Aeropress—Can't be a BIFL community without a mention
Aeropress—Can't be a BIFL community without a mention
Durable, hackable, portable, and brews a great cup.
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I wouldn't call this thing BIFL. It'll last a couple of years, but I'm on my second one now. The graduated numbers wear off pretty quickly, the rubber will break down eventually, and in my first one, eventually hairline cracks started appearing in the tube. It's well made for what it is, but almost nothing made primarily of plastic will be BIFL, just because of material shortcomings alone.
It does make a good cup though, even with the reusable metal filters, which are the real BIFL.
I've had numbers wear off (never went by them anyway) and rubber gaskets wear down, but a $5 gasket replacement every several years still counts as BIFL for me. The plastic argument makes sense, although I haven't experienced it. They just changed their materials for the clear version, I wonder if that one is better.
The clear one is made from tritan, I believe, which is what Nalgene bottles are made of, so it should be fairly sturdy
I’ve had 2 of these for about a decade now, using daily, and they are still working great.
My current one has definitely held up better than the first one, so I'll give them that. And it was still functional, but the stirring paddle had snapped, so I figured I'd get another and put the old one in the camper.
You snapped the stirring paddle??
While that surprises me, I can’t speak to the durability of that part; I threw it away and use a regular spoon.
I was just tapping it on the side of the sink after rinsing it off and it came apart at the T joint. I thought about just using a spoon but figured the metal would scratch it up over time.
They also make wooden/Bamboo stirring paddles. Works out great and no chance of scratches.
Interesting. I suppose that your workflow might have weakened the plastic? Immersing it in hot water, then cooling it under the tap, then striking it against a hard surface for years… maybe that weakened the joint over time?
Anyway, I’m not at home to check how scratched it is from my spoon use, but I don’t really care if it is. It was a $30 tool, and if anything, the scratch marks an indicator of how much I use it.