# What French press/cafetirre do you use?



## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

For reasons beyond my control, I'm in the market for a new French press. Was wondering what people use/recommend here? I'm actually very tempted by the Espro despite the cost - I probably would've impulsively got one on coffeehit already had they been in stock! However if I can't twist my own arm enough I will resort to something more bog standard.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

I have a cheapo glass press pot from Tesco, a Bodum Columbia 500ml...and because the general interest & demand for coffee at the office is on the up, I bought the large Espro so I can make 3-4 mugfuls if required. They all work.

Both the Espro & Columbia are great at keeping the coffee hot (not an issue with the 1 serving glass pot). There is still some silt in the Espro brews. This may be because I have been letting a crust form, then breaking it & cleaning before plungeing, thus the grinds don't get compacted as much & don't behave? Clean up on the Espro is a chore, especially if you have grinder that makes a lot of fines (I have been grinding up to 60g by hand just to minimise this)...ideally, I'd keep the dirty Espro pot lying around, then just take it in the shower with me...rather than digging about with a spoon getting grinds all over my cuffs, elbow deep in the pot in the office kitchen ;-). The Espro clean up puts me off making more than one brew a day with it, then I'm pretty lazy...but I can tolerate the work for one good brew per day. A traditional toothbrush is good for cleaning the filters. There is a fair bit of pressure when plungeing the Espro, I suspect that this is how the filters get pretty clogged.

Clean up in the shallower wider Columbia is easier, as is cleaning the mesh. Obviously a little more silt (but commensurate with regular press pot).

If I was making several pots a day, I'd stick to the more traditional plunger type pots...if the silt bothers you rinse out an Aeropress & filter whilst the pot is steeping & filter through that.

If there was a fire & they all er, ...melted? I'd buy the Columbia again. Glass pots are perfectly good...I'm just pretty clumsy.

I did see an interesting video where a guy did a "reverse Espro", just using the main filter, putting the grounds on top & lifting the whole lot out at the end...monkey see, monkey do...there's quite a lot of resistance when pulling, plunger comes out with a pop - me, my shirt, the kitchen are now speckled with scalding hot, staining grinds. For stuntmen only? The flare at the top of the Espro also means that grinds fall around the filter back into the brew. This approach does work well with less resistance & uniform walls of a regular press pot though.

Never tried the smaller original Espro, I'm aware that principles don't always translate as well when scaling up & down.


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## RobD (May 2, 2012)

i have had Bodum's on and of over the years but have found the glass to be weaker or i have got clumsier!! so i bit the bullet and got a Stainless Stella, i now have 3! a small 2 cup for work, a large 8 cup for home and an 8 cup at my partners, i would recommend them as they dont break and are twin walled so keep the contents warmer for longer that a glass one, the down sides are that for a good size one you will pay £50+ and im not sure if its me or the coffee i use but i do find that the mesh of the screen does let an amount of dust through, but if it steeps for long enough its not to much of a problem.


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## tribs (Feb 21, 2012)

TK Maxx seem to have a good selection of Cafetiere's and Moka's for decent prices. I picked up a 2 pot Stainless and glass one for under a fiver. They had various Bodum's too for a little more.


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## beebah (Apr 1, 2012)

If you do fancy getting an espropress they're on sale, along with a whole lot of other coffee stuff on saturday at the Liberty of Norton Folgate


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

I think I've talked myself out of the Espro now. Reckon I could use the money elsewhere for a greater improvement in the cup. So now it's just a case of what glass one to get. I've used Bodums, LaCafetieres and non-branded ones before and they all seem much of a muchness.

Thanks for the input everyone.


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

It does seem like aside from the actual cafetiere 'vessel' the actual plunger assembly is the same across most cafetieres.

When I see some cheap, small ones somewhere I want to buy two as an easy method of comparing two coffees (as recommended by James Hoffman).


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## denishicks8 (Jul 18, 2012)

Well i would recommend you the Bodum French press....I have got this for myself and I've been more than pleased... I love my Bodum.

Now i will prefer the Bodum French Press only again...when this one will go away!


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## gmason (Aug 9, 2012)

Just purchased an Espro press which arrived this morning from The Coffeesmiths Collective (excellent service). I've been dithering over whether to buy one of these for months now as I already have a number of French Press pots in varying shapes and sizes. I use a Bodum Columbia for breakfast and find it's just right as it delivers 12 oz which is just enough to get me going first thing. One of the reasons I hesitated with the small Espro was the restricted capacity due to the size of the filter assembly and as I am the only coffee drinker at home, the larger version would have been completely over the top. Having now used it, I have to say I'm delighted with the purchase. It easily delivered 12oz, and the taste was very good indeed right down to the last sip and no silt at the bottom of the cup. Perhaps as a result of the finer filtration, I have found it necessary to up the dosage of coffee, but the end result is a remarkable cup of coffee. Very impressed indeed. Cleaning is easy and no more time-consuming than a regular press. On the negative side, the polished steel finish of the pot will be a fingerprint magnet, but so was the Bodum Columbia.


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