Bodum Santos Stovetop

by Andrew
(New Hampshire)

The best coffee maker I personally have ever seen is the Bodum Santos Stovetop coffee maker. It is art and coffee in one simple maker! It makes awesome coffee and it is very entertaining to watch the brewing.

This is a unique Swiss made coffee maker that consists of a glass carafe and glass globe with a glass tube running between the two. You place your ground coffee beans in the top globe with the filter and the water goes in the bottom carafe. As the water heats a vacuum is created which pulls the water up the tube to brew the world perfect cup of coffee.

I remember when I first saw Santos in my friend's place, it was such a beautiful coffee maker that I immediately fell in love with it. After tasting the coffee I was sold - I had to get one for myself. I have owned Bodum Santos for two years now and I still love it.

Are there any drawbacks? Yes, the main one is that I now find it difficult to drink coffee from the drip coffee maker in my office. There is just no comparison.

Another thing is that it is not really for overyone. There is a learning curve to working with Bodum Santos, if you are not willing to be an active part of the brewing process it may not be the answer for you. For starters, you need to have a good coffee grinder. You should also store your coffee beans correctly. Some people insist on storing their beans in the freezer or refrigerator, which is a sure way to create a large amount of coffee dust when you are grinding! Coffee powder or dust will quickly clog your filter and leave you without a cup of coffee!

But for me, Bodum Santos is the best coffee maker. After all, it is this coffee maker that got me exploring the world of coffee!


Bodum Santos Stovetop coffee makerEditor's note

Bodum Santos is a very popular vacuum coffee maker with good user reviews. For many owners this really is the best coffee maker. The most common complaints are about the filter clogging easily and the glass being a bit fragile.

If you are not familiar with this type of coffee makers, you can read more about them on this website. First, read the introduction to vacuum coffee makers. Then find out how a vacuum coffee pot works.

You can also read more about the Bodum Santos coffee maker - both the stovetop and the electric version.


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Comments for
Bodum Santos Stovetop

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Dec 08, 2009
 Interesting point
by: David

It is a very interesting point you make about grinding coffee that was previously stored in the freezer. You mention that you get a lot of dust with the frozen coffee. I have never heard about that. Have you read about it somewhere or is it your own experience? Does it happen even when the beans are properly defrosted before grinding?
Dec 09, 2009
 Storing coffee
by: Andrew

Getting large amounts of dust from grinding previously frozen coffee beans comes from personal experience. In addition, I have done a good deal of research on proper storage methods for both ground coffee and coffee beans, what I found were a bit surprising. The biggest enemies to the taste of your coffee are moisture, light and air, and even more surprising is the fact that coffee is porous and will absorb flavors. This is great if you like flavored coffee but if you have seafood or other scents in your freezer, you may be unpleasantly shocked by the first cup of coffee!
Mar 17, 2010
 Coffee Grinder Recommendation
by: Bill

Love the Coffee! but ....... we just can't get the coffee to drain properly. Don't have a coffee grinder - grinding it at the store.

If your successful brewing, please recommend what you consider a good brand of coffee grinders.

Love the coffee but am extremely frustrated with the process not working! Thanks
Mar 17, 2010
 Grinder
by: Editor

If you have Bodum Santos, you have to get a good burr coffee grinder (no blade coffee grinder will work since they just produce too much dust). These can be quite expensive.

Two relatively inexpensive options are the Capresso Infinity burr grinder and the Breville Ikon coffee grinder. You could also consider a good manual coffee grinder.
Mar 17, 2010
 Clogging
by: Editor

I forgot to mention - there is a discussion about the Santos vacpot clogging on coffeegeek - you may find that useful.

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