Aeropress Steel Experience
Here are my thoughts on the Aeropress Steel as a daily user of the standard Aeropress for 3+ years. I'll preface this by saying that I purchased the bundle with the flow control attachment and will be comparing it to the standard Aeropress with it's version of the same accessory.
In terms flavor, they are virtually identical. A cup from an aeropress is still a cup from the aeropress. The steel may result in a slightly hotter brew, but if you dilute with hot water/milk or microwave,, but its kind of negligable. Makes no difference in taste imo. What changes is the ergonomics.
The Steel is way heavier. The whole thing came in at 1.5 lbs. Don't expect to use it as a travel brewer. This is meant to live in a kitchen or an office as a primary brewer for daily users. It sits in the coffee corner of my office and gets used twice a day. My old standard aeropress now lives at home for weekend and travel use. Given the weight, the Steel clunkier. It's clunkier to clean and makes a bit more noise when being put together and taken apart.
Releasing the puck, however, is nice and quiet due to a silicone ring that dampens the sound of the plunger hitting the main unit. The og one makes a loud clacking noise; not ideal for a quiet office.
The other issue with using metal is that the inner top of the main reservoir scrapes against the sides of the metal plunger and it is already beginning to scuff a bit. There's no way to really get around this as the whole point of this brewer is to use nothing but steel and silicone for its components. Plus it's just an aesthetic thing and this thing screams utilitarian in the best way possible anyways. But damn does it also look good sitting on it's respective steel stand.
The opaque steel chamber also means that pouring water to the numbers is a bit harder, but it's really not bad to be honest. Pretty easy to visualize where the 2 mark is and if you really care that much you should be measuring your water w a scale anyways. It also doesn't really get any hotter than the regular Aeropress so that was a relief (likely due to the double wall design). The flow control cap does get a bit hot but it's not bad or make my experience cleaning it any worse.
The other nice part about this design is having a narrower chamber due to the double walling. This results in the plunger activation being at a lower pressure, causing less repetitive strain on the wrists.
This does, however, mean that if you really press down too hard you can burst the paper filter. As long as your not putting your full weight on it, you're probably fine. I happened to be late for a meeting that morning and sure enough I showed up to that meeting late and with a mug of sludgy coffee.
The chamber is also a bit bigger in its capacity so you can brew a bit more coffee. The standard can brew enough concentrate for about 2 cups for my preferred method, while the steel can likely make enough concentrate for 3.
Other than these differences, it's really just a standard aeropress. Happy to answer any questions folks might have.
My primary use cases are "americanos" and "lattes" both of which use about 25-30g of coffee and 3oz water at 200-205. The 2-2.5 oz of concentrate then gets diluted to my preferred strength