French Press vs alternative for health and ease of use/tolerant of techniques

[eieiocoffee]

Hi All:

i'm giving a coffeemaking device to an elderly person who has never had coffee at home previously. she is in a wheelchair and has home care providers who will make the coffee for her. i'm hoping for a healthy option, and a coffeemaking device that would tolerate some deviations from my instructions and still give a great cup of coffee, i.e. a not-too-fussy type of coffeemaker.

my initial best option was the Fellow French Press (finer stainless mesh than typical). however, i discovered that there are numerous studies that show UNfiltered coffee such as from the French Press would increase one's LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

i don't want to give this to her IF it really would be detrimental to her health! however, the amount of coffee per day needs to be rather high before it affects a person, i believe as per these studies. one 10-oz cup per day wouldn't make much of a difference.

Aeropress would require higher tolerances of grinding properly, and also the pressing part might lead to slipping and spilling hot coffee all over due to the strength needed to press it down.

Manual drip or pourover is similar in that it requires technique.

with the french press, it seems to be most tolerant of techniques (including grinding) and still manage to give a great tasting cup.

may i please ask for thoughts please?

btw, non-electric is necessary because she lives in a non-110 volt location and i don't want to have to give instructions for descaling, etc. The easier to maintain, the higher chance for consistently good cups of coffee.

thank you in advance.

 

[Musicphan]

For that situation, I would consider the Clever Brewer.... much easier clean up than a french press and similar flavor profile.

 

[Kudzu]

If you take up Musicphan’s suggestion regarding the Clever Dripper, and I recommend you do, you might want to invest several minutes watching James Hoffman’s video on brewing with the Clever Dripper. Hoffman’s technique changed the way I brew with the Clever Dripper for the better.

 

[froze]

The Clever Dripper was a clever idea...Anyway, after studying the various immersion drippers I opted for the Hario V60 Switch.

But the Hario you have to be a bit more careful with it because the lever can come off if you hit it too hard, but it's easy to put back on.

The Clever comes with brown paper filters, you should pre-rinse those, whereas the Hario comes with white paper filters which you don't have to pre-rinse. However, the plastic Clever does retain heat a bit better so supposedly you don't have to preheat it, but I would because the plastic isn't very thick; whereas with the Hario you have to preheat it to get the best flavor out of it.

From the reviews Hario won almost every time. But there is some complications to all these types of devices, I prefer to stir my grounds when I first pour in the water for about a minute to eliminate floaters, then I wait about 5 minutes, then push the lever down. Videos don't show anyone stirring the grounds first.

Depending on her mental age you have to decide if she would want to be bothered making coffee the manual way, it might frustrate her? You know her best, so only you can tell if that could be a problem. The easiest coffee maker to use is the Nespresso, yuk-tasting coffee, but it does taste better than Keurig, but her taste buds are old she might not care. It's easy to make coffee from it, but the Nespresso pods are over twice the price of Keurig K-cups, so there is that expense problem that might bug her. Keurig also has a much wider assortment of coffee, but if she leans towards espresso flavor Nespresso does a much better job of making "espresso" vs Keurig. Keurig to me is trash coffee, while Nespresso tastes better it still pales in comparison to an immersion pour-over, but at least it's drinkable, and the espresso isn't too bad.

Nespresso shots have a medium body-rich flavor, minor acidity, and adequate aromas. Compared to a shot of well-prepared espresso that has a heavy body with a richer stronger flavor with stronger aromas. Keurig espresso isn't espresso at all, there is no resemblance whatsoever to espresso flavor! For me, Keurig is the worst coffee-making machine ever invented, it's just convenient and everyone prefers not to think these days which is why automatic-driving cars are all the rage, geez.

 

[Odette4]

Good info.Thx for sharing. Consider a Chemex with bonded filters. It's non-electric, tolerates grind variations, and is easier for caregivers to use. Filters out cholesterol-raising compounds. Less fuss than an Aeropress and healthier than a French Press. Also for some helathy tips visit https://betterme.world/articles/cardamom-vs-coriander/. Personally I love to drink coffe with cardamom

 

[froze]

Cardamom is used in a lot of Turkish restaurants that make Turkish coffee, but I tried cardamom in my Turkish coffee, and even the slightest use of it overpowered the coffee flavor, not sure if that was due to the brand of cardamom I was using, but I won't experiment with it again, I prefer the full coffee flavor untainted by anything.