I also met Alan Adler a few times, shared some home roast with him and he lent me an optical refractometer for a bit to let me play with. The Aeropress surely came out of a love of coffee and I hope that the product line continues on and wish Alan the best.

baldheadracing wrote:In the mega-thread over at CoffeeGeeks....

I've located it. Good heavens... it was started back in 2005, and is 300+ pages long. Lots of reading to do.

Also, my apologies for drawing attention to frowned-upon blush-worthy discussion.

CathyWeeks wrote:Also, my apologies for drawing attention to frowned-upon blush-worthy discussion.

No worries. A forum like this is for people to share ideas and have others respond.

I wonder whether he is selling the AeroPress business or Aerobie. He has other inventions that have been successful, such as the Aerobie Ring.

Added in response to Chris, below: Yes, should have read the Sprudge article, which gives the story that he's selling the whole company either in one or two parts.

The article states that both the coffee and sporting goods business are for sale, either separately or together.

I hope the eventual buyer of the coffee division keeps it as open as it has been. Any other company in the specialty coffee world would've cranked the marketing up to 11, gone for a premium image, and tripled the price.

I wrote to Alan off forum and he responded that he's read this thread. He had a comment about why he doesn't make a copper version of the AeroPress and gave me permission to quote him. @ CathyWeeks, this is not a dig at your curiosity, but it's too funny to not post.

"Copper is toxic and banned for food contact in Canada. We used to paint our boat bottoms with copper to kill barnacles, but it is so toxic that it is now banned." Alan Adler

Yeah, coatings are used on copper cookware/coffeeware but not on those of artisansmith's works... pretty but not the most sensible metal to be putting hot water next to - and before someone chimes in with "but hot water pipes" yeah, many councils recommend not to drink from the hot water tap. Plus more is extracted from hotter and stagnant water (like immersing coffee?).

drgary wrote: @ CathyWeeks, this is not a dig at your curiosity...

LOL. I didn't take it as a dig.

For one thing, I want a stainless steel version (or glass or ceramic, but I suspect those would be harder to pull off), not a copper one. I never pursued the clone out of copper for four reasons:

1. It's expensive enough that it gives me pause (but then, I have a Lido grinder)
2. Copper toxicity. And coffee is acidic, which would exacerbate the problem. Occasional use would probably be no big deal.
3. Clutter. I have an actual Aeropress for occasional use, and I've got enough clutter in my life to not want another occasional-use item that is nearly identical in function to the occasional-use item I already have.
4. I'd rather buy from the company that produced the idea in the first place. I have mixed feelings about IP, but Aerobie is a good company. I've owned several of the rings over the years, and a company that makes moving around more fun, AND a new way to make coffee, AND remains active in the coffee world - well, I like that. I'd rather support such endeavors.

Added: I love backing coffee-related kickstarters (I've got two items already, and am waiting on two more), but specifically didn't back a really cool coffee pipe because it was made of copper

Im just really curious what kind of company will acquire. Perhaps Private equity. I wonder how much the company is worth??