Cheap Bodum Santos, anyone??

French Press, Vac Pot, Drip or any other - air your views and results

Moderators: GreenBean, Gouezeri, bruceb, CakeBoy

Postby Beanie » Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:32 pm

joey wrote:Why should I pay 4x the price and only be able to use the "one and only working software" on these compuers...just for the nice design?
Nope, I come from the windows world. You usually stick to what you have started with ;-)

:roll:


Interesting Joey. If time = money, then I think Mac = cheaper than PC. It took 2 hours for PC to try to open a 165MB file for a mood board but then crashed. Never could do it. Every 3 hours or so per day, my PC presented me with the Blue Screen of Death whenever I had to work with Photoshop, Coreldraw, Powerpoint/Word/Excel, and Office simultaneously. Never mind that Adobe products seemed to be geared for Mac not PC (some options/short cuts missing).

And last but not least, sex appeal on the Mac. I rest my case.

Unfortunately, while I don't yet own a Mac, I have lusted over one and will no doubt, be my next computer purchase.

Back to topic: zix, how's the e-santos working out of you?

Cheers,
Marcy
This week, I'm mainly recovering :DAll I've got is my Aerobie AeroPress | 70's Aurora/Brugnetti HX Spring Lever | Mazzer Mini E & SJ (on loan) | Hottop | Nestor Martin (Toto) Gas Roaster | Eva Solo | Moka Pots
User avatar
Beanie
 
Posts: 2769
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 11:50 am
Location: GMT-5

Postby HughF » Tue Feb 22, 2005 6:27 pm

zix wrote:I forgot to thank you for your views of the eSantos, Hugh. It seems like a good machine! I have been considering buying it for myself and/or my parents. Do you have any experience of the eSantos compared to a traditional stove-top Santos or a Cona?


I'm glad it was helpful. I'm afraid I don't know the stove-top vac pots at all. Phil commented once (in a post here I think) that these give a better brew than the eSantos but with a LOT of cats in our house I didn't fancy replacing accidental breakages that often!
The eSantos also seems a lot less fiddle. There was a crisis at work this afternoon and I was distracted from my small eSantos for over an hour; if that had been a stove-top pot the outcome would have been much worse than stewed coffee.

Cheers,

Hugh
Grinders : Macap MXK conical for espresso, Mahlkoenig Vario for Chemex, Macap MC6 (spare when our office was closed) for cafetiere, Zassenhaus Knee Mill for cafetiere when working away from home.
La Spaziale Vivaldi S1 espresso machine. HotTop KN8828P roaster. Chemex manual drip for most brewed coffee plus cafetieres and eSantos.
User avatar
HughF
 
Posts: 1113
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2003 10:47 pm
Location: Hampshire, UK

Postby zix » Tue Feb 22, 2005 7:23 pm

bean_believer, HughF is the one with the e-santos, I am only thinking of buying it - if it can measure up to a stove Santos tastewise.
As much as I agree with all you mac lovers, let´s not threadjack anymore with mac/pc talk, it all emanates from me trying to save time by guessing joey's OS when she said she couldn't write £ on her laptop. I wanted to give her a tip, and instead I started a discussion... didn't mean to!
It has now been established that the Win code is alt-0163 (the ASCII value for the £ character plus a leading 0) which is good to know for the TMC Win users that didn't know this; most special characters can be written this way, provided you know the code and that the typeface designer included that character. The mac key combo is in my original message. G'day!

There was a crisis at work this afternoon and I was distracted from my small eSantos for over an hour; if that had been a stove-top pot the outcome would have been much worse than stewed coffee.
I can see how my parents would like that - they will get one so I can take their old donPedro (swedish vacpot, almost exactly the same as Santos, no longer made) heheeeeeh...
Last edited by zix on Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
‹• Bezzera B3000AL • Strietman ES3 • Chemex • Cona C size • Aeropress • Vev moka • Bialetti Brikka • Espro • Cezve • Bacchi Espresso • Arrarex Caravel •
• HG-1 • Lido 1 & E-T • OE Pharos •
• oven • hot air gun • Behmor •›
User avatar
zix
 
Posts: 1331
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 10:40 pm
Location: Partille/Göteborg, Sweden

Postby Beanie » Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:46 pm

Duh! Sorry, I meant:
Tonka, how's the e-santos working out for you?
This week, I'm mainly recovering :DAll I've got is my Aerobie AeroPress | 70's Aurora/Brugnetti HX Spring Lever | Mazzer Mini E & SJ (on loan) | Hottop | Nestor Martin (Toto) Gas Roaster | Eva Solo | Moka Pots
User avatar
Beanie
 
Posts: 2769
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 11:50 am
Location: GMT-5

Postby Joey » Wed Feb 23, 2005 1:41 am

zix wrote:...let´s not threadjack anymore with mac/pc talk, it all emanates from me trying to save time by guessing joey's OS when she said she couldn't write £ on her laptop. I wanted to give her a tip...


Thanks Zix for ending this. I felt a bit stamped to the ground after my coming out ;-)
I guess I gambled away the bit of respect I (thought I) have had coffee wise.... >sigh<
what a cruel (mac)world.... :cry: :wink:
"Latte" is french for "you've paid too much for your coffee"
User avatar
Joey
 
Posts: 1050
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 11:44 pm
Location: Vienna

Postby zix » Wed Feb 23, 2005 5:44 pm

HughF, any revelations concerning coffee blends/singles and the eSantos?
I´d guess Kenya AA(A) would be nice, but perhaps you have found other favourites? I recently tried a vac/presso blend with Santos and Kenya, but the Santos proved a little bit too "strong voiced" in my blend, obscuring the Kenya AA:s brightness. For vac pot and presso, that is.
‹• Bezzera B3000AL • Strietman ES3 • Chemex • Cona C size • Aeropress • Vev moka • Bialetti Brikka • Espro • Cezve • Bacchi Espresso • Arrarex Caravel •
• HG-1 • Lido 1 & E-T • OE Pharos •
• oven • hot air gun • Behmor •›
User avatar
zix
 
Posts: 1331
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 10:40 pm
Location: Partille/Göteborg, Sweden

Postby HughF » Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:33 pm

I've found the eSantos useful for over the top coffees - it gives a cleaner taste than a cafetiere partly due to less sediment. So, I would pick lively (your Kenya?) or rich coffees, nothing too bland. But I'm emphatically not an expert (at all!) but particularly on the eSantos as I bought it from Phil at Steve's last cupping only 6 months ago. Since the S1 was installed in December, I've also been drinking less brewed coffee and much more espresso. For brewed coffee, I am wandering through 5lbs. of Rwanda 7 Lakes from SM at the moment (now out of stock but the current Rwandan at SM sounds good too).

Cheers,

Hugh
Grinders : Macap MXK conical for espresso, Mahlkoenig Vario for Chemex, Macap MC6 (spare when our office was closed) for cafetiere, Zassenhaus Knee Mill for cafetiere when working away from home.
La Spaziale Vivaldi S1 espresso machine. HotTop KN8828P roaster. Chemex manual drip for most brewed coffee plus cafetieres and eSantos.
User avatar
HughF
 
Posts: 1113
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2003 10:47 pm
Location: Hampshire, UK

Postby zix » Thu Feb 24, 2005 12:41 am

tx hugh!
‹• Bezzera B3000AL • Strietman ES3 • Chemex • Cona C size • Aeropress • Vev moka • Bialetti Brikka • Espro • Cezve • Bacchi Espresso • Arrarex Caravel •
• HG-1 • Lido 1 & E-T • OE Pharos •
• oven • hot air gun • Behmor •›
User avatar
zix
 
Posts: 1331
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 10:40 pm
Location: Partille/Göteborg, Sweden

ESantos update

Postby Tonka » Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:24 am

Well, very prompt service from the supplier for a start. Its a big beast of a thing that can make pints of coffee and keep it warm for 2 hours. I find the auto-timer very handy.... I set it to have the coffee just ready as I wake up, saves me at least 8 minutes. My only thoughts as regards usage are that it needs a fairly coarse grind, is best to let the coffee settle for a few minutes before pouring, but most importantly it works best if you make coffee at least up to the 6 cup mark, because a bit of the water in the kettle stays there and dilutes the coffee as it flushes down... very noticeable if you only make the minimum but unnoticeable if you make 6 cup amount.

I'm quite happy with it. Easy to use (apart from the silly buttons) and makes good coffee :P
Tonka
 
Posts: 36
Joined: Thu Feb 03, 2005 12:05 pm

Postby HughF » Mon Feb 28, 2005 1:13 pm

My 1.5 litre eSantos from HB arrived before last weekend so I tried a brew. It is the transparent version which looks very nice. The LCD panel seems unnecessary unless you really want to brew using the timer but the orange light when it is brewing is cute. The brew was just as good, little difference in flavour IF you tilt the smaller eSantos a bit (see below).

I'm using a grind of +25 from true zero on a Rocky DL which seems to work OK. I think it's a little better grind quality than the Iberital at work but not much, I still prefer both to the Zass 156 when it's used on a table-top.

Brewing 1.5 pints (just under 1 litre) in the larger eSantos gives an up-time of 2:15 vs. the 1:30 for 0.5+pints (c. 300ml) in the smaller as standard. According to a guy on the SM list, that's a bit short and I did prefer the extra 30 seconds up-time (to 2 minutes) given by wedging the base under the jug's low side up by 5mm on the smaller eSantos, more flavour, coffee plus fruit not just mild fruit with the SM Rwanda 7 Lakes.

Cheers,

Hugh
Grinders : Macap MXK conical for espresso, Mahlkoenig Vario for Chemex, Macap MC6 (spare when our office was closed) for cafetiere, Zassenhaus Knee Mill for cafetiere when working away from home.
La Spaziale Vivaldi S1 espresso machine. HotTop KN8828P roaster. Chemex manual drip for most brewed coffee plus cafetieres and eSantos.
User avatar
HughF
 
Posts: 1113
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2003 10:47 pm
Location: Hampshire, UK

Postby Tonka » Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:27 am

heres another thought... the santos does seem to need a large amount of coffee put in to get any flavour
Tonka
 
Posts: 36
Joined: Thu Feb 03, 2005 12:05 pm

Amazing deal at my local TKmax

Postby wil » Wed Jul 12, 2006 4:29 pm

Hi - Having walked into my local TKmax store today, I was surprised to find a Bodum e-santos 1.5lt on display - in the reduced price section too!

Having read mixed reviews about this item in the past, I had decided not to bother with one, but noticing a "special clearance" sticker on the box, however, indicating a price drop to £18, I bought it on the spot!

Having just finished a cup of Kenya AA, brewed in the e-santos, I'm pleased & impressed with the results, but I know some tweaking is definitely required. The length of the brewing cycle is too short - one of the main negative criticisms I picked-up on while researching this model some time ago.

A number of reviews on the C. Geek site have highlighted an alteration that apparently is very effective in controlling this brew-time flaw. (it's severe and it will render my machine null & void re. my guarantee, but having only paid £18 I'm willing to alter).

Here is the alteration form C.Geek consumer reviews section.

All you have to do is cut 3/16 - 1/4 of an inch off of the end of the downtube in order to fix a manufacturing flaw. A sharp ( CLEAN ) hacksaw works perfectly ( just cut the end SQUARE!!! ) otherwise the stand in the base for the top chamber won't work any longer. The end of the downtube should be CLOSE to 3/4, but NO HIGHER than, 3/4 of an inch above the heating element when the unit is fully assembled. The "FINISHED" length of the downtube measured from the bottom face of the rubber seal to the end of the tube should be 3+5/8 to 3+3/4 inches long ( This length is ONLY for the LARGE capacity model 10-12 cups ) . I don't know if the mini model (5 cup) has the same issue. JUST REMEMBER......The LONGER the length of the downtube, the SHORTER the brew contact time and the cooler the brewing temperature.


If anyone has any other alteration tips or tweaks, regarding this model, I'd be very grateful if you would share them with me - I'll hang fire with the hacksaw!

Loving too much coffee.co.uk

Regards
Wil
wil
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 7:44 pm

Postby lukas » Wed Jul 12, 2006 7:46 pm

Hm. If up time is too short, I would suggest try the finest grind possible that doesn't clog the filter. Since I was introduced to 1-minute-frenchpress-w/o-stir I even let the water come up and then add the coffee, and do a 1 minute brew + let it steep down and am always happy with the results ... this is a stove-top santos, though.
Lukas

This week I like my coffee luke-warm.
--
Newest kit: Ghibli R-15
User avatar
lukas
 
Posts: 2798
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:41 pm
Location: Germany

Postby wil » Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:48 pm

Thanks for your impute Lukas, I'll try a finer grind.
wil
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 7:44 pm

Great results with Bodum e-santos

Postby wil » Fri Jul 14, 2006 2:03 pm

Hi - Instead of hacking the end off the down-pipe on the 'funnel' piece of the Bodum e-santos ( as outlined in a latter post), 'tipping' the unit has an equally positive effect on the brewing cycle.
Again by reading some reviews on the e-santos I have learned that by added two rubber feet under the base unit and aligning the handle directly across from (approximately) the centre area between the rubber feet yields great results - sorry if my description is unclear, I'd have much rather drawn a diagram to outline this!
The rubber feet used are the same size as a 10p coin and twice the thickness. In fact, just by placing two coins under the unit will have an impact....
This simple - none final - modification has added another minute to the whole brewing cycle on my e-santos. Initionally, the brewing time was around 1min 30 seconds and now it's just over 2min 30 sec. consistently.

My last brew, using 12 cup/1500ml water and Kenya AA ground quite fine - somewhere between drip & espresso - and, using slightly less coffee than I use in my drip machine, was superb.

It's early days, but I'm so glad I bought this item as it has really brings out the flavour of the coffee. This machine has now been promoted to my afternoon coffee machine - I'm still keeping my 'press' for mornings though - the Technivorm (drip) is now second in command.

Regards
Wil
wil
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 7:44 pm

Previous

Return to Other Brewing Methods

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 28 guests