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Sure, looks like fun, but I still want my cup of Joe after playing ;)

http://aerobie.com/products/pr...

Sorry, here's the link to the actual manufacturer: http://aerobie.com/products/ae...

And there are other brands of espresso makers doing exactly the same thing, with more recyclable pods, without DRM, and which use a standardized pod used by many vendors. Those that don't explicitly use pods often have metal baskets that accept the pods. And other machines that are more normal coffee makers but which will still make single or double cup servings in a few minutes with easy clean up. Yes, some of those espresso makers that take pods are very expensive, but there are cheaper versions that are competitive with Keurig.

There are some machines that take either a scoop of fresh ground, or a Keurig cup, or a coffee pod, for $50. Why stick to Keurig then and be stuck with a single source DRM encumbered system? Keurig literally has no competitive advantage over the competition except for good marketing and exclusivity deals.

http://www.podmerchant.com/cof...
http://aerobie.com/Products/ae...

I brew my coffee in a press every morning. It takes about 3 minutes to boil, brew, and clean, an AeroPress.

http://aerobie.com/products/ae...

Their FAQ says they have no plans to produce the aeropress in glass or steel. They do produce special gold/silver/bronze versions for trophies, but you have to win a championship to get one of those :)

Perhaps the Aerobie (R) Epic (TM) Driver Golf Disc? Or, were you expecting a different answer (or a shill aiming to get that "question" answered with marketing copy on the answers post)?

If you want a strong brew plus the cholesterol-blocking benefits of a paper filter you might check out an aeropress. Works for me.

Aerobies are waaay more fun. To take mine away, you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead, ...oh wait.

http://www.aerobie.com/Products/Sprint.htm

"The farthest object thrown by man"

Another coffee gadget claiming to make an excellent tasting cup is the Toddy. I haven't tried this yet but it's supposedly good.

For years I drank my coffee with milk and sugar, then trying to be more health conscious I cut the sugar. Not long after that I cut out the milk and can only drink it black now.

Despite the fancy gadgets mentioned above (I also have a decent pump driven espresso machine at home) I'm not too much of a coffee snob. I still drink coffee from an old drip-brew machine; if you want it to come out good just make sure you grind whole beans and use approximately 1 tbsp grinds per 6oz cup of water.

I can vouch for the dangers of too much caffeine.

I accidentally started drinking a lot more caffeine than usual, and after a while, I started having worse and worse tremors. My hands would shake. The day I went to see my doctor about it, I had to concentrate furiously to get my hand steady enough to sign my signature at the front desk.

We didn't know what was going on. I was certain it wasn't the coffee I was drinking, because coffee had never been a problem for me before. My doctor gave me some tests, and told me he was sure it wasn't anything scary (Parkinson's disease or something). He recommended I start taking magnesium supplements.

I took the magnesium and it helped right away! Then over time the tremors started to get worse again. I was starting to get scared.

My doctor sent me to a neurologist. I decided to cut out all coffee for a week or so before visiting the neurologist; I was still certain coffee wasn't the cause of my problems, but I figured it would be helpful to remove one variable from the equation. After being tested in various ways while hooked up to cool machines, I was ruled not to have anything scary. More importantly, after a week with no coffee, I was starting to feel a lot better.

So I decided to stay off the coffee. I had some bad withdrawal symptoms (headache, etc.) and took a lot of aspirin and ibuprofen. (And around this time I started to get bad tinnitus on top of everything else!)

Now I am mostly off caffeine. I sometimes have a single cup of caffeinated coffee. The tremors have passed and I'm grateful that my symptoms are gone. (The tinnitus stopped when I stopped taking the aspirin and ibuprofen.)

An important thing I want to tell you: I never drank a cup of coffee and then immediately had my hands start shaking. I had a gradual onset of hand tremors and it was chronic, with no obvious increase right after I drank coffee. This convinced me the tremors could not be caused by the coffee, but now I am convinced that they were.

You may be wondering how I could accidentally start overdosing on caffeine. Well, I started working in a building where the coffee was awful (Farmer Brothers commercial coffee service), so I started making my own coffee using an Aeropress. This is an excellent coffee maker (Dan likes it!), and I still use it and recommend it. But when I first got it, I was using caffeinated coffee, and I was trying to make "doppio ristretto" portions for myself, so I was using two scoops of finely ground espresso beans. I now believe that one AeroPress scoop of coffee makes a double shot, so I was effectively drinking four espresso shots worth of caffeine; and I usually drank two of these per day. So while I thought I was drinking 4 espresso shots worth of caffeine, I suspect I was drinking 8 shots worth, possibly even a little more.

As the saying goes, the dose makes the poison. I drank reasonable portions of caffeine for years and didn't notice any ill effects at all; it was only when I drank too much that I had the scary tremors.

If you get hand tremors, I do suggest you cut out all caffeine for a while and see if it helps.

steveha

French presses are indeed the most delicious way to drink coffee. Unfortunately, unfiltered coffee has high levels of cafestol which has been shown to raise cholesterol levels in drinkers of boiled coffee. Paper filters remove most of the cafestol, making the coffee a lot safer. Personally, I'm looking to pick up an Aeropress for just this reason.

This press has done great by me since I got it a year and a half ago. Best part? It's under $50.

http://www.aerobie.com/Products/aeropress.htm

More importantly, though, is why you'd give up caffeine? ;-)

You might be a geek, but you have taste, so you need the ultimate coffee utility accessory, a $25 plastic AeroPress espresso maker, made by the fine folks who make frisbees and whoopee cushions. http://aerobie.com/Products/aeropress.htm

I have two of these, one at home (that we also take camping) and one at the office that I let the hot chicks use from time to time.

Now, just buy a bag of fresh beans at your local *bucks, have them grind it to espresso settings, stick it in a tupperware and start impressing the ladies in your office with your sweet smelling, great tasting, only-I-have-it-and-you-jackholes-in-accounting-wis h-you-were-this-cool, handmade coffee.

Someone with mod points mod up the Aero Press.

It's the best coffee maker you will ever own. Bar none. You basically make espresso and add water, often called an Americano.

Incidentally, if you insist on using a drip maker, leave 15%-20% of the water in the pot. A friend who works for Starbuck's gave me that tip. It'll help the coffee remain smooth. The longer water is in contact with the grounds the more bitterness is pulled out.

But get yourself an Aero Press and you'll turn your nose up at Starbuck's.

At home, I have a good espresso machine, and I use that. Starbucks sold this machine years ago; it was so good they now put their own name on it and they still sell it. Mine says "Estro Vapore" on it, but the new ones say "Starbucks Barista". Highly rated on coffeegeek.com.

Note that other models of espresso machine have come and go, but this one has been selling for at least a decade now.

http://coffeegeek.com/reviews/consumer/starbucks_b arista

At work, I use the AeroPress. It was invented by the same guy who invented the Aerobie flying disc toy. The Aerobie web site has various flying toys... and one coffee maker. US$30 suggested retail, quick and easy to use and clean up.

http://www.aerobie.com/Products/aeropress.htm

Here is the review that convinced me to buy one.

http://www.dansdata.com/aeropress.htm

I bought mine from a mail-order company on Whidbey Island (in Washington state) called Locals Only Coffee. They offer a deal where you can get an extra pack of filters for only $2 when you buy the press.

http://www.localsonlycoffee.com/Aerobie-AeroPress- TM-p/aer01.htm

REI also sells this now.

http://www.rei.com/product/745004

The coffee beans I use are from Caffe Appassionato. I use their house brand, "Appassionato Blend", ground fine. Even though I live in the area and could theoretically get the beans from a local grocery store, we just order the beans direct from the company by mail.

When you get the beans mail order, they come in a sealed foil pack, and I believe they replace the air inside the foil pack with nitrogen to keep the beans fresher.

I have an espresso grinder with a "doser"; so at home, I can grind just enough beans each day that I am always brewing from fresh-ground beans.

For coffee at work, I grind every few days and keep the ground coffee in a tightly sealed jar.

steveha

I purchased a Aeropress from Thinkgeek and it seems to work pretty good. Inexpensive, easy to use and clean. The only fault I have found is that I tried some beans from the supermarket and it made really nasty coffee. No matter how fancy a maker you have, if you have bad beans, it will not help.

Ultimate Frisbee is for wimps..

Real men play Ultimate Aerobie

Of course, seeing as my mother can throw an Aerobie over 100 yards, you might have trouble finding a large enough playing area :o)