I’ve used an AeroPress to make my espresso almost every day for several years now, but I had no idea that the inventor, Alan Adler, 76, also created the Aerobie flying disc. Over at Backchannel, Steven Levy talks to Adler, an iconic maker.
From Backchannel:
How many iterations total did you go through before you got (the AeroPress) right?
Forty. The very first one was a lot like this [he shows a prototype that looks like a bicycle pump] and I could immediately just see how well it worked. But I didn’t know how to use my own invention. I had some idea that I would just push it through in a few seconds. I expected it to go whump and be done. I should have realized that even an ordinary espresso machine takes about twenty five seconds to pull a first great shot.
“The Invention of the Perfect Cup of Coffee”
AeroPress (Amazon)