Yo the trick to doing a sick-ass aeropress is just to boil like six cups of water and then let it sit until it isn't making steam lines or bubbling anymore. The real technique here is to use the IKEA pots that have lines inside them so you don't have to bust out the measuring cups. Then you wanna grind your beans on the spot to something resembling not-quite Turkish; I've found that actually the $15 burrrrrr grinder I got from an old housemate of ours does this really well because it's too terrible to get too small and I literally cannot overgrind those pupdogs. What's nice about coffee beans is that when you use a little scoop to get a tbsp or a solid oz the powder is actually the same amount, so don't even have a worry on that regard.
I definitely advise a good coffee to start with here. World Markets actually have really boss coffee and may be in your local metrop area under the name COST PLUS or WORLD MARKET or some combination thereof. For what is effectively a supermarket bag of nuts you get some good cups. If you live near SF go get Blue Bottle though. Otherwise try to care a lot and find some local organic importer or something. Fair trade shit is pretty uniformly delicious so long as the roasters aren't mongoloids which is rare when you care enough to think about it that much
Then you stick the damn coffee in the press. You put the water in and stir it up with the proprietary magic wand until it is smooth sailing and then look at it for, I dunno, as long as you think. Then fucking press that shit. Really get your lean on. I hope you have a sturdy mug and a solid counter because boy you are pushing your luck with this thing. Results: A+
Sometimes I like to put some cinnamon into it before I press it just for kicks.
Real talk though Starbucks is kinda shit but every single one I go to if you are nice after the first few visits your shit is freeeee or close to free. Friending my barista on Facebook was the smartest financial decision I've ever made in my life because they are letting me get away with grand larceny here. Truthfully Starbucks is way better than they once were and they still get a lot of shit for things they don't even do anymore because they improve as a business and how often can you say that? Not that I'm an apologist or anything. But beyond that Peet's is pretty boss (also for tea) and they have a lot better coffee science BTB (behind the bar) which leads to things such as: smoother lattes, more robust espressos
French presses as Norondor said require very little thought. You just grind some beans up coarse and do basically the Aeropress thing but it takes less thought. If you got grounds in your brew, it's all your fault and that's basically the issue I see when I talk to people about french presses. These people come in wanting plastic containers and bright colors and a little hole on the top to drink straight out of like it's a god damned mug and I say to them well how about a fucking hole in your head how would that be for heat dispersion and they get the glass double walls every time instead
