Product Review: Bodum BISTRO B. Over Pour Over Coffeemaker
There’s not much to see, but I like seeing it.
I’m the type of person who loves to try new ways to make coffee, so I have a wide variety of coffeemakers. I have a French Press, a vacuum pot, a Keurig, and now I’ve added the Bodum BISTRO B. Over Pour Over coffee maker to my list. Why another option (especially following my last post about having too much stuff)? Well, the french press and vacuum pot (especially the vacuum pot) make great cups of coffee, but are time consuming and not ideal for entertaining. The Keurig makes an OK cup of coffee, but I took it to work while we were selling the house and it’s taken up permanent residence there. And after about five years, it’s starting to struggle with quality issues like inconsistent pours. It’s nearing the end of it’s life, and it’s time to upgrade.
I started looking at coffeemakers, and decided that what I really wanted was an automatic coffeemaker that consistently brewed good coffee, and enough coffee to serve while I was entertaining. I read some reviews online, and the Bodum Pour Over Coffeemaker seemed to be what I was looking for in a coffeemaker. Plus, it’s pretty. And when I found out it was on sale at JCPenny for 70% off, I ran out and bought one.
I was supposed to get something smaller. Whoops.
Convenience
The Bodum Pour Over Coffeemaker is more convenient than a traditional pour over brew method for sure. You don’t have to boil the water, check the temperature, slowly pour the water over the beans ensuring they’re all saturated. The Bodum machine does all that for you. But since it takes a while to brew and the filter has to be cleaned out between every use, it’s less convenient than a regular drip style coffee maker.
Taste
This thing creates an amazing cup of coffee. You coffee comes out with a clean flavor, and it’s not scalding hot nor is it too cold. It’s the cup of coffee Goldilocks would have chosen if she had been presented with coffee instead of porridge.
Consistency
Not only does the coffee taste great, it consistently tastes great. It doesn’t matter if you’re brewing two cups or ten, the Bodum Pour Over Coffeemaker makes a good cup of coffee every time. Not sure what more you can ask for.
Build Quality
This is the only part that seems shoddy.
I can’t say much on build quality since I’ve only had it a couple of weeks. But the coffee maker itself seems solid. The carafe however doesn’t seem as well built. I’m waiting for the top pouring mechanism to break. Granted, I did buy the display model, so that may be why it seems iffy. But I think it’s just that it’s all plastic. On the plus side, since it’s all plastic I won’t drop and break it as easily.
Overall
Overall, the Bodum makes a consistently good cup of coffee without much fuss. It’s a bit large on my countertop but it has a futuristic type of look that I like so I don’t mind. Plus, I really like the exposed back. I’d recommend it if you’re a bit more particular about your coffee than the average person. But if you’re just a grab-and-go coffee drinker, it is likely not worth the extra cost.
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Nicole is a Software Quality Engineer, music collector, and chronic project starter. In her free time she enjoys reading trashy romance novels, catching up on her game backlog, and bourbon.
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Nicole, I too just bought the Bodem coffeemaker at Penneys. Seemed too good to be true so I came home and pulled up the online reviews. Seems it makes great coffee but breaks down fairly quickly. Have you had any problems since you bought it? The reviews are so bad, I’m thinking of taking it back unopened. But they say it makes the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had so I’m dying to at least try it! ML
I too saw the negative reviews, but I also saw several comments where the poster wondered if the coffee maker was authentic. So I’m wondering if there are some fakes going around. Also, I had problems with the coffee maker when I used pre-ground coffee (after this review had been posted). The grocery store was out of whole-bean, so I bought the pre-ground out of desperation. It clogged the filter. So I also wonder if that’s the issue some people are having.
As far as it being the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had, it’s not. That award still goes to the vacuum/siphon method of brewing in my opinion. However, it is the best cup of automatic coffee I’ve ever had.
I bought mine right from bodum..not a fake..but junk. its design is nice, but its test of endurance fails horribly. i called bodum as mine will no longer turn on, they said they cannot send me another, just issue me a store credit. I suspect this is because they are tired of replacing defective quality issues…too bad they forgot to test before releasing to the public.
That just sucks. I still haven’t had any issues with mine, but from some of the comments here it seems the machine gets really iffy if you use hard water with it. And really, that’s not OK.
We got this as a wedding gift and although we love it. We are ALWAYS descaling it! Now it won’t even make an entire pot without flashing to be descaled. I’m taking mine back and getting a different one. As much as I love the coffee it makes, it’s big worth the hassle.
Not worth the hassle I meant lol
Yikes, that would be a pain. Since I have a RO system I haven’t personally ran into this. Thanks for sharing!
We are now on our THIRD machine!! We purchased it on 06/01/13. It broke by September. Now that one has quit working! They are replacing it but I don’t know if we are getting our two year warranty renewed. It DOES make a great cup of coffee. And it’s easy to use. But if you can depend on it after spending that much money get used to another cup of coffee or make a french press manually.
Do you have hard water? Another commenter said that caused problems.
This thing is a piece of junk. I wish I had read the reviews before I bought mine. Lasted a year. I will never buy Bodum again. Save yourmoney
Mine’s still going, but several commenters have said things similar to you.
Once the red light starts flashing, the manual says to descale immediately but I can’t run the descaling because it won’t stop flashing red. What is the solution
No clue. Like I said in other comments, this hasn’t been an issue for me.