Customer Reviews

Bodum 5670-01USA Antigua Burr Grinder

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I read a LOT of reviews on burr grinders before I purchased this unit. I will be honest, I was tempted to return it until I came to my senses. Before I explain what i mean by 'came to my senses' lets go over some basic reality checks.

To get a fantastic cup of coffee one needs a couple of combined elements.

1.Filtered Water is a must ! (If your Pur or Brita is 5 months old, replace it!)

2.Coffee Maker that brews at the proper temperature (95-98 șC)

3.Slow brew for proper flavor extraction. Why pay for nice coffee if you don't even get the flavor out of it !

If your coffee maker brags about the fact that it makes a full pot of coffee in 2 minutes, then you should just throw it away now.

4.An even grind of the beans will ensure a smooth and robust flavor. Standard grinders produce what many call 'boulders and dust" meaning they have very large course grounds mixed with grinds meant for espresso. Grinds that are too fine will seep into your coffee. Gritty coffee .. ewwww.

5. Caribou Coffe says to use 2 tablespoons of ground coffee per 8oz cup. I think that comes out too strong and is just a waste of expensive coffee. On average I just use 1 HUGE scoop per cup, or if I am feeling extra fancy, 1.5 scoops per cup. (coffee turns out smooth and robust)

So with that said, lets go into the Bodum Antigua.

1. I did a french press grind in a standard 20.00 grinder. (Gave a valiant effort and took my time) and then set the antigua to a course grind. When I spread them out and did an honest appraisal, I found that the Bodum grinder had a greater ratio of evenly ground beans over the 20.00 standard grinder.

I did the same thing for a medium grind, and the results were the same as above: more even grind from Antigua. (I would actually go so far as to say that Bodum grinder shines the best for a medium grind used in everyday drip coffee makers verses espresso or french press )

2. So lets finally reveal what I meant by 'came to my senses'. We can all nitpick this burr grinder to death. However at the end of the day, lets be honest; You get what you pay for.

IF i want 'the perfect grind' then I am not going to find that in a 60.00 grinder. The only way I am going to get NEAR it is with a $150.00 - $250.00 grinder. The PERFECT grind will probably only come from $500- $1,200 dollar giant industrial grade coffe house grinders.

Reality check.

1. All burr grinders produce static.

IMHO the Bodum Antigua has minimal static.

2. They are all going to be noisy, get over it.

3. Anything under 500+ dollars is going to produce a certain amount of 'boulders and dust'. Is there a 'boulder and dust' effect produced by this machine: absolutely. Is is less than a 20.00 grinder: YES ..

4. You always get what you pay for.

Summary

-Its not a $500.00 or a $300.00 or a $150.00 grinder. Its a $60.00 grinder and functions like one. Its better than a 20.00 grinder of any quality. It has smaller 'boulders' and not so fine 'dust'. If i was comparing it to standard grinders I would give it 5 stars. However I am comparing it to $200.00 grinders, so it gets 3 stars. I hope this helps in the decision of your purchase.

When I purchased it my expectations were too high. I expected it to perform like the Pro grinders at coffee houses. I was about to return it until I realized, 'ya know, for the money I paid, I am just going to be content and realize that all grinders in this price range are going to produce a certain amount of 'boulders and dust'.. Its certainly a leap above my Mr.Coffee 20.00 grinder. So I kept it.. and ya know what.. The coffee tastes great !

I first heard about this grinder from my local coffeehouse They give them away when you join the safari expedition. Buy at least three lb. of coffee every 4 or 6 weeks at bargain prices and get a free gift from a choice of products after a set time. www.safaricoffee.com Truly fabulous and very fresh coffee.

This coffee grinder doesn't seem to ever need cleaning unless it gets a rock in the blades. Why? Because they had the ingenius idea of putting the whole on the top instead of at the side where the ground coffee exits thus gravity keeps the pathway clear. I have never cleaned it in the last 2 months I have had it. It does produce some static but there are some tips to reducing that.
1. Use very fresh beans that you can see the oils on. They should stick to the sides of the glass you keep them in.
2. Never chill or freeze your beans. This greatly increases the chance of static. Store them in a vacuum sealed canister like a Tilia or other air tight lidded jar suitable for coffee.
3. Let them sit a minute in the container after grinding to allow any accumulated electricity to subside.
4. Stick a metal coffee scoop (Starbucks sells them even though I no longer buy their beans.) in the grinds as you slowly open the container they grind into. (best trick of all)
I find that doing all these simple things greatly reduces the chance of static and mess.

I don't understand why people complain about the timer. If it doesn't make enough run it some more. Making too much? Swivel the top toward the right and it will stop grinding immediately. I think maybe there were some design flaws on some earlier models or a bunch of people got some lemons. I have looked at many reviews for this product on other websites and mostly, people highly praise the Bodum. I have tried all the grind settings, Drip, fine drip, press pot coarse grind, and espresso. I am very happy with this product (I've tried three different burr grinders). It is fairly quiet and the best bargain for a conical burr grinder on the market, which are the best burr type grinders you can buy.

added note 1/21/08 I still use this grinder everyday, it's great!

What is the problem? We've had this grinder for three years. We have never had a single problem. When we bought it, it was the only grinder we could find that allowed you to choose how fine/coarse you wanted to grind the beans. We've used it ever since. It grinds beautifully for both our drip pot and our French Press.
It does create static electricity, but so does every other grinder we've ever had. The best part is the construction. It's still going strong after 1,000+ uses! We love it!

We have had this grinder for 4 years and have subjected it to torture at least 5 times a day with multiple grinds at each time. We are espresso freaks. It continues to work like new. If a bean is ever jammed you just give it a tap, and vioal! fixed. This is the first grinder we have ever had that lasted more than one year in our house. We have had more than 5 grinders this decade alone! And all were different brands. It is also the first one that we never had to clean up after. The grind, coarse to fine, is accurate and infinite. Can not say enough good or rave enough. Unless you go up to close to $300 you are NOT going to get more of a work horse. The grind is also consistant, no rocks among the sand like with the cuisinart. It also is very very good looking on the counter. The photo does not do it justice.

This burr grinder is companion to my Bodum water kettle and Bodum mini-Santos electric coffee maker, which uses beans stored in my Bodum glass jars.

I like Bodum design.

I use the Antigua for one grind only: the medium/Santos grind. It works fine for that and is a great improvement over using a whizzy blade/spice grinder. I cannot attest to whether it produces an acceptable espresso grind, because I don't have an espresso machine.

I'm starting to think that Bodum afficionados fall on the Mac side of the Mac/PC divide, but I could be wrong. Bodum produces products that look great and function in their own special way...if you don't want to do things the Bodum way, don't make the mistake of choosing one of their products, I guess.

Some caveats:

1. The timer knob that controls the duration of grind (and thus amount of coffee ground) seems potentially flimsy. Don't run past it wearing a lot of loose clothing because you may snag it and pull it off...also don't hammer nails with the timer knob, or hold onto the knob while spinning the grinder about your head. Just gently turn the knob.

2. Said knob also has questionable settings: the 3 cup setting produces 1/4 of the amount of coffee the Santos is supposed to use for 3 cups, so its settings don't even correspond to the secret enchanted world of Bodum's own standards. Just find the setting that works for you and use it.

3. This is the BIGGEST PROBLEM with this machine and the reason I've rewritten this part of the review: the mess. This machine has a SEVERE problem with static electricity causing ground coffee to go everywhere. I know, it sounds crazy, but it's true. 75% of the time (winter or summer) when I pull out the cup to get the grounds, they spray up and out of the cup; they coat the part of the machine ABOVE the cup (not where they drop from) so that when you try to put the cup back in, the vibration causes them all to fall everywhere. AND GET THIS: when I stick the spoon in the cup to measure out the coffee, the static causes grounds to coat my hand and fly out of the cup. Almost every time I use this machine I have to spend time brushing up/wiping up coffee grounds. I really ticks me off. Am I some sort of human dynamo? I've told Bodum about this problem but never heard anything from them.

4. Lifestyle problem: let's say you drink both caff and decaf (please, avoid the cute tags like "leaded" and "unleaded"), but mostly caff. So you got your caff beans sitting in the grinder on a daily basis. What happens when you want decaf? With my old Luddite blade grinder, I just wiped out the caff residue and poured in some decaf beans. But with my new setup, I need to tip out the caff beans into a bowl or something, put in the decaf beans, grind, remove the extra decaf beans and replace the caff beans. Shouldn't every American be provided with an assistant for this kind of drudgery?

I had mine for 6 months, used maybe twice a week, and it just stopped working. I took it apart, and they use a steel helical gear on the shaft of the motor which meshes with a PLASTIC gear in the gear box. Sure enough, the teeth on the plastic gear were sheared off, creating a dead spot on the gear. Really poor design (all metal gears or a clutch would be better).
Bodum doesn't sell parts online, but I'm not into replacing a gear every 6 months. Interestingly, Bodum sells the unit online for less than here. Maybe they are trying to dump them.
Avoid this unit at any price, and think carefully about other Bodum products which might share weak engineering.

I've owned this product for 5 years and use it several times a week and have never had any problems with it PERIOD. So I can't understand what all the quality complaints are??

I have now used this grinder to grind coffee for over 100 pots of cofffee. This grinder works wonderfully. There is no real "static cling" as noted in other reveiws. The grind is consistent. There is no mess. The machine is noisy, but no nosier than a blade grinder. The only improvement I can suggest would be the on off dial. The switch is similar to timer switches on a hotel heat lamp control. It is often difficult to judge how far to turn it to complete the grind. There is a sound difference when the beans are done in the hopper. I usually measure the beans for the current pot and put only enough for that in the hopper. If all the beans are not ground and I haven't heard the sound difference I just turn the switch again. Overall a great machine for the price.

I used this grinder daily for a little more than two years for drip and some French press coffee. About a month after the warranty expired, a small stone from a batch of locally roasted beans lodged itself in the burrs and killed the machine. The motor cut-off feature apparently failed and now the machine doesn't work correctly anymore. The burrs move very slowly and the motor makes a horrible noise.

Now, when it worked it worked well. The grind quality was very good. Noise and static problems were minimal for me - there's no way around these problems in my experience with sub-$200 grinders. It is tricky to keep the chamber for the grinds clean as you remove and replace it. Sometimes it won't go back in and you notice some extra grind fell down and made a "snow bank" in the back preventing the bin from seating.

All things considered, this still seems to be the lowest price out there for a conical burr grinder. However, I have just ordered a Capresso Infinity to replace it.

Note as you shop if you have never bought a burr grinder before, there are (at least) two kinds: the kind usually found in these cheaper machines uses two hardened plates that crush/grind the beans between them. The more expensive units as well as this Bodum use conical burrs which are cone-shaped (!) with sharp ridges cast into them which cut/grind the beans. This type usually produces more consistent grind, less bean-damaging heat, and less powdery by-product (less static too in my experience). The presense of the conical-type burrs on such an inexpensive unit makes this Bodum stand out, even if the construction of the machine housing those high-end burrs is disappointing.

Absolutely the worst grinder made... knobs will vibrate off, coffee hopper will never fit correctly, huge static electricity build up so coffee dust will fly out of hopper and create a mess everyplace on the unit, the grinder teeth never grind cleanly there is always a teaspoon of coffee waiting to fall when the hopper is pulled out! DO NOT BUY THIS AT ANY PRICE. Ammazon requires a "Star" rating this gets ZERO stars even though they made me post one star.