Brill Stone French Press Coffee & Tea Maker Complete Bundle (34 Oz â 1 Liter) 4 Items â Double Wall Stainless Steel French Press, Serving Scoop, Dessert Spoon & 4 Ultra-Fine Filter Screens

I'm very happy with this French press coffee maker. I've just used it for the first time today and the coffee came out delicious. My wife was delighted to be served a freshly-made cup of excellent coffee.The reason I deducted 1 star is that the finish is marred. Not badly, just some scrapes, scuffs, and a couple of small pits on the outside of the handle. The weld of the handle to the body is a little weird-looking too but I doubt I would even have noticed if not for the other issues with the finish. The scrapes, scuffs and pits make it look not-quite-new as if I have been using it for few months.Also, when I took it out of the box it did have some heavy black grease smudges on the outside which I'm guessing were left over from the manufacturing process. Not a problem, just a little surprising.I want to make special mention of the utensils that came with it. I've only used them once but they feel like they are of very high quality. The fit and appearance of the cover and plunger mechanism seems to be excellent. And as I mentioned, it works really well which is the most important thing.For anyone who is not familiar, it takes about 5 minutes to make the coffee. With the plunger fully raised, measure very hot (but not boiling) water into the pot.Add 1 scoop of coffee per cup of water. Stir and make sure the grounds are fully submerged before replacing the cover. After brewing for 4 minutes, slowly push the plunger down to trap the grounds in the bottom of the pot. Pour coffee and enjoy.It seems to be strongly built. Assuming it lasts for a reasonable amount of time, I fully expect that I will look for another one of these when the time comes.Update: It's been about 2 months since I bought this coffee press and I'm changing my rating from 4-stars to 5-stars. I use it nearly every day and many days I use it twice. I seldom buy coffee in a shop anymore because I can make it better myself at a fraction of the price.The pot has stood up amazingly well - it looks much the same today as the day I received it. I'm starting to believe that it is going to last for many years of daily use. After each use I rinse it clean and wipe dry - it takes about 20 seconds. About once a week I take it apart and clean it more thoroughly - it takes a few minutes. It's super easy to disassemble, reassemble, and keep clean.I have a history of buying appliances and then after the novelty wears off they sit unused in the cabinet. Not this time! This is way better then a plug-in coffee maker - no contest. Not only is the coffee better but it's more convenient. It doesn't require an outlet or paper filters, it takes up less counter space, and is much easier to clean.

I recently read an article on the different ways the average coffee drinker could make his morning cup of Joe. I've always used a Mr. drip maker and since I use a sweetened creamer I really didn't know the difference between a so so cup and a great cup so it really didn't matter how I brewed it especially since I only drink two cups each morning and I'm done for the day. Now to what I have discovered. I watched a YouTube video on how to make Cowboy coffee but so far have not tried that method. Maybe on my next camping trip I'll try it. Next I bought a stove top percolator (Farberware 8 cup SS) and was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted compared to the drip maker. I then bought a electric coffee maker (Hamilton Beach 8 cup) as well as this Brill Stone French Press. Here are my conclusions. The stove top and the electric percolators as well as the this Brill Stone press makes far better coffee than a drip maker. However my standard barer will now be the electric percolator as it is the easiest to clean up. A couple of small negatives to this French press. First is that there are no instructions in or on the box to tell you how to use it (so search YouTube to show you how) and second since I am a slow drinker the other cup of coffee in the French Press gets luke warm waiting for me to finish it. It is not insulated very well and I have to put the second cup in the microwave to get it hot enough to drink. One last thing. If you look at all the French Press Stainless Steel coffee makers on Amazon you will see that there are at least 4 or 5 that look exactly like this one. Right down to the size, handle, lid and spout. But they are sold under as many different names. So who really does make them so that others can market them under their name? That was a rhetorical question. I really don't care. I picked this one because it had these nice little measurers and the price was right. I gave this 4 stars only because they don't have 3 1/2.

I purchased this French Press in the chrome color to test out. I was intrigued by the French Press method of brewing coffee because I cannot drink a lot of coffee and this product seems great for people who either want to try different types of coffee in small batches (e.g., from a small amount of ground coffee that they have purchased at a specialty coffee shop) or who only want to make 1-3 cups of coffee at a time. The kit came with the French Press, a tablespoon measure for coffee, and a spoon (not pictured in my photo), as well as extra filters for the French Press. I tested out the French Press with some Starbucks French Roast Coffee. Instructions were not included that I could find so I made up my own recipe - I added 1.5 tablespoons of coffee and 1.5 cups of hot water to the French Press and let it sit for about 7-8 minutes; then, I pressed down the French Press so that the coffee grounds would be filtered out when I poured the coffee out. The resulting coffee was pretty delicious given the short preparation time and I am excited to try out other coffees. The French Press can also be used to brew tea, using loose tea leaves, in the same way as it is used to brew coffee. I have also read that French Presses can be used to make cold brew coffee, which I am going to try (this just requires adding coffee grounds and water to the French Press in the same way that you would to make hot coffee, but then the container is left to soak overnight in the refrigerator). I am excited about the many different ways this French Press can be used which is a major plus for this product.The best part about this French Press as compared to others is that it is not made of flimsy glass or plastic. While this means I cannot see the water level in the kettle, it does mean that the press is more sturdy and I do not use it with a fear of dropping it and breaking the whole thing.Overall, I highly recommend this and am glad I purchased this product.