French Coffee Press

Is that the same as the thing they call a cafétière?



Well, I've seen cheap ones splinter when I pressed down, pouring boiling hot coffee and glass shards all over the table. Bodum is a good brand, if a little pricey.

It was actually invented in Italy by Attilio Calimani from Milan, although French marketing companies made it well known in the 1950s.

"Cafetière à piston Chambord" :wink:

That is indeed the very device of which I speak. I was talking with a friend who has also been hunting for one and I mentioned the $10 one I saw at the store. She gave me a disapproving look and said something like, "I'm looking for a good press, not one where it's done all wrong." I didn't want to reveal the extent of my ignorance so I didn't ask her what it means for a cafétière to be "done wrong," but I've been wondering ever since.

Thin glass that is not toughened properly is one thing I would avoid for the reason I mentioned above. Those $10 Chinese ones are kind of fragile. You get what you pay for.

true...I had one that shattered when I poured boiling water in it

Just look to see that the glass is pyrex. We use these all the time and the pricey ones arent any better. I get annoyed at paying top dollar only to have the handle separate from the frame.
Ever since the melamine thing, we carefully look to see whether anything that we use to touch food , or food itself, is not imported from China.

Yikes. I'll keep that in mind!

Personally I prefer these things. Those press down things can make the coffee awfully "stewed" in flavor, since they encourage over-long brewing and there is no real separation of the brewed coffee from the grounds once the brewing is over, and unless the filter section is super good, the coffee can get kind of gritty. Just my $0.02 worth.