The AeroPress® Coffee Maker has long been one of the industry’s favorite travel brewing devices due to its size, portability, and ease of use. For many years, the AeroPress® stood fairly unchallenged in its brewing category, that is until the recent release of the Delter Coffee Press. Designed by Australian coffee-lover Mark Folker (you might remember him from the all-in-one TrinityONE brewer), the Delter Coffee Press has taken the portable coffee brewing market by storm with its sleek and compact design and brewing method. In this article, we’ll take you through the difference between these two similar-looking devices and help you decide which one is the right choice for you when it comes to portable brewing!
SO, WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO COFFEE BREWERS?
The main difference between the AeroPress® and the Delter is in their brewing methods. To sum it up simply; one uses immersion brewing, and the other using injection brewing. Immersion brewing is the same method used for a French Press, where the coffee and water are added to the same chamber and brew together with a whole lot of coffee-to-water contact time. The coffee extraction process begins as soon as the hot water hits the coffee, and continues throughout the brew until the coffee is pressed through the filter. Injection brewing, on the other hand, uses what the team from Delter Coffee call the ‘jet seal’, which is a piece of perforated silicone that separates the coffee bed from the water until pressure is applied. When pressure is applied from the plunger being pushed down, the jet seal holes open to evenly inject water through the coffee.
IMMERSION Vs. INJECTION BREWING: PROS & CONS
One thing that users love about the AeroPress® and the immersion method is its simplicity. All you need to do is add your coffee, add your water, give it a stir, wait for the coffee to brew, and then press down once on the plunger to extract your coffee through the filter. However, although this method is very simple, immersion brewing does leave room for uncontrolled extraction and unwanted agitation of the coffee grounds. This is particularly relevant when using the inverted method with the AeroPress®, where the device is flipped over while the brewing process has already begun. This can cause various degrees of uncontrolled agitation as the coffee and water mix together, causing an over-extracted coffee and a result which you will be unable to replicate. With its fancy jet seal and injection brewing technology, the Delter may seem a bit more complicated than the AeroPress® at first glance, but it’s these features that separate it from the much-loved AeroPress® and help users gain more control over their coffee.
The injection brewing method, unlike immersion brewing, allows the user to control the volume and time of their brew while also controlling the pressure being applied on the plunger. When pressure is applied, the plunger pushes the brew water down through the jet seal, evenly distributing the water over the coffee bed. On the first push of the plunger, this is the first time that the water comes into contact with the coffee, beginning the brew. The Delter also allows the user to use this first bit of pressure as a pre-infusion or bloom, ensuring that all of the coffee grounds are evenly saturated. This design minimizes the agitation of the coffee, which results in a cleaner and smoother cup and gives less opportunity for over-extraction as the coffee-to-water contact time is controlled by applied pressure.
The brew chamber design of the Delter also allows the user to make larger batches of coffee if they wish, as opposed to the AeroPress which has a total capacity of 220ml per cup without the ability of refilling the chamber with water. To make a larger batch of coffee on the Delter, all you need to do is add more water to the chamber, pull the plunger back up to the water level, and press down again to push the remaining water through the coffee. This can be done without unwanted agitation or over-extraction due to that jet seal, which will keep the water and coffee separated and prevent any brewed coffee from coming up into the brew chamber when the plunger is pulled upwards.
SAME SAME OR DIFFERENT?
After covering the main point of difference (immersion brewing vs. injection brewing) of these two portable devices, we’ll move now to some of the more practical aspects that you would look for in this type of brewer. Both devices are super easy to clean, with the AeroPress® being able to neatly eject the entire coffee bed straight into the bin when your brew is done. The Delter isn’t quite as satisfying to clean, but because the grounds never come in contact with the brewing chamber, all it needs is a quick rinse. Both devices have a solid build, with the AeroPress using polypropylene and the Delter using Tritan Copolyester. Because of its dark grey color material, some may say that the AeroPress® isn’t the most visually appealing brewer compared to the glass-like material of the Delter, but in terms of reliability and build quality, both devices rate highly. When it comes to their filtering ability, the AeroPress® doesn’t really come close to the clean, pour-over-like brew that you achieve from the Delter. This is due to an o-ring seal which means no coffee grounds can sneak their way through the filter and into your cup. The AeroPress®, however, has been designed with slots around the edge of the filter cap, which allow for some grit to enter your cup, especially if too much force is applied.
Both the AeroPress® and the Delter Coffee Press are super portable, durable, and will give you a drinkable cup of coffee whether you’re just waking up on a Monday morning, or hiking through the mountains of the Himalayas. However, if you’re a coffee connoisseur and want to achieve a cleaner, more controlled brew that is similar to a V60 pour-over, then we would definitely recommend the Delter Coffee Press – with its injection brew method, controllable coffee-to-water contact time, and ability to brew larger batches of delicious coffee, you won’t be disappointed! For more information and to purchase a Delter Coffee Press, head here.
