Matfer also makes an “economy” sugar pump, as does Paderno World Cuisine. I felt the more expensive one was worth it, but if I had to chose between having a sugar pump or not having a sugar pump, I’d go economy, but I’d make sure to get a one with a metal tip on the end if I could for the sake of being able to easily attach sugar to it.

The good news is that you can do blown sugar without a sugar pump at all. All you need is a foot of very thin copper pipe, like this, except it’s a lot cheaper if you just buy your copper pipe at the hardware store. It takes a little lung power to do it, but I did make all of the bubbles for the top of the wedding cake in my last post with just a copper pipe.

Another indispensable tool for any foodie’s kitchen is a blow torch. Don’t spend money on the wimpy little “culinary” or creme brulee torches. Get yourself down to the hardware store and get yourself a big-ass plumbing torch. I have both the skinnier, taller variety and the shorter, squatter one you see here. The reason the stout one is particularly good for sugar because it’s more stable when lit and left sitting on the counter while you work with both hands on a sugar flower. Blow torches are used all the time with sugar, for attaching pieces to each other, attaching sugar to a sugar pump, or bringing out a translucent surface on a piece of cast sugar, among many other things.

You will need a good, medium-sized sauce pan, preferably with a nice, heavy bottom, copper if you have it or can afford it. A kitchen scale is needed to measure out the proper quantities of sugar, water and (sometimes) glucose. A few Silpats are always useful, and I love having an extra large Silpat, not only for having plenty of room for the hot sugar to spread out on, but also for kneading and rolling out dough, sifting flour, etc. If you want to do blown sugar, a free-standing pet hair dryer is great for cooling your blown pieces under. If you don’t cool them quickly and evenly, they will deform thanks to gravity.

Other Sugar Work Posts at Pie of the Tiger:
Sugar Work Lesson 1: Casting Sugar
Cadbury Creme Brul’egg
Sugar Work (Pastry School Flashbacks)
Battlestar Galactica Cupcakes with Sugar Decorations

I wanted to bake a couple of pies last week for a party, so I decided to give it a try. Never again. The dough didn’t mix properly, and I ended up with large patches of too-moist mixed with large patches of completely dry dough. It was bad enough that I reverted to the standard blade for my second batch, despite some small hope that things might improve after setting up in the fridge for a few hours. As you can see from the bowl on the left in the photo, it didn’t help — the dough fell apart into too-wet and too-dry chunks as soon as I tried to break off a chunk to roll out. Because I needed both batches of dough for two covered pies, I ended up “rescuing” the bad batch by adding a little water and re-processing it in the food processor, mixing it into the good batch. Needless to say the additional processing resulted in crusts were not the best I’ve made (still pretty tasty, though), and I will be hiding the dough blade somewhere so I can’t find it and make the same mistake again.

For those who are interested in the recipe, it’s a modification of a double-batch version of the basic pie crust recipe from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone:

• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 pound cold butter
• 1/3 to 2/3 cups ice water, as needed

Add the flours and salt into the food processor, along with the butter, cut into rough chunks. Pulse until the butter is integrated (but not completely pulverized) and then slowly drizzle the ice water in through the top of the food processor as it is running. The dough should be fairly dry, but stick together if you try to shape it. Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it into the fridge for at least an hour to hydrate or it will crumble to pieces when you try to roll it out.

While six quarts isn’t twenty quarts, this is still a marked improvement over my veteran 4.5 KA.

I have photos to write about here. I’ll have to think about getting around to that someday.

Update: So, I love the mixer, but the four-and-a-half quart one might be staying around. It seems to have trouble with small batches of cookie dough. Also, I’m noticing a tendency for stuff to get stuck at the center around the beater that’s worse than what I expect from the smaller mixers. I don’t remember that from the five quart ones I used at school and at work. The other annoying thing about the new one is that it doesn’t fit under the cabinets on the counter.

At least they’re both black and chrome, so they match the kitchen and match each other.