About Bodum
Bodum was founded in 1944 by Peter Bodum in Copenhagen, Denmark, originally as a glassware importer before it moved into coffee equipment with the MOCCA vacuum brewer in the early 1950s and the internationally acclaimed SANTOS vacuum coffee maker in 1958. His son Jørgen Bodum took over the company in 1974 and immediately launched Bodum's first French press, the Bistro -- a design recognized internationally for its environmentally friendly construction and the winner of multiple design awards. Jørgen relocated the company to Switzerland in 1978, and Bodum remains family-run today, headquartered in Triengen in the canton of Lucerne, with Jørgen's sister Pia Bodum also part of the ownership.
Bodum acquired the rights to the Chambord French press design and registered the trademark in 1983, turning the three-part stainless mesh plunger into the shape most people now picture when they think French press. The Chambord went on to win a Gold Medal American Culinary Award in 2003, and the same basic design -- a chemically inert borosilicate glass beaker paired with a stainless mesh filter -- has stayed essentially unchanged for four decades, which is exactly why replacement parts are still cheap and easy to find. That durability and cup quality is what we found testing the Chambord ourselves: it's the French press we reach for first, and it backs that up with the deepest owner review history of any glass press we evaluated.
Brand website: bodum.com
What Bodum makes
Bodum's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Chambord French Press
the four-decade-old three-part mesh design -- our featured pick, the press we reach for first — featured on Brew Gazette
Brazil French Press
budget-friendly borosilicate glass press, sized from single-cup to full pot -- featured in two Brew Gazette roundups — featured on Brew Gazette
Bodum Pour Over Coffee Maker
all-in-one glass carafe with a permanent stainless-mesh filter -- featured on Brew Gazette — featured on Brew Gazette
Bistro electric grinders & coffee makers
electric burr grinders and drip coffee makers
Double-wall glassware & travel mugs
insulated borosilicate glass drinkware
Tea presses
Chambord-style presses adapted for loose-leaf tea
Why we recognized Bodum
The Brew Gazette Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Bodum earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, brewed with daily, and judged on what lands in the cup.
Bodum products we rated highly
Bodum Chambord 34oz French Press Coffee Maker, Borosilicate Glass
The three-part stainless mesh filter is the reference standard for full-immersion brewing, holding back the grounds while letting the coffee's natural oils and soluble solids through for the heavy, rounded body that's the whole reason to choose a French press. The chemically inert borosilicate beaker lets you watch the bloom and the plunge and tastes of nothing but the coffee. It's been made in Portugal to the same design since the 1980s, so replacement beakers, filters, and plungers are cheap and easy to find, and it's backed by more than 28,000 owner reviews at a 4.6 average, the deepest track record of any glass press we tested.
Read the 8 Best French Presses of 2026 guide →
Bodum Brazil 12oz French Press Coffee Maker, Borosilicate Glass
At 12 ounces it's sized for exactly one drinker, so a single-cup brew fills the beaker properly instead of leaving grounds under-submerged the way a too-large press would. It brews the same full-bodied cup as the flagship Chambord through the same style of three-part mesh, just scaled down, and the compact borosilicate beaker heats fast and cleans in seconds. More than 17,000 reviews at a 4.4 average make it the most proven small press we tested.
Read the 8 Best French Presses of 2026 guide →
Bodum 34oz Brazil French Press Coffee Maker, Borosilicate Glass
It's the only genuinely dual-purpose brewer in our cold brew lineup: the same vessel makes hot French press coffee in four minutes and cold brew concentrate overnight, so it earns its counter space year-round instead of sitting in a cupboard from October to May. The plunger is the filter, the simplest mechanism in the category, and the transparent borosilicate glass lets you watch the bed settle and judge whether the grind and agitation are working. With nearly 20,000 reviews behind it, it's the cheapest credible way into cold brew for anyone who also wants a hot brewer.
Read the 10 Best Cold Brew Coffee Makers of 2026 guide →
Bodum Pour Over Coffee Maker with Permanent Filter, 34 oz
An all-in-one glass carafe plus a permanent stainless-mesh filter means no paper filters to buy, ever -- pour, brew, and serve from the same 34-ounce vessel. It's the #1 Amazon Best Seller in its category with more than 11,600 reviews behind it, a proven, mass-adopted choice for a first pour-over. The metal mesh lets the coffee's natural oils through, producing a fuller, heavier body than any paper-filtered brewer in the lineup, closer to a French press in mouthfeel.
Read the 9 Best Pour-Over Coffee Makers of 2026 guide →What earned Bodum the recognition
- One of the few brands with four products among our top picks, spanning three areas of our coffee-gear coverage: the Chambord and the Brazil 12oz among French presses, the Brazil 34oz among cold brew makers, and the Bodum Pour Over among pour-over brewers.
- Independently verified track record: more than 28,000 reviews at a 4.6 average on the Chambord alone, the deepest owner history of any glass French press we tested, with tens of thousands more spread across the Brazil and pour-over lines.
- An 80-year-old company, founded in Copenhagen in 1944, still selling the same three-part mesh Chambord design registered in 1983 -- a broken part is a cheap, easy-to-find swap rather than a reason to replace the whole press.
- The Bistro French press that launched Bodum into the category in 1974 was recognized internationally for environmentally friendly design and won multiple design awards, and the Chambord itself went on to win a Gold Medal American Culinary Award in 2003.
- A genuinely dual-purpose design in the Brazil French press -- the same vessel brews hot coffee in four minutes and cold brew concentrate overnight -- reflected directly in its place among our top picks in dedicated cold brew testing.