I couldn't find my plunger for my Aeropress so I decided to just let it drip through (effectively turning it into extraction by percolation) but the drawdown was pretty slow. it took 7 min and it was quite strong and I had to add water to tone down the strength but it still was enjoyable. I have since found the plunger but I've tried it again without using a coarser grind, this time it was 4 min and it still was a pretty strong brew so I'm going to try it again with more of a french press grind or perhaps dose down. Has anyone had success in this approach or is this a cardinal sin with the Aeropress? (I know in competition you have to use all 3 parts "the chamber, the plunger, and the filter cap")

Until I hear otherwise I won't try. My guess would be it is not as good as any pour over--there has to be a reason for the cone shape no?

Well aren't the more straight walled brewers a bit of a trend now? Such as the Fellow and perhaps some others. Point being that more of the water would pass through the whole coffee bed. Also less heat loss through the top of the brewer. It's basically a conpletely straight walled flatbead brewer

Yes, I've tried it with small doses and a metal mesh screen. It can be quite good, but better have a pretty nice grinder or sieve the grounds - otherwise you'll have to adjust excessively coarse.

Being as it was designed as a mechanically assisted brewer, the plastic cap doesn't leave much exposed filter paper, so it will be a slow-draining gravity method. Meh, better ways to brew a coffee out there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also been experimenting with this 'vertical wall/no bypass' concept. I get better results nearly every time. Fuller body and more rounded acidity without losing flavor clarity. In comparison with both Kalita and V60, using the same grind/water parameters, this method will usually slightly over extract. Which would seem to say that it works very well, or too well... Why isn't there any brewer devices that are based around this concept available?

There are plenty: vietnamese phin, neapolitan flip pot and karlsbad porcelain brewer to name a few.

What's not so common is paper filtered no-bypass brewers. https://tricolate.com/ has received some attention for this.

The SwissGold KF250 and KF300 one-cup brewers ensure that almost all brew water passes through a static coffee bed. However the outlet mesh area is large compared to the brew volume. With AeroPress the outlet area, represented by the holes in the cap, is pretty tiny.

Jonk wrote:There are plenty: vietnamese phin, neapolitan flip pot and karlsbad porcelain brewer to name a few.

What's not so common is paper filtered no-bypass brewers. https://tricolate.com/ has received some attention for this.

the tricolate seems to be what I'm doing with the Aeropress, it just has a larger surface area. design-wise it wouldn't be hard to make one yourself, just get some PVC piping with a cap and drill a bunch of holes in it to whatever size or amount you desire. you would of course have to make a custom filter.

I had some success using 10g of coffee ground on 17 in a Comandante (it was Ethiopian so maybe finer for other coffee). I used 30ml bloom and a total of 200ml. To not agitated I used a Stagg X on top of the Aeropress, I guess a spoon will do as well. Most importantly I tried to level the grounds before bloom, after bloom and after the single pour. I used a few spins and a vertical hefty setting of the Aeropress on the cup to settle everything evenly. You know that you did it right if the water column is almost clear during brewing and the grounds are a nice flat bed after brewing.

The coffee was a little more intense then a pour over but really clear and nice to drink. The Tricolate is therefore the only interesting new dripper to me since the Stagg X.

PS: water just not boiling and preheat everything
PPS: brew time of 5 min +