Bodum Chambord 8 cup French Press Coffee Maker, 34 oz., Chrome

Okay, to some the idea of using a French press coffee maker is a little too precious, bordering on snobbishness. I used to be in that boat until a few hours ago. Tonight on a whim, I purchased this Bodum French press. Now I should warn you readers that it is generally NOT a good idea to test out your shiny new french press when you are getting home at 10:30pm on a Monday after spending way too much money at Target when you just ran in to get "dog food". I write this review so heavily caffienated that I will probably stay up until dawn tonight re-organizing my closets or alphabetizing my CD collection or doing some other useless task. Despite being a daily coffee drinker (of the muddy variety the office's Bunn machine churns out), one cup from the french press has knocked me into the stratosphere, and that alone is worth giving this product 5 stars.

My caffiene overdose aside, this press produces the best coffee I have ever had at home, and it truly rivals or surpasses coffee I've had at coffee houses. It's slightly more involved than using an automatic maker, but not difficult at all. The unit itself is pretty sturdy, and looks lovely.

French press coffee is a great alternative to using those smaller 1-2 cup automatic drip makers. Being single, I've gone through my share of those, and the coffee they make alway seems about ten times worse than the coffee from a normal-sized drip maker. If you like to make a large pot of coffee and drink it throughout the morning, I would suggest picking up a good quality carafe or thermos to keep the coffee warm.

Pros:

-Best tasting coffee you'll ever have at home, period.

-Strong, full bodied flavor

-Pretty easy to prepare

-Impress your friends with your snobby european coffee-making ways :) (looks good on your counter too)

-Great for making small amounts of coffee, for one or two people.

-Priced about the same as a ho-hum auto drip coffee maker with no extra bells and whistles, yet makes coffee a million times better.

Cons:

-More cleanup than using a automatic drip maker

-No heating element to keep coffee warm. Use a thermos/carafe if you want to sip several cups over a few hours.

8-cup capacity is based on a 4oz beverage size. Not really a "con" but something you should be aware of. If you had a large group you were making coffee for, it might get a little tedious to be constantly making a fresh batch of coffee.

Couple other notes: Coarsely ground coffee is recommended. This is no problem for people that already buy whole bean and grind their own, but it will be an extra step for some people. Also, I recommend picking up an Aerolatte milk frother if you want to make truly effortless cappuchino. I find that there's plenty of time to warm some milk in the microwave and froth it up while the coffee brews for 4 mintues. A $20 Aerolatte milk frother + $24 french press = coffeehouse coffee at home, whenever you want it. That's really a tiny investment for coffeehouse quality java!

I also purchased a smaller 1-cup Bodum press to take to work. Tomorrow I plan to smile smugly while my co-workers chug down the crap that comes out of the Bunn machine. If my boss is really nice, I may let him use it too. Maybe.

I previously owned a (much) smaller version of this press, which made an excellent cup of coffee. But that was the problem. It only made a CUP of coffee. I usually have two, and what if others want coffee? It takes a while, going one cup at a time.

Needless to say, I upgraded to this larger press, which makes about 3 times more coffee. It makes the best coffee ever I could never go back to a junky old drip coffee maker after this. Yeah, it's more work than a drip coffee maker, but really, would you rather have quick, easy coffee that tastes bad, or a delicious cup of coffee that takes 5 minutes more?

Using this is like steeping tea you boil some water, grind some coffee beans (I hope you're grinding your own coffee beans!) and pour the water over the coffee grounds to let them steep for 4 minutes. Then you push the knob down, which filters delicious coffee into the water and leaves the grounds at the bottom of your pot. Then, voila! You've got about 3 cups of yummy coffee, depending on to what extent you water your cup down with cream and sugar.

If you're one of those people who just CAN'T WAIT for their coffee, you'd be better off getting a typical drip coffee maker. But if you love coffee, and want it to taste as good as it possibly can, you have to buy this press.

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A french press is one of the best methods of brewing coffee at home. I have never liked the "drip method" machines like Mr Coffee which, in my opinion, produce a very bland cup of coffee. Some reviews have mentioned the extra effort involved in comparison to a drip machine. This really is not a big issue. You have to boil the water separately and remember to press the plunger down when the coffee has finished brewing. The clean up is about the same.

Some tips for getting the most out of this machine. Always use coarsely ground coffee. I've found a 9 second burst with my grinder works best. You'll have to experiment. I also gently shake the grinder while using it. This results in a more even grind. With this approach I have very little sediment in my final cup.

Allow the boiled water to cool for a minute before adding to the grounds. This seems to produce a less bitter cup. Finally, stir the grounds and water with a chopstick or similar. Let the coffee brew, then press the plunger down *slowly*.

If making more than one cup per person, store the extra in a vacuum flask. The coffee cools very quickly if left in the press.

Always clean your grinder. Oils accumulate very quickly resulting in increasingly bitter coffee.

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A friend loaned me this great coffee press. It's the best coffee brewing system I've found, but more time consuming to use and clean up. Please note also that 8 cups is wildly optimistic. That's four-ounce cups. I real life, you get about two good 10-12 ounce mugs of coffee.

At the time I ordered, the item was described on Amazon as having a glass beaker, but the one I received was plastic.

Some may prefer this because it's unbreakable; I was disappointed. I specifically wanted the glass one because I trying to avert plastic's that might leech chemicals into food. The plastic version also differed in that filter screen was held together with some plastic components, whereas the glass version uses all metal parts (with the exception of the lid).

I ended up returning the item (which sours the whole on-line shopping experience) and buying a glass version at a local retailer instead. One where I could verify I was getting the glass version that I desired. I'm very happy with it and use it daily.

So, if you want to order this item from Amazon, please double-check that your getting what you want.

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Many coffee drinkers are inflexible on one point and that is the necessity to brew coffee in a glass container only! I used to be in this "glass camp", and I broke beaker after beaker in every coffee press I had. I am ham-fisted and lack the delicacy needed to make any glass coffee maker last longer than a few weeks.

I had a Brazilian polycarbonate coffee press and it lasted nine years. It finally came apart because it had been made in two pieces, and the two simply came apart because they were not injection-molded as one piece.

Then I discovered this Bodum Chambord 8-cup press and am delighted to say that it is absolutely perfect for me. The beaker is made of polycarbonate, like my old Brazilian one, but unlike that one, the Bodum is one solid piece, with no mold marks, seams, or anything else to come undone.

One other nice thing about it is that the beaker is big enough in diameter so that I can get my hand in it easily, and that's a big plus for cleaning the coffee pot thoroughly.

The coffee tastes great, needless to say, and unless I do something exceptionally stupid, this coffee pot should last me the rest of my life.

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Hamilton Beach 48464 Brewstation Summit 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker

Like many of those who wrote reviews, I also owned previous models of the H.B. Brew Station. They were hard to fill without spilling some water. They wore out after two/three years of constant use with very little upkeep by me. They earned their keep. I bought a H.B. Summit 12 cup last week; and before setting it up, I went to this site to check some reviews for suggestions and help on what I might encounter with the new brewer. (This approach is backwards, I know) Had I read the reviews beforehand, I would never have purchased the product. Comments like very messy, cannot see how much coffee is being dispensed, coffee drips all over, can only use a paper cup, coffee is not hot hard to program............... good grief!!!

Here's what this 71 year old man experienced in his first week with the "POT" I used the old gold mesh filter I used on prior brewer. Makes the same very good cup of coffes as others before it. I plugged it in, yes, a short plug. filled it to 12 cups, found it much easier to fill than prior machine; Set warming time, pushed "ON" It brewed quickly, I pushed my large thick ceramic cup against the fill bar and watched it fill quickly with hot coffee! no spills, no chills. There was no dripping from the spout. Yes, there was some water vapor coming from the top of te brewer, I and my wife are having NO problems with the machine, Really, people!! This, by the way, is my first ever review of a product. I felt it necessary to respond to the bum rap this product was getting. No, I don't work for, or own stock in H.B Co.

The electrical cord is 25 inches long to the very tip of the metal prongs. Otherwise 24.5 inches cord length including the plug part you hang onto. Leaving you 24 inches for the cord itself. Our previous Brewstations all had this same length of electrical cord. This model does not have a turntable on the bottom. The only time we needed turntables were on older Brewstations that had to have the water poured into the base from a certain side to avoid spilling or to aid in viewing the fill level markings. This model has ALL the previous fill markings and some new ones. Very handy for older eyes. The MAXIMUM coffee mug height is 7 inches if you hold the mug vertically. (If you hold your mug at a angle and use your finger to dispense against the mechansim you can fill anything.) 7 inches is plenty tall for all the standard travel/commute mugs holding 16 oz. The lid does dribble all over the place when you take the Brewstation apart for cleaning or making another pot. Just remember to lift the lid slowly and tap it with vibration as you open it. You will leave condensation water from the lid running down the back of the Brewstation about the volume of a 50 cent piece. The lid cannot be removed. You can wipe up the spilled water by simply running a sponge, papertowel, etc around the back. Remember, this is water and not coffee. If you position a papertowel at the hinge you prevent problems. The Brewstation does dispense/dribble down the back of your coffee mug once in awhile. The first time you notice this and before your next pot of coffee you clean the pot out and then fill with a few inches of clean water, lift the pot so you can see under it where the coffee dispenses and manually trigger the release mechanism to allow it to flush coffee grinds out. End of dribbling. There is a domed filter screen permanently attached at the point where the coffee leaves during dispensing. This lets small particles of coffee get by apparently get into the valve seat. Brewstations make GREAT coffee. House guests almost always end up buying their own. ALWAYS buy the latest model Brewstation with the highest numberic model number as you get the latest features that way and improvements and fixes. LOVE the Brewstation.

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Purchased to replace our Brewstation Deluxe, which we absolutely loved! The only reason we did not purchase another one exactly like our old one is because of the leaking problem. About 1x/year we would need to replace the 'carafe' portion of the coffeemaker. The Summit was the 3rd replacement model we tried. It is the only other model that has all of the features that the Deluxe had (programmable auto shut-off & timer, brewing cycle selection). I agree with the previous post that it is a bit more awkward to fill. But, the biggest problem I have with it is the coffee basket. It has about 50 holes in the bottom for the water/coffee to flow out of the basket. The result is a very weak-tasting coffee because it flows through so quickly. I can't understand why this model is made like this when other models have only one hole! There is no way to even use enough coffee to get a strong flavor, even when putting it on 'Bold' setting, which slows down the brewing cycle. I figured out how to solve this problem by purchasing a permanent filter basket to use inside the other basket, plus using a paper filter. This adds to the awkwardness of the whole process, but we are so hooked on this style of machine that are willing to put up with it. It is also messier than the Deluxe because of all of the condensation inside. When you lift the lid water runs down (but mostly back into the carafe), and when you take out the basket there is condensation all over it and it drips trying to get it to the trash or sink. I also just noticed one of the buttons to set the time is sticking. Well, maybe I should go back to the Deluxe...

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I'm a mother of three kids, ages 6 and under, so needless to say, coffee has become pretty important around our house! My brother-in-law has an older model of the brewstation, and I have always loved using it at their house. I love that it has no carafe to clean or break, and the unit itself only needs to be cleaned once a month.

My coffee is always piping hot, and stays hot for up to 4 hours after brewing. The program feature works great every time. And I'm really not sure why so many people are having problems getting the coffee from the spout into their cups. I have never had even a drip of coffee spill while filling my mug. I tend to be a slow coffee drinker, and use a travel mug most of the time. Even with a thick walled mug I have not experienced any problems.

I have had some condensation water spill when I lift the lid, but I had that with my old coffee pot, too. And being in the kitchen, I grab a towel or a sponge and just wipe it up. Not a problem, in my opinion.

I am having trouble understanding why the brewstation is getting such poor reviews. I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could. I really love it that much!

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Ok, so I did some research before buying this at my local target. Wow. There are so many negative reviews, that I almost didn't buy it. I wanted something that can do Ice Coffee, hot Coffee. So I ignored the negative reviews, and went with this one. I'm totally shocked at how people can be so damn picky. First off. This does everything I need it to. Some of the complaints were the spout to close to the back of the maker, so it drips? How thick of mugs are you using people? I have never had any problems with the design. I have ZERO drips in the drip catcher.

I love how easy it is. It's super convenient to use. I love that the "bucket" comes out to fill it with ice. That's awesome. I love how easily it is to fill a cup up without the pot. Of course when it's low (under 2 cups) it's going to pour out slow. It's gravity that is making this pour. So when it's low. It's less pressure/gravity people.

I hate people that want the quality of a 200 coffee maker, for 50 bucks. Imagine why our economy is so bad, you cheap butts!

I love this coffee maker. I think the price is awesome. But I wasn't expecting much after all these reviews. But I have to say. This is an awesome coffee maker. I've had it over a month and there hasn't been one thing I hate about it.

Enjoy!

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Cuisinart GTF-B Gold Tone Coffee Filter

The previous reviewer is correct about the "sediment" from the filter. Typically gold filters allow the oils and other properties of the ground bean to pass though, instead of being stuck in the paper filter. This gives a darker richer coffee. It also means you have a small "shot" of more dense coffee at the end of your cup. You can either drink it or not, some people really like the taste of the gold filter, others are used to the paper and don't like it at all. I guess it's just a matter of taste.

We found that the paper filters just wouldn't stay upright overnight in the basket, resulting in unattended surprise overflows and a great deal of "sediment" in the coffee and everywhere else. This filter is made for this model and fits like a glove, have yet to see one ground in my cups and the rest of the household has yet to declare any. As for taste, we haven't noted any true appreciable difference, even using high grades of coffee which are distinctive, nor in the occasional purchase of more standard grades of coffee beans. All in all, I give this five stars, for a number of reasons: Far easier to "change" the filter when you have just gotten out of bed, having forgotten to set the coffee timer the night before, just dump out old grounds and sleepy fumble the filter back, rather than the floppy paper ones wrangling; Environmentally friendly, self explanatory; Cost effective over long run, those paper filters add up; Never having to find yourself needing coffee but sans filter again and looking at the roll of paper towels for rescue; Saves space on counter and/or in the cupboard, as you don't have to store paper filters; Last but not least, I am so sick of trying to pick just ONE paper filter at a time out of the stack and coming out with multiples, more of that pesky fumbling, since they don't just pop out one like a Kleenex box does. So, in conclusion, very worth it and I recommend it.

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We love our Cuisinart coffee grinder/maker, but the basket which holds the grounds has worn and lets a few gounds sift out into the finished coffee. I was delighted to find the part on Amazon. It fits and looks the same until you realize it is about 1/4 inch shorter than the original. Thus when brewing a full 12 cups, it is too short to contain all the coffee grounds. You end up with the same problem as with the old basket grounds in the brewed coffee, even though it is represented as fitting a 12-cup pot! Grrrh!

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The filter is great and very easy to clean. It is much nicer than getting rid of a soggy, paper filter and it's environmentally friendly, too!

The only downside is that it does allow a small amount of grounds to get into the coffee. This doesn't bother me at all and I think the coffee tastes better than when I used paper filters.

I would definitely purchase this item again.

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Used this to replace torn basket from Black and Decker.

This has a mesh bottom as well as sides,

so it is far less prone to overflowing

and requires less water to rinse clean after emptying.

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