I tested the viral AeroPress Clear Color, and it’s the girlypop coffee maker my home cafe was missing

We all need a bit of joy in our lives at the moment, and the AeroPress Clear Color is a one-stop shop for all my happiness-related needs. Coffee? Check. Barbie-pink design? Check. Fun? Check. It’s a hat trick tonight, folks, and the AeroPress Clear Color is walking away as MVP.

AeroPresses look like a snobby coffee-nerd product, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. All types of the best coffee makers have their place: V60s are for quiet mornings of coffee and contemplation; espresso machines are for pizzazz; and Chemexes are for the most delicate coffee you ever did taste. AeroPress, though? Heck, I think it gets top marks for all three.

Available in seven colorways, the AeroPress Clear Color is a step-up from the black plastic OG model. Want to find out more? Keep reading this AeroPress Clear Color review.

AeroPress Clear Color review: Cheat sheet

• Who is it for? Coffee lovers short on space or time
• What does it do well? Nothing else tastes as good as AeroPress
• What are its weaknesses? I guess $50 is a bit pricey for what it is — when a Hario V60 is $11
• What should you use it for? It makes coffee like no other

AeroPress Clear Color review: Specs

AeroPress Clear Color review: Price & availability

The AeroPress Clear Color is $49 from Amazon U.S. and £45 from Amazon U.K.. You can buy it in the following colors: pink (pictured), red, green, purple, clear, black, and blue. The $49 MSRP makes it around $10 pricier than the AeroPress Original, which is $39 from Amazon. I’ve also tested the AeroPress Premium, which is a completely plastic-free model that’ll set you back an eye-watering $199 at Amazon.

Personally, I think the extra $10 for a color AeroPress is reasonable. I wouldn’t say it’s really worth it — as it’s effectively the same product as the $39 OG model (which comes in transparent gray), just yassified — but in the grand scheme of things, $10 isn’t a bucketload of money. I would happily pay $10 extra for this gorgeous pink option.

You can also get an XL AeroPress for $79 at Amazon, which is basically the AeroPress but bigger. Also available is the AeroPress Go travel kit, $89 at Amazon, which is an AeroPress and travel mug in one.

All AeroPresses basically do the same thing, so the version you get will depend on your tastes and desired use case. Personally, though, I think the $200 Premium is a little out of my price range, so I’d probably get the pink Clear Color model pictured here.

AeroPress Clear Color review: Design

As you can see, the Clear Color looks divine. I jumped at the chance to grab the pink colorway: just look at it. It’s the girlypop coffee maker of my dreams. If you’re not a fan of pink, though, don’t fret: as I mentioned in the section above, you can get the Clear Color in six other shades.

The body itself is made from Tritan plastic, which is shatterproof plastic used in loads of home products like water bottles, blenders, Tupperwares, and so on and so forth. For some, though, no plastic is better than plastic, so if you’re truly concerned, AeroPress has you covered with the $199 Premium. Tritan is BPA-free, though, so it doesn’t contain the hazardous chemical Bisphenol A, if you were worried about toxicity.

I know AeroPresses look a little daunting, but they’re seriously not as scary as you think. The coffee maker comes with five moving parts: the body, the plunger, the filter basket, the scoop, and the stirrer. All aspects of the Clear Color are well-made, with no sharp edges or unfinished seams. Annoyingly, the scoop doesn’t fit into the grounds container of my Comandante C40 MK4, but that’s not AeroPress’s (nor Comandante’s) fault.

I’ll discuss exactly how to use the AeroPress just below, but from a design perspective, the Clear Color is a winner.

AeroPress Clear Color review: Performance

Now, as promised, I’ll go through exactly how to use the AeroPress. I swear, it’s so much easier than you think!

My go-to AeroPress Clear Color routine

1. Place an AeroPress filter paper into the black filter basket. Twist filter basket onto the body. Place the AeroPress on a mug.
2. Scoop 15g of medium-fine roasted coffee into the body. Tap it to flatten it.
3. Pour in 185°F (as recommended by AeroPress) water to number ‘4’ and stir quickly.
4. Insert the plunger just enough to create a vacuum. The coffee should stop dripping into the mug.
5. After thirty seconds, plunge slowly into the mug.
6. To remove the puck and filter, twist off the filter basket and push the plunger down further. The grounds and filter paper should come out as one directly into your compost bin.

See! It’s so easy. Altogether, the process takes about a minute. It’s so much faster than pour-over and espresso, and results in a lovely, floral, delicate flavor profile.

When following AeroPress’s recipe (1 scoop of coffee, number 4 on the brewer), you get a delicious, nuanced, complex coffee without destroying any of the delicate aromatic notes. I used the Ethiopian medium-roast beans I use for all my testing and I could taste a note of cherry that I hadn’t noticed before.

The paper filter does a pretty good job of removing the oily sheen you might be used to when brewing French press. Some people don’t like removing the oil (as it can have a lot of flavor) but it unwrapped an extra level to my brew, letting me focus on the notes of cherry, chocolate, and a tart orange all at once. AeroPress is one of my favorite ways to make coffee.

As with every other manual coffee maker I’ve tested, there’s no one-and-done way to use an AeroPress. These manual brewers are perfect for experimenting with. Like it stronger? Grind your beans finer or use more beans than directed.

Like it weaker? Do the opposite. That’s the beauty of AeroPresses: you can make the beans do whatever you want.

AeroPress Clear Color review: How does it compare?

As AeroPresses use patented technology, there’s not really anything else that compares directly. However, I can compare to other manual coffee makers like Hario V60, Kalita Wave, Chemex, and French press.

Although French press is the easiest way to brew coffee, I personally much prefer the finesse of any other manual brewers. I have the Espro P7 and I recently tested the Aarke French press, both of which are superior to your standard grocery-store presses. Even so, there’s something about the delicate flavor of AeroPress and pour-over that means I can’t bring myself to use anything else.

Pour-over is more about the ritual: it’s a slow, considered type of brew that you have to learn how to do (if you want to do it “properly” or in a way that CoffeeTok would have you believe is “proper”, anyway). True, pour-over is just as easy to clean as AeroPress — simply throw the compostable filters into the food bin — but you do have to baby it a bit more.

AeroPress looks a little more daunting at first, but after a few goes, you’ll be plunging your hot bean water like a pro.

AeroPress Clear Color review: Verdict

I’m all for AeroPress. I am in a very lucky position that I have literally every coffee maker under the sun, and I rotate between them as I please. It’s like a benevolent coffee deity is secretly controlling me to ensure I give every type of coffee maker a fair choice. Right now, I’m in an AeroPress mood.

As the AeroPress brews an inherently lighter, more delicate coffee than your French presses or your espresso machines, it’s the ideal brewer for those looking to dive deeper into the flavor profile of their coffee. If you’re sick and tired of all those ‘coffeefluencers’ telling you that the brew tastes like lavender or citrus, please grab yourself an AeroPress. You won’t be disappointed.

The Clear Color model is the perfect model for those who take style and substance seriously. My pink AeroPress looks divine in my kitchen — and the coffee it makes is basically ambrosia.