Ranked #5 in Best French Presses
Bodum Chambord 8-Cup French Press (34 oz)4.3
$39.99The Chambord is the press every coffee shop tries to sell you, and there is a reason: it brews a recognizably great old-school French press cup, it costs $40, and the chrome-and-glass design still looks right on every kitchen counter. It does not retain heat well, it does not filter as cleanly as the Espro line, and the glass will eventually break, but for the buyer who wants a classic French press at a classic price, nothing else in this category competes.
Strengths
- — The classic French press design — chrome frame and borosilicate glass — first launched in the 1950s and effectively unchanged
- — America's Test Kitchen 'Highly Recommended' Best Buy; testers said it 'reliably brews very good old-school full-bodied French press coffee'
- — Made in Portugal at Bodum's own factory, with replacement glass carafes sold separately when the original cracks
Watch-outs
- — Glass carafe will eventually crack from a knock against a faucet or pot edge — most owners report 2-4 years of typical life
- — Heat retention is the second-worst on this list (after the Espro P3); coffee is meaningfully cooler within 30 minutes
- — Single-screen filter lets visibly more sediment through than the Espro dual-filter or Frieling two-stage setup
