Reusable Filter Set by Slimm Filter - 3 Piece, Stainless Steel Metal - Mesh, Fine, Ultra-Fine Metal Filter For AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker - Brew Barista-Grade Coffee At Home

Aero press is a great and worthy invention. I use it for household, camping and travel.Fits inside a travel bag. The drag is always having to bring dedicated coffee filters.This is a stainless steel filter disk that fits the aero press coffee maker perfectly.It can be rinsed on the go and infinitely reusable. Eliminates the need for paper filters. It fits inside the unit so easy to br8ng along.The SS filter also allows the oils of the coffee to come through. Makes a perfect cup every time.Hot water is all you need with your favorite coffee.

Last time, I bought a bad batch of paper filters which were slightly larger than the inside diameter of my AeroPress cap. So I wanted to give a try of this reusable filter. I also read some of bad reviews so I didn't give it a high expectation. But to my surprise, it not only works well in terms of filtering the coffee grinds, it works even better than paper filters.It is not only reusable(I think that they will last as long as your AeroPress), it also gives out better coffee flavors because none of the oil in coffee is absorbed by the filter. This is beyond what I expected.However, the filter does get clogged up with tiny coffee grinds over time. Rings of dark spots will form corresponding to the holes on the Aeropress cap. Some people may throw it away at this point and replace it with a new one. Don't. It still has plenty of life if you clean it up. Detergent may help to reduce the clogs, but the rings can still be seen. The way to get rid of clog is to burn it out. I find the most efficient way is to use a heat gun. You place the filter in a cast iron skillet on a stove top (or any heat resistent surface), and heat up the filter with a heat gun ( or a propane torch whichever easier for you). After a couple of minutes, you will see the dark rings disappearing. Then you place the filter into a bowl of water. As soon as you start rubbing it, you will find the carbonized particles released into the water. The filter will be almost free from the clogs, except the some spots near the outer rim of the filter, which have no performance impact at all.Each filter will last for years, if you declog it every few months.

Pro: This product works well (filters coffee!) and is very easy to clean.Con: The spacing of the mesh, though quite fine, is considerably larger than that for paper filters, so water drips through much faster; this has resulted in much waterier coffee than I'm used to. Some folks who are used to lighter coffees (like drip) may like this - I like richer coffees (closer to espresso) so this is not so good for me.Other: Cleaning this product is slightly different from cleaning paper filters; the latter tend (for me) to stick to the plunger in the Aeropress after they get wet, trapping the coffee grounds to the plunger. So popping off the end piece is one step, then tossing coffee grounds is another. However, this product won't stick in the same way, and will end up in the basket (end piece) when you remove it, meaning the coffee grounds will be free right away. The solution for me was to simply unscrew the basket straight down, so the grounds stayed on the filter (in the basket, because of gravity) and I could easily wipe them away after (this is precisely opposite to how I would do it with a paper filter, where I wanted the paper filter and grounds to stick to the plunger and would have the basket on top when I unscrewed it).This product comes with two filters, and using both of them at a rotational off-set did increase the resistance to water flow and thus the richness of the coffee. It was still not much as a paper filter, and it was difficult to attach the basket with two metal filters in, so I wouldn't recommend this option unless you're dead-set on eliminating paper filters and need richer coffee.End: I will keep these as a safety net for when I run out of paper filters, or for travel, but I will continue to use paper filters as they produce coffee that I prefer.