Several years in the past, I finished by the AeroPress sales space at a commerce present and requested if there was something new within the pipeline. The reply, which I’ll now be overinterpreting, was a bemused however understanding “wait a few years.”

The original AeroPress is sort of a big snub-nosed syringe that makes scrumptious espresso. It is compact, travels nicely, and is pretty straightforward to scrub. To brew a batch, put grounds within the chamber, pour sizzling water excessive, stir, after which use the plunger to press the espresso out by a flat, round filter into your mug. It was invented by the identical man who got here up with the Aerobie, and because it was first launched, the corporate has solely put out one extra product of notice: the AeroPress Go, a near-perfect mannequin for making espresso on the highway. The authentic and the Go have a cult-like following amongst baristas and different espresso lovers.

Fans have at all times needed extra although. Now that the corporate has modified fingers, they’re getting all types of extra. Out now, or popping out quickly, are a few equipment; a clear model fabricated from Tritan plastic; a fancier glass, aluminum, and chrome steel model; and the just-out XL. I simply received my fingers on the supersized AeroPress XL a bit over a month in the past and have used it virtually day by day since. It’s twice the quantity of the unique, with measurement will increase for all the principle components—the plunger, chamber, cap, filter, and stirrer. It additionally comes with a carafe to press the espresso into. Altogether, the entire thing feels a lot bigger than the unique.

There wasn’t a lot to be taught. It works identical to its predecessor, so I merely added bigger quantities of espresso and water to every brew. The espresso tasted prefer it ought to, however the entire thing felt virtually disproportionately huge. Then I took it over to the lab at Olympia Coffee Roasting Company in Seattle; I needed to see what their retail coach, Reyna Callejo—one of many nation’s high baristas and an avid AeroPress fan—considered it.

We chatted about an 18-day journey she took to Japan some years in the past, and the way she used her AeroPress day by day. Then she pulled the brand new model out of the field. She appeared shocked by how a lot bigger it was than the unique. She nestled the plunger into the top of the chamber such as you would when brewing and held it as much as her arm, the place the entire meeting prolonged from her wrist to the center of her bicep.

Reyna heated water and fired up the grinder for what she calls her “good for most people” technique. Scaled as much as match the bigger quantity of the XL, this used 30 grams of beans with 500 grams of water. (That’s a 1:16.67 ratio, for all you espresso nerds on the market.) Then, in an indication of the unwieldiness to come back, she climbed on a stool to work with the XL. She had good motive to rise up there: When you stick the plunger on the chamber and put that on high of the carafe, it’s about 19 inches tall. I’m 6 toes tall, and on a 36-inch countertop that setup comes midway up my sternum. At 5′ 3″, Reyna felt it was too excessive for her to soundly function with out the stool.