Reddit reviews Bodum Chambord French Press Coffee and Tea Maker, 12 Ounce, Chrome

One of the reasons a lot of people end up loading their coffee with cream and sugar is to mask a bitterness that only generally shows up when a coffee is burnt, when too many coffee grounds were used, or when the coffee is old. I suggest using a French press to make coffee to ensure that it isn't getting too hot/sitting on a burner for too long, which can happen easily with a traditional coffee maker. (I've had a Bodum model for about four years now, and it has held up really well). I also recommend going a bit fancier than Maxwell House for your coffee itself. If you can get whole beans and grind them every morning, you'll end up with a better tasting cup of joe, but getting something pre-ground and using it within a week or two isn't that bad. You also may want to look for a medium roast bean if you're looking for more complex flavors. While you definitely can get some good tastes from a darker roast, a medium roast is often a little more approachable if you are weaning yourself off of milk and sugar right now. If you're looking to try different things, I reccomend Rhetoric Coffee. They are a subscription service that sends different roasts out every two weeks and can be great to introduce you to new blends.

Remember that there are LOTS of flavors and different roasts out there too, so don't feel like you have to force yourself to like a certain blend or even drink your coffee a certain way. Kudos to you for trying new things though!

Wow! With a $500 budget you can actually do so much, and to be honest I don't think that kind of investment is really necessary, especially since overlooking your choices, you seem to be spending way too much for things you can get for a lower price. My setup is only ~$100, and I can get a great brew (though I use a hand grinder). I use a Kalita Wave 155 (this is the smallest size, but feel free to opt for the 185 size if you brew 2+ cups in one sitting). $22.50. The filters are quite pricey at $10.95, but worth it in the long run (for a one cup drinker a-day like me, it will last 3 months+ per pack). A French press from Bodum will only set you back $27 - double walled doesn't really do much because I find temperature loss isn't really a problem. The size I recommend for this one is only suited again for a 1-cup drinker, because my personal experience is using a 1L size for a single or even 2 cup drinker in one sitting will result in extremely sludgey cups. As others have suggested, if looking for a nice electric grinder, spring for the Encore. A good scale is this one for $39. I don't even use a true dedicated gooseneck kettle for this setup, just an adequate tea kettle but I do advocate the variable temp Bonavita you're thinking of. So this all amounts to $313.20. Happy drinking.

French press! Bodum sells a great one. Here is a good tutorial by a redditor from a few weeks ago.

I asked for a Bodum Columbia 8-Cup and I'll probably get a Bodum Chambord 3-cup from my girlfriend's mother. Every time I ask for something I get a lesser version of it. That's why I usually buy my own stuff so I'm never disappointed.

Right. I was actually looking at the two cup version. But anyway, after seeing many manufacturers use 3-cup=12 oz [see here], I figured that these pots weren't as standardized as the 6 oz coffee cup measurement. Many reviews for various pots complained as the oz-cups ratios were not what they expected. Anyway, I decided on a 34 oz version. More coffee is better, right?

I basically just don't drink coffee at work anymore.

If you wanna be fancy, you could get something like this and a Mini Mill for work, if you can get hot water.

There is this amazing technology called French press. Zero waste.

Hi all—habitual tea drinker here. But my new office is kept warm, and I find myself almost dozing off in the morning. I was thinking of starting to drink a mug of coffee in the morning as I'm puttering around and listening to NPR.

My equipment isn't anything too fancy; I don't have my own grinder nor a proper pourover like a Chemex or something. I do have a variable-temperature kettle (this guy, it recommends 200°F for French Press), and a French Press (a cheerfully-colored Bodum 12oz).

I am lucky enough to live in a town ('town'? NYC) that has no surfeit of amazing coffee roasters, makers, purveyors, etc. so name a thing and I can probably get it.

I was going to stop by my favorite tea shop tonight, which incidentally has an equally good selection of coffee.

So I guess the end result of this drawn-out comment is a bunch of very basic questions:

1. What coffee region/bean/roast etc. would be best for small-batch, pre-ground (I know, I know, coffee should be fresh ground in the morning. But grinders are as loud af, and I have roommates and thin walls), French press? I find myself enjoying malty, vanill-y, richer styles of coffee, on the lower-acid, fuller-bodied style (it's amazing how much of coffee and tea talk sounds like wine talk, which is my domain). While I'd say roughly 'latte-esque' (my standard cafe order), I'm not about to start steaming milk in the morning—and I know black coffee won't be like a latte unless you ... make a latte.
   
   
2. Preparation? 200° good? What's the proper coffee/water ratio? Steep (brew?) time? Specialized glassware? I have a classic diner mug that I really like drinking out of, very comforting and reminds me of Kyle MachLachlan.
   
   
3. Do y'all not like tea drinkers? Some tea folk have a weird resentment against coffee people, which I find odd.
   
   Side note, if there's an FAQ anyone could point me to, so that y'all good folks don't have to spend too much time answering these ultra-basic questions, lmk, and I'll go over there and stop bothering you.
   
   Thanks in advance, all!

Bodum has a nifty 3-cup (12oz) French Press. Good enough for a healthy sized mug.

Chambord version

Brazil version

Regarding the Chemex, I've never had a chance to use the metal filters unfortunately, but I've heard good things about the Able Kone, pricey as it is.

Depends on what your lady friend is used to. If she's used to automatic drip coffee I would think a machine like that is not suited to a NYC apartment for a non-coffee drinker. But the coffee dripper style manual devices are going to be similar. However they're a bit tricky to learn and you really benefit from a gooseneck kettle which drives the cost up. Instead, I think the Clever Coffee dripper is a good solution. Here's why: it's immersion brewing like a French Press but with a filter like a drip. This means you don't need a gooseneck kettle, you just need to add hot water. And you get the easy cleanup of a filtered coffee, way better than scooping grounds out of a French Press.

Now the other solution is an AeroPress. It makes a cup similar to a French Press and it has a filter as well. It's incredibly simple to cleanup. Someone else is mentioning height as an issue, but I haven't encountered this. I'm somewhat short for males, 5'7", and that's no issue. I have a female friend, 5'2", who can't use the AeroPress however. That's related to the grind size, it causes too much backpressure and she can't push it down. It's possible with more height, she'd have better leverage. Anyways, I digress - the difficulty of using an AeroPress is only with finely ground coffee. For drip-range grind sizes you simply need to brew a bit longer and it is easy to press down.

Also, as far as space goes - the AeroPress can only hold about 250mL of liquid. You can dilute afterwards and just make it "strong." But if you're looking for something to make a cup of coffee in the morning, there are 3 cup French Presses that take up about the same amount of space. The Clever device is shorter but wider.

Oh, also, if she's not using an automatic drip machine at her place then you can do whatever you want, but maybe ask her what she uses and choose something similar. For example, a Chemex user would probably find the Clever to be more similar than the AeroPress while a French Press user would find the opposite.

Eh?

Single serving:
http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Chambord-French-Coffee-Chrome/dp/B00005LM0R

Some for now, some for later:

http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Chambord-French-Coffee-Chrome/dp/B00012D0R2/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1394813171&sr=1-4&keywords=bodum+french+press

I have both and prefer the slightly larger one, if only because when trying to brew a strong, decent-volume cup in the smaller one the bloom is a PITA with fresh coffee.

EDIT Ohhh, those "cup" values stated on the plungers refer to 150ml/5floz "coffee cup" sizes and are total capacity, not beverage volume.