The Perfect Coffee Maker - Bodum Chambord French Press

As a self-confessed coffee addict, my search for the perfect, yet affordable, coffee maker has been central to my life. I have tried a variety of auto-drip coffee makers, and while some were acceptable, I tended to run through them much faster than I thought I should. I know of many people who brewed more coffee than me, yet got a much longer life-span from their machines. I was growing weary of replacing my coffee maker, and still not finding the flavor I wanted in my cup. It wasn't until I was introduced to the Bodum Chambord French Coffee Press that I finally found the perfect coffee maker for me.

I first tasted pressed coffee in Australia, where they call the piece of equipment a "plunger" rather than a "press". The critical difference between auto-drip and pressed coffee is instead of running hot water through the ground coffee, the coffee is allowed to steep, similarly to preparing tea, then pressed with a metal screen to separate the grounds from the coffee. No coffee grounds should come through the press, but you should expect to see a darker, stronger brew because you retain more of the essential oil of the coffee bean.

With traditional auto-drip coffee makers, I had very little control over the strength of the coffee I made, short of buying dark roasted, stronger beans. Even with the machines that have a setting on them for lighter or darker brew, I couldn't really tell a difference in the strength of the coffee. I didn't really want to keep a grocery shelf selection of coffees in my pantry in order to match my mood for flavor. With the press, I can steep the coffee longer for that first cup of the day, when I want a caffeine injection directly into my bloodstream, or for a shorter time in the evening when I want a nice warm brew to settle down with as I read for a while.