Bodum 3004-581USA Mini Electric Santos, Graphite Blue
by Bodum
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Product Summary
Manufacturer: BodumBrand: Bodum
Model: 3004-581USA
Color: Blue
Product features:
- Unique, electric, vacuum brewing process
- Built-in nylon filter provides better coffee
- Brews 5 cups of coffee in 4 minutes
- Easy to assemble and quick to clean
- Measures 7-1/2 by 13 by 14 inches
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Bodum 3004-581USA Mini Electric Santos, Graphite Blue
Customer Review: Form over Function
Summary: 3 Stars
Ever since I read a testimonial in a gadget catalog touting this coffee maker as being capable of making "the most satisfying cup of coffee... ever tasted", I have been wondering if it lived up to the hype.
When Amazon put the Teal Mini-Santos on sale, I decided at last to find out.
I wish I could say I concurred with the rave evaluation above, but I'm afraid I don't. My 4-Cup Kitchenaid drip coffee maker made coffee just as good as the Santos and seemed to do it with less muss, fuss, and expense.
Yes, it's fun to watch the Santos at work. Press the red button, then wait until you hear the whoosh of steam. Slowly water rises from the lower chamber (the carafe or jug as Bodum calls it), washing among the coffee grinds in the funnel chamber above. Then the water begins to roil through the grounds in the upper chamber quite vigorously; good luck if you didn't attach the funnel lid properly! Finally you hear a click as the power turns off, and then the water gets sucked down through the grounds back into the jug.
Unfortunately, I would have to agree with those who find the Santos harder to clean than a normal drip coffee maker. First the spent grounds don't knock easily out of the funnel into the trash; you have to use a plastic spatula to scrape them out.
Second because of the non-waterproof nature of the jug (the heating element is in the base of the jug), you can't clean it under running water. Now maybe you can clean something like this without running water, but I don't know how you're expected to rinse such a thing without running water. So it's inevitable that some day I will get careless, and water will get into the jug base, and then who knows whether the unit will continue to work.
Adding to the costs of operation, you have to replace the vinyl filters every three months or so at $5 a pop - I use a permanent gold filter in the Kitchenaid - and the Santos requires one more scoop of ground coffee than you would use to make four cups of brew of the equivalent strength in a drip coffee maker.
What benefit if any then does the Bodum Santos offer compared to a drip coffee maker? Well, beyond being a unique conversation piece - trust those .... Swiss and Germans to develop the world's first see-through "coffee commode" - the Santos does provide a secure rubber seal between the jug and funnel that would appear to preclude the possibility of messy overflows on the counter, a problem from which many drip makers suffer, at least occasionally.
Also if you like your coffee literally boiling hot, that's the way the Santos serves it.
Beyond its good looks, however, the primary distinguishing feature of the Santos seems to be the way this vacuum brewer sucks extra dollars out of your wallet.
My best advice if you want better tasting coffee is to invest fifty bucks in a burr grinder with adjustable settings, like the one Braun makes. I have found that by adjusting the fineness of the grounds to suit your particular coffee maker, you can get superb and reliable results with virtually any machine.
...It is six months later as I write this update. The good news is that the Mini Santos has proved more reliable than expected, and I haven't had to replace the nylon filter yet.
The bad news is that using the same coffee, Eight o' Clock Bokar Blend, a friend made a tastier pot using a cheap Procter-Silex drip coffee maker than I have been able to produce with the Santos.
Again, I fail to see the benefits of this coffee maker compared to a drip coffee maker and am considering mothballing it in favor of my old reliable Kitchenaid 4-Cupper...
Description of Bodum 3004-581USA Mini Electric Santos, Graphite Blue
Many products are touted for their uniqueness, or how they're revolutionizing this or that, but few live up the hype. Bodum's Santos coffeemaker is different, as it really is unlike other coffeemakers on the market. First off, it uses an electric vacuum brewing process, and secondly it lets you watch the whole thing. Fill the jug with cold filtered water, and place it on the power base. Then twist the funnel onto the jug. Next, add fresh coffee (a handy scoop is included) to the funnel and press the start button. As the water heats up to boiling, the vacuum created between the two parts moves water up the funnel, where the hot water and coffee mix together. Once the correct brewing time has elapsed, the heat turns off and the coffee drains back into the carafe through a nylon filter (nylon doesn't affect the taste of the coffee like paper filters).In this system, coffee and hot water mingle for the optimum time, providing the best-tasting coffee possible. The process takes around 4 minutes for up to 5 cups of coffee. The jug and the funnel are both made of sturdy polycarbonate, and the funnel is dishwasher-safe. (Clean the jug by hand, as it's not submersible.) Neither the bottom of the jug nor the top of the power base gets hot during brewing, because the heating element is in the middle of the jug's base.
There are a couple of things to remember when using the electric Santos. Always use fresh coffee, ground medium, for best results (stay away from using coffee from a can or powdered coffee), and use one level scoop of ground coffee per cup. So, for a full 5-cup pot, you'll use 5 scoops. After testing, if the coffee is too strong, begin tapering off the number of scoops. Also, remember that there will always be a small amount of water left in the coffee pot during the brewing process. This is a normal safety feature.
When cleaning the Santos, don't scrub the nylon filter clean--it should be rinsed under warm water. The coffee grounds from the upper section can be scooped out into the garbage can or compost using a common kitchen spatula. Then, simply wash the top section with dish soap and warm water. Also rinse the coffee pot with warm water as soon as you are finished drinking coffee. After rinsing, leave the lid open and let the coffee pot air dry. Every so often, clean the pot with a basic de-liming agent.
The original 12-cup Santos won a prestigious gold Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA) in the consumer products division. Award-winners are selected by the Industrial Designers Society of America. There were 1,260 entries from around the world in the contest, and only 44 gold awards were given. --A.J. Rathbun
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