Very shiny. Fingerprints beware!
Surely Bodum are the Apple of the kitchenware world. The Danish company seems to have an innate ability to combine the best in design with the best in functionality that makes many of its competitors seem devoid of inspiration. A quick glance around my kitchen reveals no fewer than 14 Bodum items loitering about, including but not limited to two French Presses, a Santos vacuum brewer, 4 Pavina glasses, an Assam tea pot, and a travel mug. You could say I’m a Bodum junkie. Specifically in relation to coffee, Bodum has been making their French Press in its various design refinements since 1974, and I have not come across a better implementation of this type of brewing. Of course to make a really great cup of French Press coffee (or any other type of coffee really) you need a good quality grinder. For people getting into making great coffee at home this is often the biggest obstacle, as while €300+ may seem to make sense for a fancy espresso machine, something that turns big bits of coffee into little bits of coffee doesn’t seem like as much value. In an ideal world I’d tell everyone to go out and buy a Macap or a Mazzer, but in reality most people will start with a €20 whirly blade grinder or maybe a €50 Krups “burr” grinder (burr is in exclamation marks for a reason). Normally I would say that the minimum you need to spend on a decent introductory grinder would be about €120, which would get you a Solis 166 (aka Starbucks Barista), or maybe an Iberital MC2. However, Bodum have a conical burr grinder called the Antigua, which can be bought new for as little as €60. This lead to a conflict in my thoughts: Bodum = good / €60 grinder = bad. (more…)
