A brewer that makes good coffee and a good party thriller, but is easy to clean and can't be combined with inconsistent grinders.
Positive Product Points
The Bodum Santos is a pretty good vacum brewer that makes a good cup of coffee. It is easy to manage if you accept the fact that it is not a drip machine. The water, and then finished coffee, traveling up and down is a real (coffee) party thriller. Makes a decent amount of black sleep remedy for a couple of people.
Negative Product Points
The extra plastic parts don't match the glass the rest of the set is made of. A holder for the top vessel could be made of some kind of metal and be much more attractive. Grounds has a tendency to get stuck in the plastic disc that functions as a filter and block the liquid flow, something that makes the removal of the filter between uses a necessity. Scares visitors of making coffee themselves. Not the easiest to clean.
Detailed Commentary
After looking for a vakum brewer for some time I found the Santos at one of the shops I did not expect to find it, just in time for me to acuire one before my co-resident moved away with his press pot. Watching the water move up, and then down again was a real thrill and still keeps being a real party trick. I use it on a eletric stove, something which works great. The rising is fast and the other way is even faster.
It uses an acceptable amount of time to brew and it takes just enough time to heat the water before mounting the top cone that I can grind the needed grounds with my manual grinder. It makes good clean coffee. It is not the easiest brewer to clean because of the shape, but it is manageable with some effort. The plastic filter disc don't function to well as too small grounds easily gets stuck and blocks liquid flow. Because of that the Santos is not recommended together with an blade grinder or other grinder that grinds too inconsistent. I actually stopped roasting my own beans for a half year because of this.
It is not the most aesthetic vakum pot, mostly because of the plastic parts that it is shipped with. I would like to have the same set of parts in some kind of metal, something which would make it quite more attractive.
Buying Experience
Claes Olsson is a shop primary focused on cheap hardware and tools, with some home appliances on the side. I don't expect them to know ANYTHING about this brewer (or any brewer (actually I suspect them to don't know much about anything)), so I did'nt ask.
Three Month Followup
After three months I still have to say that my experiences with the Bodum Santos is pretty good. What I also have to say is that my brewer cracked two weeks ago, which created a lot of frustration ("What the hell am I going to brew my coffee in now?"). I don't think it has anything with the Santos in itself, but one should know that these can break after a while if not treated very carefully.
