I love my Aeropress. If I could work two at once I would buy a second one. It makes great coffee, and it cleans up easily (read: less water). Consequentially, I had already elected to bring it along on our trip as our primary brewing device. I had resigned myself to it’s one shortcoming, the consumable filters, and had decided to get dozens of packs (300 filters/pack) as soon as I used up my first one. 

Searching Amazon for Aeropress filters turned up an unexpected but welcome result, The Disk by Able. This is a stainless steel perforated disk that replaces the Aeropress filter. My only concern in buying the $15 item was that it would be difficult to clean.  I figured I would be able to clean it up but maybe not fast enough to clean between pressings. As it turns out I just swiped it under running water and it was ready for the second brew. The full cleanup took little longer. I used the high pressure sprayer on our faucet and it cleared the micro perforations in seconds.

The coffee quality was virtually identical to the paper filters. I noticed no sediment, though I did use a slightly coarser grind. Since we are going to be water and consumable bound, I couldn’t have asked for a better solution. If you are a traveler, or interested in being a little greener, this would be $15 well spent.

Update:

After pulling several more shots with the Disk, I did find that there was a quite noticeable silt deposit in the last sip or two. It’s no worse than a french press, and I suspect I could have ground more coarsely to avoid it. That said, I’m going to put the Disk into a backup role until I have time to diagnose. Still, for a green solution, or for travelers, you can’t beat the economy of it.