Have you tried the inverted method for Aeropress? Pretty similar to french press, and you use about half the coffee of the 'normal' Aerorpess method. It also tastes better, IMO.
1) attach filter holder & filter.
2) pour through a bit of hot water to wash it all.
3) take off the filter & filter holder.
4) put plunger in about 1 inch
5) turn it upside down, so it's sitting on the plunger.
6) put the ground coffee inside, so it's resting on the plunger rubber head.
7) pour hot water in
8) let it brew as long as you like - thus the french press type taste using larger grounds, etc.
9) attach filter & holder
10) turn upside down and place as normal onto a cup (you need to be fast!), and press as normal
This way, you get a longer brew time, but still get the benefits of finer paper filtering, easy cleaning, etc.
I often use this method for columbian light roasted coffees, I feel it works better for some reason. You can use less coffee, and a much coarser grind. For some coffees, and for "espresso"-ish things, it doesn't work so great though.
That's what's cool - you can tweak so much with how long you brew, temperature, grind, etc.
Interesting... I have, independently developed a similar method (I didn't realize there was such a large AeroPress hacking community out there).
I add water and ground as normal, stir for a little while, then top off the water and put the plunger in place. Depending on the coffee, I then wait 0-90 seconds before depressing the plunger. The plunger seal holds the water in place with no problem.
I tend to wait the longest with South/Central Americans, and don't wait at all for Africans. Most Indonesians are somewhere around 30 seconds.
Funny - I hadn't really connected the dots, but that's pretty much how I do the different continents too. I guess we're doing something right then! :-)
