If you're just starting with Vac Pots, or if you drink a large amount of coffee per day then do seriously consider this one. It's inexpensive yet does a great job.
Positive Product Points
Large (12 cup) capacity, Brews an excellent cup, Wide mouth eases cleaning, finally a pot that doesn't dribble while I pour!
Negative Product Points
It's not quite as much fun as the Santos, you can't see inside the bottom pot. Longer delivery time than we expected (over two weeks), and we were not able to track down the person at Food Service Direct who is the only one who apparently can track orders from the supplier.
Detailed Commentary
I started off Vac Pot brewing on a Bodum Santos and was hooked immediately. This pot is the replacement for the Santos after the top bow was accidentally broken.
Though we're still dialing in to the best grind and quantity of coffee, every pot we've made thus far has been excellent. It takes almost exactly 15 minutes from cold water to the water starting the big move north, so it's not nearly as fast as the Santos, but considering the quantity of coffee it's making that's no an issue.
My absolutely favorite thing about the pot is the pour. I'm one of those people that is completely unable to pour coffee without at least a few drops dribbling onto the floor (or my foot if it's early in the morning, Youch!). I blame it on coffee makers' poor lip design myself. There is no lip on this pot, instead the lid has a lip (so in other words compared to other pots you might see it's kind of backwards). This means that when I'm pouring the lid channels the coffee into a nice tight stream and nary a drop!
Granted it's not nearly as pretty as most other vac pots, but it works like a champ, makes a large amount of great coffee and clean up is a breeze. What more could you want?
Buying Experience
As mentioned above, it took quite a bit longer to arrive than we had expected. We did call Food Service Direct a twice and were told both times that the individual who handles this vendor was not available and would call us back, never did get a call back. We were going to pursue it more agressively, but then the pot arrived so all is well. The people we did talk to were very nice and friendly, just unable to actually help us find out where our order was.
Three Month Followup
We managed to burn the first pot we got by leaving it to boil dry on the stove. Memo to self: don't walk away from the darn thing when it's brewing! Actually, setting the stove timer to three minutes once it goes north does the trick.
Ordering the replacement from Food Service Direct went much better than the initial order so it would appear that the difficulties we had were a glitch and not indicative of their overall service. We don't brew any other way any more and wouldn't go back.
The replacement Bodum now sits in my office at work driving everyone else on the floor nuts from the wonderful aroma. My co-worker in the next office has now bought a Bodum, a Hario and just got a FreshRoast+. I should get a commission!
