Bodum Bistro Electric Conical Burr Coffee Grinder, Preset Timer, 12 Grind Settings, Black

The lowdown — Nothing will beat this elegant conical burr grinder on grind uniformity and range versus price. But it is not suited for grinding lots of coffee at once.The central distinction among coffee grinders is blades versus burrs. Blades are the cheapest but grind unevenly at best. Burrs achieve more uniform particle size but, being more complex mechanisms, are more expensive to manufacture. This Bodum strikes a clever medium. Its grind is highly uniform and its range wide—I enjoy French press and espresso so coarse to very fine.How did Bodum achieve this feat? They put their money in the most important part: its beautifully made conical burr. They kept the rest as simple as possible. For instance, on high-end grinders you dial in the grind size with a knob. Bodum's approach is to twist the the hopper. 'Does away with a whole bunch of parts.There are trade-offs. For instance, this machine is not for you if you like to grind lots of coffee all at once. Why? It does not grind fast and on top of that the manual specifies letting the motor cool down five minutes between batches. This is a design compromise. You are good to go if you do a single batch just before brewing to achieve best aroma and flavor.One longest batch of 20 seconds delivers 40gr coarse French press or 20gr fine espresso. That's 1.4 and 0.7 oz. The French press amount is good for roughly four cups of coffee depending on how you like it. The espresso clumps nicely but is below a standard one-ounce shot.Ever the engineer, I disassembled this Bodum to have a closer look at its design. Surprisingly sophisticated. The reduction gears are nylon. This is fine given the limited forces in play but inhibits static from flowing away, something that can come into play if you grind several batches in a row. The burr is driven through a neat safety clutch, a helpful feature in case of jams. The pictures show the mechanism and the control board. The clutch plate in my legacy unit is metal but I got from online stories it is now made of nylon. This concession to manufacturing costs will not affect normal use but does make the mechanism less robust.If it matters to you, and as another reviewer pointed out, Bodum borosilicate glass replacement beakers are impossible to find, except the occasional used one on eBay, so do be careful.Hints on use — tap the grinder on both sides simultaneously a few times before taking out the beaker. This knocks out any ground coffee left behind. (And splash a few water droplets on your beans before grinding to reduce static buildup.) The hopper tends to rotate itself to a coarser setting owing to torque effects so check ever so often. And remember to clean the burr area regularly because it can clog especially if your coffee is oily.Summing up — this Bodum Bistro is aesthetically pleasing, engineered well, has a compact footprint, and punches above its weight. You will enjoy it for a long time if you stay within its design limits. If your style is to grind lots of coffee at once to store or are a devoted espresso drinker then look at a higher price point.(Note — this is the second one I bought, now as gift. I had to take down my original 2014 review I have refined here. Amazon only allows one review for repeat purchases.)

I have used Bodum products and been happy with them for years, but this one has let me down. I was a little disappointed in it for a very small reason but could live with it. What has made me turn away from this product is that Bodum's customer support has been unresponsive when I needed them, and I've had to replace this perfectly good $100 grinder for a ridiculous reason.I bought the Bodum grinder about 15 months ago to replace my old Cuisinart DBM-8P1, which was a gift from my in-laws. The motor on the Cuisinart gave out after about four years, and I wanted to upgrade to a Bodum model, because Bodum makes quality products and I love my coffee! The grinder itself works great. It gives a perfectly calibrated and consistent grind across all levels, from espresso file to French Press course. All the issues I've had with this grinder involve the grind cup (the glass "beaker" that catches grounds coming out of the burr heads). The grind cup is ABSOLUTELY NOT anti-static as advertised. My grind method is to grind about 2-3 days worth of beans at a time, then store them in an airtight container. The first cup full of grinds would have a small amount of static, the second had a little more, but by the third there would be a mess of wasted coffee all over the counter. The only remedy for this I found was to let the coffee grounds rest in the cup at least 5 minutes before pouring them out. Grinding enough coffee for my airtight container ended up a couple of hours as I would do other tasks while waiting for the static to dissipate. This was a hassle, but I could live with it. The nail-in-the-coffin for this grinder was when, after 15 months of use, the cup broke in the sink as I was cleaning it the other day. No cuts, no blood, no harm; no foul, but now I needed a new cup. Based on the price of French Press replacement carafes, I expected a cup for this grinder should cost approximately $10. Searching Amazon, however, I was unable to find a replacement cup. I went to the Bodum website; no orderable replacement was listed there, either. Searching the internet at-large: still no replacement to be found. I reached out to Bodum's customer support via email asking for assistance. I immediately received a "we have your request and will respond" automated message, but after a week this is the only response I've received. I just ordered another Cuisinart grinder; the same DBM-8P1 model as I had before, for about $60. Sorry Bodum: I can't buy another $100 grinder to replace a $10 glass cup.