All,
I have been happily using the Aeropress since my post above, but have found my plunger a bit loose lately and ordered 2 spare.
How often have most had to replace the plunger in their Aeropress?
It's a replacement end cap with a valve and metal filter (you can still use a paper filter with it too), so you can brew upright without any dripping, and it's also supposed to increase the pressure.
The metal filter is the only way to go... experiment with and without it... I find the paper filters remove a lot of the oilyness of the coffee which I find makes the brew that much better.
Good to know.I've used both metal and paper filters for drip and Aeropress, and personally prefer paper. Obviously tastes vary and lots of people prefer metal.
There may be some health reasons to use paper. Paper filters out diterpenes (cafestol and kahweol) that may raise LDL blood cholesterol levels. Alan Adler, the inventor of the Aeropress, advocates paper filters for this reason.
If I strongly preferred metal-filtered coffee, drank it regularly, and my blood cholesterol numbers were good, I would probably keep using metal filter and not worry about it. But since I prefer paper anyway, I don't even have to consider it.