I don't remember how I first came across the Aeropress, but as soon as I saw it, I wanted it. I had been looking for a way to make coffee -- espresso in particular -- in my office without creating a lot of mess. For the past few weeks, I have discovered that something like this is possible. No longer am I the slave to the stale, vaguely machine-flavored Illy served upstairs in the cafeteria or the over-roasted swill found in the Starbucks shops of Midtown Manhattan. Using air pressure, the press extracts delicious "espresso" (not really) from two scoops of finely ground coffee. Top it off with hot water, and you have an Americano. So far I've had the best results with the Kenyan Gatomboya from Stumptown and the Novo Decaf Espresso carried by Cafe Grumpy. I heat the water to 175 degrees Farenheit using this Breville electric kettle, served up in these supposedly unbreakable glass mugs.

Coffee Fazenda Chapadão de Ferro (Patrocínio, Cerrado Region, Brazil)

Roasted March 14 by Café Grumpy in Brooklyn.

Purchased March 16 at Grumpy's Chelsea location, 224 W. 20th St., between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

Description "Juicy and sweet cup with notes of vanilla, almonds and milk chocolate. Tropical fruit brightness & a floral finish. Award-winning farm rich with volcanic soil owned by Ruvaldo Delarisse."

In the Cup This is a fine coffee, though it has those floral and fruit finishes that sometimes annoy me (it's a personal thing). It was tolerable as an espresso at home in the Jura automatic machine, but I was less impressed with this bean in the Aeropress. (Update: I should also note that fans of the Aeropress have found some better ways to prepare coffee with it than in the official instructions, and that this is really a high-quality filtered coffee, not an espresso. A hat tip to Christian, down in the comments.)

As an Americano, this Grumpy Brazilian is less overpowering, so I can only conclude that this has to do with temperature or the method of extraction.

Of course, many coffee snobs think that some coffees are never meant to be prepared as espresso.

Certainly, not all beans are recommended for preparation at the lower temperature that Aeropress recommends in its directions.

My next experiment with the Aeropress will be with a bean more suitable for this, perhaps something from Intelligentsia.

The promotional copy for the Aeropress bills it as "the best coffee maker X ever owned" and a source of coffee nirvana that makes better "espresso" than many a machine. It is certainly better than a lot of mediocre coffee I've had in restaurants. (Read more about the promotional language in these Aeropress tips from Sweet Maria's.)

The coolest part: When you're done, you can eject the grounds cleanly in puck form into the trash. A quick rinse cleans it. Far better than the mess I usually make cleaning a French press.

The first shots I made with this device -- not using this Brazilian bean -- were indeed exquisite. But the results do vary, perhaps because of the beans, how well I manage to press the coffee, the temperature of the water (which I have to estimate based on two-thirds the time it takes for a full boil) and so forth. Some of the alternative methods suggest an upside-down brewing method that keeps the water from seeping through the grounds too quickly.

But in a coffee wasteland like Midtown, the device is a life saver on a drowsy afternoon -- and a source of amusement for the coworkers who are not yet bored with watching me demonstrate it.

Now if only I were not surrounded by so many tea drinkers.

There are some who say that decaf is pointless, decaf espresso even more so. But of course, decaf does contain some caffeine, so it can be a nice way to put a little life back into an evening after a long day at work. That way I don't drowse off reading monster-sized novels, listening to podcasts or watching the idiot box. My quest for the samadhi shot continues, and this is the decaffeinated edition. Name: Decaf Espresso

Description: "Nuances: Full body, sweet, slightly nutty."

Source: Café Grumpy, 224 W. 20th St., between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

Geographic origin: Ethiopia, no region specified.

Date Roasted: Dec. 1, 2008 by Novo.

Date Purchased: Dec. 8, 2008.

The Pour: I had a spot of trouble, because I wanted to keep the decaf separated from the regular beans. My fancy coffee maker has a separate chamber for powdered coffee, so I tried at first to pre-grind the decaf and brew it that way. But I ran into some problems too embarrassing to enumerate and finally gave up, putting a small number of beans into the main chamber and letting it do everything automatically, the regular way.

The Internet can turn anyone into an expert. That is a great strength, though it has some bizarre side effects. I had always deferred my coffee choices, as I still defer wine choices, to others. But I have been learning a lot lately. And coffee makers these days mix a lot of philosophy with their marketing. But they also explain stuff, too:

Because of temperatures required to remove caffeine from raw coffee, it has thus far been impossible to decaffeinate coffee without moderating its flavor. Normally, the lowest grade coffees are used so as not to waste the best seeds (beans). Additionally, among the number of methods used to remove caffeine, most involve the use of harsh chemicals. Our mission at Novo is to find the best flavor that results from a completely natural, water-based method of decaffeination.

This is not the first time I have come across references to this organic, water process for decaf. I'm not a big decaf drinker, but this is making me think twice about the old bag of Starbucks bold decaf beans in the freezer.

Anyway, this shot was certainly full bodied, maybe a little nutty, nothing special, perhaps because of the low-grade beans and the process to take out the go-stuff.

Effects: I may have perked up a little, but I didn't want to perk up too much. I already had plenty of coffee this morning. I wrote this blog post, so I guess it had some effect. It'll be good to have around for an evening like this. My wife sometimes wants decaf, and sometimes a guest requests it. I guess I'll put it in the freezer where I had the Starbucks.