But not like that!
This end of my counter is not usually so cluttered* the photo is to show you the mess one single cafetiere can make when the beaker bursts! It happened suddenly and the liquid went everywhere. Over my trousers and my shoes, on the counter, across the floor, on the sides of the cooker and the washing machine beside it.
can you see the hole
Can you see the hole at the bottom of the Bodum® cafetiere? It is just behind the upright bar with the name embossed on it.
rinsed for a clearer photo
I found the larger piece of glass on the floor at the side of my cooker when cleaning up the mess.
I have been a Bodum® customer for many years now. I have an Assam Tea press and cafetières in several sizes, that are in regular use. I am very careful with the glass and always wash & dry each one by hand, I do not have or ever possessed a dishwasher.
This break was spontaneous, and the first time it ever happened to me! I decided to get in touch with Bodum®, explain my problem and I added photos for evidence purposes. I asked if there was a reason why this should happen when, instructions are followed to the letter?
I had an immediate reply!
It would seem to us that your question is answered in the photographs you have provided. It would appear from the first to [sic] photographs that a metal spoon was being used. In the third photograph the instructions for use are shown where it states that coffee should be stirred with plastic or wooden spoons not metal.
By this stage my glass beaker was in the bin, so I immediately went to look at the larger sizes in my cupboard. They do not mention anything about metal cutlery, one way or the other.
I then went rummaging in the bin for the object of my complaint. The print on the glass is smaller and in a place close to the handle, so more difficult to read.
Why must the print of what is considered to be an important issue, be so small?
I have taken another photo of three cafetieres. The tissue in each is to make the print more readable.
Bodum Cafetieres
I did write back, admitting that I had not read the instructions, as I had been using the cafetieres successfully for many years and did not expect them to have changed.
I did wonder if there has been a recent spate of problems and the small instruction about the non use of metal cutlery was to cover the company in these days of a compensation conscious culture. I made no suggestion of compensation. I was not burned. I only wanted to let them know of my disappointment.
“Metal cutlery should never be used with glass.”
I grew up in the days of china cups and fine glasswere. My mother taught me to use a metal spoon when pouring hot liquid into a glass or china cup, to diffuse the heat and prevent the glass/china cracking. I have done that for over fifty years without a problem, even with Bodum® cafetieres.
Now go back and take another look at the last photo. The single one with the broken glass has a metal frame, while the others are made of plastic. If it is not considered safe to use a metal spoon inside the glass, surely it is not a good idea to market them with a metal frame.
With each purchase of a Bodum® cafetiere, I found a plastic measuring spoon in the pack. Perhaps it might me a helpful marketing idea for Bodum® to switch the measuring spoon for a long handled plastic spoon with the brand name on it!
What do you think?
* My Microwave had to be moved a couple of weeks ago, when water began dripping through my ceiling ( a story for another day). It is now on the far end of the counter and I am waiting for help to set it back up on the wall brackets. My arms can no longer take the weight and lift it up onto the wall brackets, while standing on a step ladder. Grrr!
