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Year Invented
2005 Q&A

How do you discover different ways of
use as you designed AeroPress?
Alan Adler: I discover ways by using the
product hundreds of times and ways. The
AeroPress has the most serendipity of all my
inventions. Serendipity is defined as “the
occurrence and development of events by
chance in a happy or beneficial way”.
It is a very lucky invention. I list the seren-
AeroPress: One for All The ease of using AeroPress to brewing dipity below. None of these things were in
recipes turns coffee brewing into a fun game. my mind when I began the design process.
As a professional photographer for “Tim Wendelboe is our distributor in Norway, · It takes less than two minutes to brew a cup.
coffee shops and boutiques based in London, who thought it would be fun to have a contest · It is very low in bitterness and has one-fifth
Amelia Hallworth believes the beauty of to brew the best tasting cup of coffee with an the acid of ordinary coffee.
coffee ware is in design and color, “besides AeroPress,” Adler said. Wendelboe held the · It is self-cleaning.
this, it also needs to be practical to use, not very first contest in his cafe, with only three · It can brew espresso-strength, which is five
just pretty!” Her best pal at home is Aero- competitors. “Now it has grown to hundreds times richer than ordinary coffee.
Press, “I think it is still one of the most of events in 60 countries.” Each national cham- · It is portable.
popular coffee devices for the home, espe- pion will go to the World AeroPress Champi- · It is inexpensive.
cially if you’re one that enjoys a morning onship (WAC) to compete. It is also interesting · It can be used many different ways.
filter coffee like me.” that the organizer in each country can invite
Just like Hallsworth, many people find local artists to create a poster for competitions.
it fun to use AeroPress; its inventor Alan “There are no design criteria though all posters
Adler also had a great time bringing this have an image of the AeroPress,” shared Adler.
portable coffee maker into reality. “I have That’s why we have seen so many eye-catching
been an engineer/inventor for my entire posters in a diversity of design styles.
lifetime. I love creating things,” he confessed. Recently, AeroPress Go, a travel coffee
Over 40 patents are under his name, across press with its own mug, was launched to make
a wide range of categories and industries, it easier for coffee on-the-go. “We saw people
from electronics to toys. taking their AeroPress to work, on trip and
The journey of making AeroPress start- camping. So our portable version is a natural
ed from a frustration with his automatic evolution.” As Adler shared, the diversity in
drip coffee maker. After experimenting coffee makers and the need for portable de-
with pour over methods, Adler discovered vices and for multiple servings all contribute
a series of key elements that led to the birth to new inventions, which influence and shape
of AeroPress in 2005: 80℃ water resulted in the trend of coffee makers.
a better taste; added pressure shortened the “Coffee lovers like to innovate and try
brewing time and achieved a rich smooth different brewing methods. The fact that the
brew; the brewing time could be less than AeroPress can be used many ways fits well
two minutes. All these features made Aero- with this,” Adler pointed out. In his view, a
Press a big success as soon as it was launched. good design contains nothing that can be
“People love the rich flavor which has almost omitted without reducing function, “it
no bitterness,” Adler told us. “They also like should be easy and pleasant to use”. In short,
the fact that they can easily vary time and a good design only includes features that are
temperature.” functionally important.

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