As far as we are aware, this store is now closed. 8/18/08 - CB
Sitting smack in the middle of MePa, The Bodum store has quietly been announcing its expanded presence for the past few years. Founded in 1944 by Peter Bodum, the family owned company has grown from a small Danish design wholesaler into an international powerhouse for good, simple, practical household design.
The Bodum store is a great place to find all manner of affordable housewares which will compliment design conscious, urban living. Famous for its glass coffee presses and tea accessories - there are many other treasures to be found, from bright towels, to simple glasses, to orange juicers. They also have all kinds of kitchenware, table linens, storage jars for food, as well as straw slippers, gadgets such as bag clips, and a room dedicated solely to clearance items.
Love Bodum. LOVE it. It's so nice to have a store in that neighborhood that actually sells things that are affordable and well designed. Plus a cafe! And a sale area! It's always on my list for wedding gifts.
I love Bodum too, but am a little annoyed that their IBIS kettle has been "temporarily out of stock" for many months now. I trekked over to the store and they couldn't tell me when (or if) the IBIS would be back. Ended up buying a different brand, sadly.
I have one of those Bodum Coffee presses and it sure would be nice if they had made the glass a little thicker, does not take much to break one.
Bodum makes such a great coffee maker. It's called the Santos, and it's basically a vacuum setup. If you're not familiar, picture a pot with a second pot sitting on top of it. The two pots are connected. Water goes in the bottom pot, grounds in the top (where there's a filter that prevents the grounds from escaping into the lower pot).
Turn it on, and the bottom pot heats until the water boils and thus rises completely into the top pot, stirring and sitting in the grinds. Then it shuts off, and the coffee drains back into the bottom pot.
I swear this setup makes coffee that's less acidic. Maybe it's the gold filter that sits between the two pots?
All I know is, it's delicious, and it's fun to watch! Water goes up, coffee comes down. Neat!
I believe they sell a plastic version with a timed heating-pad-gizmo (that's what I have), and a beautiful glass stovetop version (ooh, this I lust for!)
One note about the website being slow -- Bodum's corporate site, bodum.com, is hosted in Switzerland and can be a bit slow.
However, the US-based e-commerce site runs lickety-split! You can find it at http://bodumusa.com and there's free shipping on order of over $50.
I gave up on Bodum's coffee presses after I pressed down a little to hard in my eagerness for morning coffee, and the glass shattered and cut my hand. Actually, I had two presses before this happened, and a few weeks later, the second one did the same thing. Wisely, I proceeded to a lovable, orange, mini Santos. It functions as Rob describes. Also, it's designed to look a little cockeyed--skewed on its vertical axis--which is fun. The only way you could make bad coffee with the Santos would be to put bad coffee into it. We make it so strong a spoon would stand up in it, but it's never bitter. Pretty nice. And conversations pause to watch it work!
au
Wondering if you Bodum Santos fans have used it to make just one cup and if it's just as good?
Laura