Bodum French Press, a Great Gift, and as Good a Personal Reward!

My family and I finally used our last wedding gift card and went to bed, bath and beyond to buy a french press, although I did notice as of writing this article that Amazon.Com beat the $50.00 we paid for ours and then some!

Our regular drip coffee maker was constantly getting clogged by the large amounts of lime in our water. Rather than constantly clean the beeping menace with vinegar every other week and also bear the ambient vinegar taste, we decided to follow my father-in-law's precedent and try a french press, or as the French say, a cafe piston. So far it has worked great! It makes a strong cup, and the long and short of it is that some grains of coffee inevitably get through, still I recommend it. The nuanced flavor of coffee made in the french press is excellent.

My folks drank ( and to some extent still drink ) a pot or two of coffee between them each day! Now they do half/caffeine but I'm not a fan of that product as they use formaldehyde in the process of removing caffeine. In regards to bodum's french press (the company spells their name in all lower case) I have been enjoying this new coffee ritual, there's something about the method, the plunging of the piston into the frothed and stirred coarse coffee that's really mesmerizing. The essential oils in the fresh ground beans we use really come through in the bodum cup. I bought the largest the 12 cup (51 ounces!~) because we also drink quite a bit, and have company, and have designs on using the french press on our next camping trip, as my father-in-law does. Now all I have to do is take the heads up from my other two father's-in-law and buy a carafe to keep it all warm! Where we live in Wisconsin and it gets pretty cold, as do many of our homes, so the french press coffee will go cold in maybe 5 minutes without an insulated carafe or as my wife calls it, a thermos. I am a die hard coffee microwaver though, haha, so it's all good to me.

Also, if the 12 cup behemoth is too much for you fear not, bodum makes smaller sizes, and decorative versions too, all the way down to one cup. Really a wonderful gift, even for that yahoo in your life who seems to have it all!!!

Lastly, as my friend and fellow wordsmith De Greek asks below, do you need a filter? No. That's part of the beauty of the thing. It comes with a fine stainless steel mesh that is part of the plunger. So coffee "experts" (you know who you are!) claim that this imparts more flavor in the coffee, because the paper fibers of the filter don't have a chance to absorb the essential oils in the beans. Also, this reminds me, when plunging down your coffee, be steady and slow! You can use freshly ground beans or preground (or a combination of both like my hot wife and I do!) for just the right flavor. The parts to the filter can be easily disassembled by twisting the black plunger nob righty tighty lefty loosy! Final heads up: grind the beans coarse, not fine, it jibes better with the fine mesh. Here's to your bottomless cup made from a real bodum French press.