Hot plastic in general isn’t vetted for health. Interesting if that eventually constrains production. Probably not.
I heard that it is bad and I heard that it isn't. I have no clue whatsoever; I don't have way of "scientifically" to exam the boiling water after it sets in something like the AeroPress to see if there are any microplastics. Since the double walled insulated Mueller works better anyway there no need for me to use the AeroPress anymore.
I do know that a lot of companies that once made plastic stuff, like pour-over makers, have gone to either glass, ceramic, or stainless steel, but that could be to simply appease the masses that heard about the "dangers" of plastic. I do know that AP did switch to a newer BPA free plastic called Triton that is said not to put any microplastics into the water, so maybe AP knew the concern was legit? Or again was that done to appease the masses? What's also interesting is that AP now has a double walled insulated stainless-steel version of their coffee maker, so I have a feeling sales were sliding due to the plastic so they came out with alternatives, including a glass version, but I wouldn't want a glass one. AP is getting fancy in their old age, but they still do false marketing.
False marketing you ask? When they first came out with their coffee maker they advertised it as an espresso maker, it was far from that, all it is was a paper filtered French Press. I first bought that AP about 12 years ago under the impression, due to the way they marketed it back then, it was an espresso maker, I was sadly disappointed, it tastes nothing like espresso, nor looks like espresso. Later as I got more into different ways to make coffee, I figured out that the French Press was at least just as good, but my experience has been it's better once I went from a cheap glass FP to the Mueller stainless steel FP.
Now on their website their claiming their coffee maker makes better coffee than an FP, that's not true either, at the best it's the same. They claim that theirs makes a smoother, rich, full bodied coffee vs the FP, not from what I've seen and not from friends I have that did a blind taste test to see which was better, the FP makes a richer flavored and fuller bodied coffee than the AP, and just as smooth. The FP leaves the natural oil in the coffee, which makes the coffee richer and fuller, the AP paper filter removes that oil, so they are contradicting what their saying by using a paper filter and removing the oil!
AP claims that theirs have no grit or bitterness; well the grit in a FP comes from two problems, cheap FP's have a single to maybe dual mesh screen filter system, the Mueller comes with 4 mesh screens, grit also comes from pouring it too quickly and draining all the coffee out of the FP; bitterness comes from one of two things, too fine of a grind or the water is too hot, so a FP is not remotely bitter when done correctly and in fact if one of those two problems is used in the AP you will get bitter coffee as well. Some people have figured out how to use a paper filter with their FP, which I did try back when I had a cheaper glass FP, but I don't see the point if you have 4 mesh filter screens like my Mueller has unless you don't like the oil.
AP site say it's ready on 1 minute, it can be, but so can a FP, ideally both need to set for 4 to 5 minutes because they are both immersion style makers and it takes that long for the flavor to come out, in fact I use to let my water sit for 7 minutes in my AP and I still do that with the FP, the flavor comes out more robust. If you don't like stronger more robust flavor coffee than let either the AP or the FP set for a minute. If you want more details on how to make either type better just let me know.
The AP does clean pretty fast, but it only takes me 3 minutes to clean a FP. They say it can use all grind sizes, not true, anyone who knows about how grind sizes affect the taste of coffee would know that's not true.
They say the AP is shatterproof, true except their glass version is not, but any glass thing can break, since my FP is stainless steel, it can't shatter either.
They list their paper filter as a positive, except they don't mention it's also a waste product, nor mention the removal of the oil may or may not be something that everyone wants done.
The reason AP went with a double walled stainless-steel insulated version is because that construction allows the water temp to stay even without dropping 3 to 5 degrees a minute which will alter the taste of the coffee since you are taking the temp down to below idea brewing range. That's the same reason that there are double walled stainless-steel FPs to eliminate that temp drop.
I'm not going to say that the AP is a bad coffee maker, it does have an appealing FP taste to it, and I like FP coffee, so there is nothing wrong with the coffee coming out of the AP, and if you have an AP keep using it because it makes fine coffee, it's their marketing claims that I question.
By the way, the AeroPress manual grinder is overpriced by a lot, there are as good or better grinders for less money, like the Timemore Chestnut C3 ESP PRO for about half the cost, and cheaper if you get a sale price directly from Timemore, Amazon is more expensive than factory direct. If you want a high-end grinder, you can get better ones than either of those two for about $50 more than the AeroPress like the 1Zpresso K‑Ultra, this is the best manual grinder regardless of price, but I own the Timemore, I didn't think paying $150 or so more for a grinder would give me any discerning taste difference in my coffee, but some pro coffee tasters will disagree, but I'm not a pro so I seriously doubt in a blind taste test I could tell which was which.
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