I Love My Bodum French Press Coffee Maker

by Aayana
(USA)

Coffee machines and I have always had a love/hate relationship. I hated having to wait for the coffee to be finished.

I loved the first two cups of coffee. I hated the taste of the rest of the pot. I loved the price-per-cup. I hated the clean up the pot, strainer and filter.

I had gotten used to strong, good quality coffee while in college, but the cost became prohibitive once I left college and was living in a rural area of western Oregon. I couldn’t afford driving seven or eight miles into town just to hit a coffee shop; besides, my green leaning conscience rebelled at the carbon footprint. I found my salvation in a French press coffee maker.

It was simple and fast to make coffee. I just put the amount of coffee in the glass container, pushed down on the strainer, and it was ready! It did take some trial and error to find the right amount for my taste, but it never really gave me bad coffee. The taste was always fresh, even if I had to reheat a cup in the microwave.

It only made about three good size cups of coffee (not the little eight ounce shots, but a mug), so very little was left over. The remaining grounds I saved to a special can that I used to mulch around my acid-loving plants like blueberries, hydrangea and roses.

The one thing I miss is being able to set the timer so that coffee would be ready when my alarm went off in the morning. I don’t suppose that one can have everything in life, but a fast, flavorful cup of coffee is one of the good things in life that helps compensate.

I use only Fair Trade coffee, recycle the grounds, and use only enough energy to heat the water, and of course the only trip to town is on my regular grocery run, so I am helping the environment too!