AeroPress Go – a hands on review
Table of contents
Coffee while you travel
Finding good coffee while travelling can be hard. While coffee shops can be found on almost every corner across the globe — not all of them serve good coffee, and some places don't have corners, like the desert or the woods.
One place where good coffee is hard to find is on sleeper trains, which is why I purchased an AeroPress Go. It's an impressive device — and while I did have some difficulties producing a cup of coffee with it on a moving train, that wasn't the fault of the AeroPress Go (see below).
AeroPress Go vs the original AeroPress?
The main difference between the AeroPress Go and the original AeroPress is that the AeroPress Go is smaller and fits inside a cup with a sealable rubber lid.
The AeroPress Go also comes with some other accessories that make it easier to brew coffee while you travel.
Should you get an AeroPress Go?
Yes, if you travel a lot to places where you can't get good coffee, or you want to save money on coffee while you travel. Otherwise stick with the original Aeropress.
Another reason to consider the AeroPress Go — if you (like I do) always try to buy the smallest version of something so you can save space in your tiny home, then you may enjoy the few extra cubic centremeters of space the Aeropress Go gives you.
How the AeroPress Go is better for travel
The goal of the AeroPress Go is to help you brew fresh coffee while you travel. It does this in a number of ways — I've listed them below in order of usefulness.
Sealable cup
The best thing about the AeroPress go is that all the components fit neatly into a sealable cup.
Once you've brewed and drunk your coffee, you can pack it away and toss it in your luggage without worrying about the mess.
Then, when you've reached your destination you can give it a quick rinse in a scenic waterfall and responsibly dispose of the used filter paper and coffee dregs.
Size
The AeroPress Go is smaller than the AeroPress. Which is great if you like to travel as light as possible to avoid baggage reclaim, and so there's more room for souvenirs (and those little shampoos they give you in hotels).
Filter Paper Holder
The AeroPress Go comes with a thin filter paper holder (which fits probably around 20 papers) that fits in the cup. This prevents your papers from being soiled, creased, or ripped. Nothing is as frustrating as climbing the sheer face of El Capitan only to find your filter paper has a hole in it.
The cup lid is also a grippy coaster
The lid of the cup doubles as a grippy coaster — something I only realised after making a perilous coffee on a bumpy train.
Foldable Stirrer
The AeroPress Go comes with a foldable stirrer. It folds up to fit inside the cup. This is a little silly. I'm fairly certain they could have just put a smaller stirrer inside. I'm sure somebody will inform us as to why the stirrer needs to be that long in the first place.
Things to consider when travelling with the AeroPress Go
The Aeropress Go definitely makes it easier to brew coffee while you travel — but that doesn't mean it easy.
Dreading the lack of coffee on a sleeper train I decided to put it to the test.
Grinding coffee
The first thing you'll need to do is grind some coffee. I decided not to bring a coffee grinder with me so I ground coffee two nights before and put it in a tupperware box.
Now, if you want your coffee very fresh, or you're on a long trip, you'll want to bring a grinder.
The original Aeropress was large enough to fit some portable grinders inside the plunger, but the Aeropress Go is too small. Worth considering if you definitely want to bring a grinder with you.
Hot water
You'll still need to find hot water to make your coffee. On a sleeper train this was surprisingly hard. I walked down several carriages to find a dining cabin where I was handed a paper cup filled to the brim with scalding hot water. So very carefully I returned to my bunk, shouldering open doors, and burning my fingers as I went.
Then, back at the bunk I decantered it into the Aeropress Go.
Was it worth it?
It was fun, and the coffee was good — without it I probably would have been grumpy and ruined everything.