The lid fits securely on just the cup without the inner sleeve if you want to use it that way. It's nice and thick, which I like since some of my ceramic travel mugs can either leak on my clothes or the lid can pop off, both of which are really frustrating.

The lid's drinking opening prevents coffee from rushing out which makes this a good cup for sipping coffee. The cup keeps the coffee hot a long while, and you can sip on this for quite a while... I'm not noticing a problem with over-extraction.

Man Seeking Coffee asked about using this with an Aeropress filter on Twitter. I tried screwing the filter in above the Impress filter, but in a trial with water it just floated away when I pressed; not enough overlap, I guess. I then put the paper filter under the Impress filter and while it worked fine in a trial with water, it choked when I tried to press it with coffee, so I fished the filter out with a chopstick and just pressed it with the Impress filter. I used cooler coffee, whisked a bit to control the over fresh bloom and help cool, and waited longer than three minutes for a very nice cup of Rwanda Rulindo Bourbon at 14 grams coffee and 200 grams water.

I got a chance to try out the Impress on the go. I've been running errands today, including taking one of the cars to the shop, so I ground up 16 grams of the Rwanda Rulindo Bourbon at noon before I left into a sealed 35 ml salad dressing cup I bought at Smart & Final to experiment with pre-grinding coffee for use later in the day and found a little plastic gelato spoon (which I'll probably replace with a wood stirring stick) that would fit in the inner sleeve (the Kyocera grinder would fit only without the catch cup and the mini-whisk I have are too long) and hit the road. The paper in the photo covers the gasket to prevent it from sticking inside the dry cup, or you can transport it disassembled, but I'd rather not have the filter and gasket loose.



I didn't know what I'd find, but I figured I could get some hot water somewhere. It turned out that the auto shop has a cooler with a hot water dispenser that I used to brew the coffee. I doubt the temp was up quite where I'd normally want it, the coffee was much cooler and more drinkable when I finished brewing it, but it worked just fine. I also didn't bring a scale and just eyeballed the water level. The cup is more subtle, possibly a bit under-extracted, but much better than any coffee I'd find here or at the nearby 7-Eleven.



I'd consider this trial a success. I'm ready to try this on an airplane, once I figure out travel cleanup. (maybe just stow the whole thing in a zipper plastic bag until landing)

One impact of pre-grinding the coffee was that there wasn't much bloom to deal with and the gelato spoon was largely unnecessary. There was about a two hour interval between grinding and brewing in this case.

I had an evening meeting last night after a long day of errands and barely had time to come home and choke down a couple hot dogs before leaving. I decided to brew up some coffee in the Impress before I left and I'm really glad I did. I used 17 grams of coffee and 250 grams of water and took the steeping cup with the inner sleeve just barely inserted so that the filter was not yet making contact with the slurry out to the car to allow the coffee to brew while driving.

I was rewarded with hot coffee for an hour and a half meeting that I could sip to keep myself awake and happy.

By the time I was drinking the dregs, I did get a bit of a feel of fines in the mouth, but it really makes a great cup and seems ideal for travel so I've been pretty happy with this brewer.

I took the Impress along this morning to the Heritage Rose Garden for some volunteering planting roses. The coffee stayed good and hot for about three hours (until it was just gone, the tasty Ethiopia Guji I've been drinking) and it even appears to be pretty spill-proof. This is the brewer to use if you're running out the door and want to take some coffee with you. After stirring down the bloom, I again let the coffee steep in the car before plunging the grounds down, saving time.

Intrepid510 wrote:Perhaps its noted in the kickstart page, can you use just as a just a travel mug without the inner filter?

I did just this yesterday. I had brewed coffee in the BraZen but wanted to take it with me to a job interview. I used the Impress coffee brewer without the inner sleeve and it worked very well, no spills on my dress shirt and it kept the coffee hot for a long time.

I got the job and today was my first day. I brewed the morning coffee by Kalita as usual but used the Impress as a travel mug (with the inner sleeve in place to bring it in to work). It held the heat in rather well and since it was brewed in the Kalita and poured into the travel brewer it wasn't too hot at the outset.

I also ground 18 grams of the Ethiopia Kemgin W2 from Ninety Plus in the salad dressing containers I scored at Smart & Final which filled the container completely with no airspace between the lid and the ground coffee, which I brought to work along with a small scale.

After lunch, I washed up the Impress and brewed 18 grams of the Kemgin with 260 grams of hot water from the water cooler which made a very nice, sweet cup, and didn't involve extraordinary coffee brewing methods at work. I'm sure the fact that this Kemgin was just roasted last night helped with the freshness, but I think this is a good method for me for now while I'm settling in to my new job.

When I got ready to come home, I filled up the Impress with cool water to drink on the way home and left the inner sleeve at my desk to brew with tomorrow. This works well as a brewer and as a travel mug on it's own.

I forgot to grind up come coffee for a second cup today at work with the Impress, but since we were out and about almost all day today visiting some of the customer sites I'll be working at, I convinced my co-worker to stop at Red Rock for some coffee this afternoon. The Four Barrel BUENA VISTA RESERVE / CATURRA & CATUAI / BOLIVIA from their airpot was really quite good as was the espresso I had.

The Impress has been getting a lot of use at the new job. I normally fill it up without the inner sleeve with coffee that was brewed with a Kalita in the morning and then brew coffee in it with the inner sleeve while at work or out in the field. At first I was just filling it with coffee with the inner sleeve in place to keep the kit together, but I found that the coffee (or even water) below the filter stayed in place while drinking and I was giving up too much good coffee trapped under the sleeve. In thinking about this, this gives some credence to the idea that when you press the grinds down that you won't over-extract the coffee above the filter.

Big Question:

If you make the coffee in the impress with the inner sleeve fully in place, and PULL the inner sleeve OUT, does the seal create a vacuum? Does the liquid level remain the same in relation to the outer cup while you pull the inner one out?

If it works, this would be imho, a cooler aeropress/clover machine. Also, have you experimented with an aeropress paper filter as well?

That's a very interesting question... I'll give the Impress Pull technique a try and report back. It might be messy, but the gasket does seem to form a good seal. Frankly speaking, I'm a bit concerned that the filter will choke, causing the coffee not to drain properly, so I'll probably sift the fines from the grounds before I try this.

I did try a paper Aeropress filter, but couldn't get it to stay in place. I thought I had reported on this earlier in the thread, (it's here) but since I'm on my phone it's more of a pain to check to make sure.