Got my Impress today - the spiffy new black/carbon one! I went ahead with some Kenyan roasted last Sunday, which I've been favoring in my iced coffee, and brewed up 14 grams worth into 200 ml water, steeped for three minutes, and transferred the brew for tasting.

I left my Lido at 1.75 turns CCW, which is my default setting for the Cilio pourover, and I'm thinking this may be a tad fine. But overall I am HIGHLY impressed with the brewer. It is simple, easy to clean (I had no problems slipping off the snug gasket or filter basket for a quick wash), and very self contained. It is just a smidge too narrow for me to slip my Lido inside, but still a very compact brewer.

And the coffee from the Impress? I'll have to experiment more when it isn't 9 pm (can't have too much coffee this late!) but my initial impression is very favorable. It made a rich, full bodied cup. I was actually surprised at the strength, compared with a similar recipe from my pourovers. Much fuller bodied, flavorful cup. I got more tasting notes than just the heady, acidic, fruity tones I've had in the past. The warmer, nutty middle flavors came out in a way I haven't tasted before. I'm no great coffee connoisseur, but the ease of use, speed of prep, and fuss free cleanup already made the Impress a solid brewer in my mind. The fact that it is making rich, delicious coffee better than my other press, pourovers, or moka pot puts it firmly in place as my new obsession.

I love that it is idiot proof. Super simple to use and clean, easy to brew in, self contained, you name it. I agree with some other assessments that to drink coffee directly from it requires a cooling period. I poured into an unheated mug and it was at the perfect temperature for immediate consumption with that. It would have been quite too hot directly from the press - and this is coming from someone who regularly tastes off-boil liquids (gotta season that soup properly!).

We'll see how the Impress holds up to daily wear and tear, and I'm thinking I need to do some experimenting with both grind and brew ratio, but my quick and dirty first shot at it yielded one of the best cups I've made with these beans. Corny, but I must say I'm thoroughly impressed with the Impress! It's the best immersion brewer I've tried, and the price is far better than some of the others I've been ogling (Eva Solo and Espro, I'm glaring at YOU!).

Maybe the one downside is the volume of coffee is small, so brewing for a larger number of people would take a few presses, but honestly it goes so quickly and cleans so easily it's hardly a concern. I'd be interested in a larger version of this with a carafe lid for pouring, in a perfect world. That said, I really see no design issues or flaws in the current iteration. It is exactly as advertised and very much what I was looking for.

Next to the Lido, for scale:

Normally I travel with a coffee case that contains bags of roasted coffee, a Hario Slim grinder, and the inner sleeve of the Impress brewer along with a wooden stir stick. Today, knowing that I'd be at a communication site (converted from an old Nike missile site) I decided to just bring the Impress and pack the inner sleeve inside the mug with the gasket but not the filter. This allowed me to brew my morning cup of coffee (In a Kalita as I'm sharing the pot with my niece) and have a setup to brew a second cup later.



After lunch, I got the electric kettle out of the car and brewed up a cup. This turned out to work out very well, if you pour coffee into the Impress with the filter in place, some of the coffee will get trapped below the filter and won't come out. This is a good thing when you're brewing in the Impress as it keeps the grounds out of the coffee too, but if I'm just using the Impress as a travel mug, I'd rather drink all the coffee I pour in. I quite enjoyed the second cup of coffee.



The bent stainless steel cotter pin in the spout of this kettle helps direct the stream in lieu of a kettle with a goose neck spout.

I have this brewer for 2+ weeks and use it twice a day.
I like everything except cleaning- there is small amount of coffee between filter and inner part. I unscrew filter and wash after each use.

Thanks everyone for posting all the great info! I ordered one of these. Now I just need a Lido 2 to go with it.

How does this one compare to an Aeropress? Im guessing that the Aeropress makes a cleaner cup, and a healthier one as much of the fat is stopped in the paper filter.

Chris, I absolutely love this shot. It is so "you."

B|Java

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The Impress makes a clean French Press cup, with plenty of suspended solids and coffee oils that will pass through the metal filter. The Aeropress, used with a paper filter will be even cleaner and clearer, but with less body.

I enjoy suspended solids and purchased the metal Able brewing disks for the Aeropress. It's hard to compare against the Aeropress, though, because the Aeropress can be used in so many ways with different techniques and filters.

I think that the Impresses design results in a different cup because of the temperature profile as well. It hold the heat during the brew and long into the drinking phase, so I end up brewing with cooler water to compensate, especially on the road.

I'll leave any health implications of coffee filtration for another thread.

I'm kicking myself right now because while I did fill up my Impress coffee brewer with coffee from my morning pot from my BraZen, I forgot to pack the filter and gasket so I'm here at work with everything to make great coffee but two missing parts in my Impress. It's become my favorite way to make coffee lately, I really like the taste of the coffee made in this brewer.

I do have a V60-01 plastic brewer here and some filters so all is not completely lost.

I just picked one of these up and I have to say I am very impressed with the design and brew quality. I agree that it does a better job than a typical FP at both holding in the heat and at stopping further extraction once the plunger is down. I took mine on the road this week when traveling to a conference, and really enjoyed the experience. With an immersion heater, my OE-modded Skerton, and some of Olympia Roasting's Banko Natural, I was able to make a truly first rate cup of coffee while waiting for a connecting flight at the airport!

My only pet peeve with it is the drinking spout on the cap, but the easy workaround is to pop the cap off when sipping.

Looks like with a good product, production has been expanded. I saw what looks like a smaller version (10.4 oz/ 295 ml) of this brewer at my local Walmart for $20. I didn't open the paper wrapper since I wasn't ready to buy it at the time and didn't want to mess with someone's new product. I'll probably pick it up next time.