As a daily Aeropress user, I wonder if I should maybe switch to something else. Thoughts?
I'll take the risk.
If this is the guy:
https://coffeechronicler.com/aeropress-xl-premium/
Then the fact that the inner cylinder is stainless steel means that if the glass shatters, you still have something supporting your hand. The inner cylinder might save you from life-altering lacerations to your hand. Might.
I'm not going to be the one to trust it. I've seen how much pressure people apply to aeropresses, and friends don't let friends push that hard on future shards of glass.
Slashed the hell out of his hand trying to push a stopper into lab glass. It broke and momentum carried his hand into the glass.
You might get lucky if a cylinder of glass breaks across the diameter in your hand. You will not get lucky if it breaks lengthwise under your hand.
I haven't ridden seriously for years but my partner thinks I'm crazy for driving one handed. I had lots of practice doing low-speed maneuvers one-handed (end of the ride, it's hot, I'm thirsty). I could emergency brake one handed (once dual pivot brakes existed) For a brief moment I could do a track stand one handed. Driving one handed I'm more stable than most people are with two (also, grew up driving stick, so one-handed is de facto if not de rigeur).
I don't know if they still do this, but pros used to wear silk shirts under their jerseys to reduce road rash (source: Phil Liggett). I suspect any current gen synthetic sports undershirt (under armor, Kuhl, DSG, etc) would do. Two smooth layers of clothing will spin past each other instead of gouging you.
I've never fallen no-handed but it was nice having gloves while developing that skill too ;)
I watched two guys riding too fast through pedestrians hit so hard one guy lost five spokes. And one day some guy coming the opposite way from me on the bike path suddenly started flipping end over end (I think his chain fell into his front wheel but I, too, was late for class so I checked for concussion and fucked off). I just managed to squeak past him but if it had happened twenty milliseconds earlier I would have been part of his drama.
After those two incidents I decided I was safer in the street. Fuckin college kids man.
Worst crash I had was a header when I was like 15, mechanical failure (I was learning to "fix" my own). Fortunately adolescent invincibility and a chin first impact allowed me to avoid serious harm, but I took helmets seriously after that too!
Doesn't work for camping of course. Half the point of hot beverages and soup when camping is so you don't have an Oregon Trail-style misadventure.
I think it was just a couple years ago that I learned soup still often counts as hydration (obviously not so much if it's super salty). Another way to get sterilized water into your body, before public sanitation.
If you're using it at home, can sacrifice a little more space, and are doing more of an immersion brew then maybe go for a Hario Switch or french press. The Switch looks a lot like a cone brewer but has a ball valve at the bottom. There is still a wee bit of plastic involved but less than aeropress. You can grind for and/or use filters designed for faster draw down, personally I use a cloth filter which is a bit of faff as you need to rinse it out and store it in the fridge in a cup of water. Paper filters on the switch, in my experience, lead to over extraction unless you grind coarse etc etc.
If again you're at home and are really more into the high extraction pseudo-espresso kinda cups and you have more counter space, mental space, and wallet space to give to coffee then maybe go for a Flair lever espresso.
If you're not at home I don't think you're finding something without plastic.
I use a glass chemex with paper filters pretty frequently for larger quantity, and a Cona vacuum pot which is 100% glass for special occasions. Oh and a crofton (from aldi) carafe with a stainless insert for making cold brew.
You can perhaps mitigate the risk by making sure to brew at the "right" temperature (like 185F, not boiling). It is also possible to do cold brew in the Aeropress (even a much faster version of cold brew, where you use room temperature water and stir vigorously for a few minutes).
It's the ceramic model, so not very portable I'm afraid.
It is pretty frustrating trying to go plastic-less even with just food products. The glass storage containers for instance all seem to have plastic lids and seals...
How does one notice microplastics? Do you notice microplastics from anything?