AeroPressXL Coffee Press – 3 in 1 brew method combines French Press, Pourover, Espresso. Full bodied, smooth coffee without grit or bitterness. Small portable coffee maker for camping & travel

Was a present for my husband. He loved his last one so much I got him the bigger one as a present. Used everyday and is a quality bit of coffee making kit.

Excellent for lager brews

Although this is promoted as a travel product, I use it everyday to make the best smoothest coffee. The micro filters mean that there are no grounds that come through. The fast percolation process (10 seconds) means that taste is smooth with any acid after taste non-existent.This device makes even mediocre coffee taste great. It makes good coffee taste fantastic.Very easy to clean out after each use. Grounds are squeezed nearly dry and go neatly into a kitchen caddie. Much cheaper than buying an expensive gadget. Easy to use manually with no electrics. Will probably last for years.Highly recommended.

So who is this for? Some backstory: I started my coffee journey in 2020 working long, weird hours in retail while most of the world was stuck at home. I was drinking pretty awful instant coffee, heavily shrouded by copious amounts of milk, but when I changed my entire diet, milk had to go, which slowly made me realise how bad instant coffee is. I started with a cheap £10 french press and it blew my mind. I didn't like the silt and oils, and while Hoffmann's method largely eliminates the former, I soon realised I just don't like oily coffee.Then came the Aeropress, and by and large my progression ended there, because frankly, the Aeropress is the only coffee tool you'll ever need if you just want good, filtered coffee. My partner soon converted to the way of the bean, and I started brewing for 2 with the Aeropress, and ever since I've wanted a bigger Aeropress. To be honest, brewing for 2 with a regular Aeropress really isn't bad. You grind for 2 and dilute at the end, but the simplicity and added versatility of an XL version would naturally be better, right?Now we have the Aeropress XL which for all intents and purposes is a big Aeropress and nothing else. Only, as James Hoffmann pointed out last year, with new ownership of the company has come a new philosophy, something much more akin to every other business which has 1 mission: to make as much profit as possible. To that end, the Aeropress (all models to my knowledge) no longer come with 350 filters, they come with 100. They no longer come with a bespoke receptacle to house the filters either, and the XL, despite doing essentially the same job just in a bigger form, costs twice as much as the base model (which also costs more now).A lot of this probably wont matter to you if you've never had an Aeropress, as the novelty of the best manual coffee brewer you'll ever use will far exceed any worries about fewer initial filters or something for them to sit in. But to those of us that do have base models, it's a worrying sight.More worrying on initial use is how the thing operates. Firstly, you'll notice due to the bigger diameter of the filter portion itself, a lot more liquid seeps through before you create a vacuum with the plunger. I personally haven't noticed much of a difference, though I don't have much of a refined taste. Secondly, creating those initial, say, 10 vacuums with the plunger is concerning, as you wouldn't be blamed for thinking it just doesn't fit. It's tight, but thankfully loosens up over time. Lastly, the XL actually comes with something extra: a carafe. It's a hexagonal jug with a spout to make portioning off two brews easier without you needing a carafe beforehand. Stupidly though, it bleeds heat like crazy, and unless you have calloused hands like myself, you will burn yourself. Why they didn't add a thin strip of rubber to hold onto I don't know.Ultimately though, when water passed grounds, the coffee is marvellous. This isn't a surprise. The Aeropress XL is, fundamentally, an Aeropress but bigger. Bigger size, but bigger price, and both offer reasons why recommending this might not be so easy, so lets loop back to the beginning and finish there.Who is this for? For people who haven't used any sort of coffee maker before, £80 is way too high a price if you don't even know whether you're that into coffee in the first place. That sort of person is much better suited to a cheap french press. For those who've used an Aeropress before, but only sporadically make coffee for 2, I again don't know whether this is a good purchase. It's not like there's an upgrade path; you have to spend the whole £80 on what is essentially the same brewer you already have, just bigger, and if you only need to make an extra portion occasionally, you can do that fairly easily with the base model. Coffee machine-havers will likely not want to convert to manual coffee making, so in my mind, there are two potential groups:If you have an Aeropress, but frequently need to make coffee for 2 or more people AND have no other way of doing that like a big french press, then this might be for you.If you don't have an Aeropress, but frequently need to make coffee for 2 or more people AND have no other way of doing that like a big french press OR want a brewer versatile enough to brew different styles of coffee, then this might be for you.Ultimately, the XL's biggest flaw is its price. The base Aeropress is already like 90% of this thing, not in size obviously, but with the base Aeropress, you can still make coffee for 2, just not as seamlessly. If this was an extra tenner on top of the base model price, then the more interesting discussion arises of whether it's worth it or not. As is, it's too expensive to recommend widely, which is a shame because ultimately, it's a fantastic brewer.

I already have the portable version and bought this to make 2 cups at a time at home.My old pod machine is now redundant.This is so easy and quick to use and you never get even a hint of coffee grains in your cup.

nice item to use, waiting for control cap to be available.

I wasn’t impressed, ended up with grounds in my coffee more than one occasion

If you have the regular sized Aeropress, the XL does basically the same thing but for two servings instead of one. As someone who regularly makes coffee for two, the size is great. Has more than enough capacity in the press itself for two. I used the same recipe I usually use and just doubled both grounds and water; makes pretty much more of the same which is good.Is this worth your £62 though? That I'm not sure. I would only get this if you regularly make two servings or more. Occasional double servings I would just stick with the regular one and make twice (or cram more water in, bit sketchy but can be done). The real dealbreaker is in the filters and the "carafe" if you can even call it that.You only get 100 filters, and these precious few are crammed into the exit cap of the Aeropress. This inevitably makes it so that about half your filters look like they've been cut with a brick instead of a machine, and could potentially let grounds or water through unintentionally. There is no filter holder either; you open the shrink wrapped pack and there they are. Where you store them I wouldn't have a clue, I'm keeping them wrapped in cling film for now.The "carafe" is pretty thin, and just BARELY has enough capacity for water levels equalling the 8 mark on the press itself (and even this is stretching it). Thin + hot coffee = not a great time. Add high water levels to the point of almost overflowing and you've got a hot and dangerous situation on your hands. Doesn't have a handle either, so you're stuck pinching the sides of the thing (and to pick it up, with quite a lot of force). You should definitely have some other kind of container or carafe to decant your coffee into when using the Aeropress XL because the poor excuse of a carafe it comes with is insufficient and dangerous.Overall, the brewer itself is great, and is exactly "the regular Aeropress but larger". The extras it comes with and the treatment that those are packaged with aren't so great. Factoring in the fact that you'd probably want to buy a different carafe, and likely will have to buy more filters, the value isn't great.