~A super little cafetiere~
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This very nice looking and easy to use Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere was something I bought before xmas from Debenhams when it was reduced in price. Once I had tried it out and found it to be a very nice little cafetiere I bought another one to give as a xmas gift to a fellow fan of freshly made cafetiere coffee, which I feel shows how pleased I am with my initial purchase. I must admit that when I was looking at similar products I was mostly drawn to this one based on its cheap as chips price and although I wasn't expecting all that much from this item it really has been a pleasure to use as it makes a lovely cup of hot steamy coffee every time.

When wanting to review my Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere here it wasn't listed as a product so a suggestion was made to allow me to share my thoughts about it. With its nice sleek silver toned appearance and well made easy to operate plunger and filter I feel the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere was a really good buy and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. When I compare the price of this to many of the other similar cafetieres I saw on sale I feel this is super value as even at it original sale price of £11 (which is what is was when I bought mine before discounts) it was miles cheaper than any other similar sized cafetiere that I saw in Debenhams.


~Presentation and packing~
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The way that the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere is presented does have a slightly budget feel to it as the box has a no frills kind of look and when I bought mine the massive yellow £11 offer sticker was stuck to both sides of my box. When I tried to take the big yellow sticker off of the second cafetiere box that I gave as a gift, it was stuck so firmly on that I made rather a mess of the box on one side. In the end I gave up trying to prize the sticker off and gave the slightly mangled box as it was as I had no other choice. The colour scheme of the box is a simple black and white and shows a nice piccy of the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere on it which gives an idea of what you are getting.

The rest of the box is fine as far as I am concerned as it provides enough protection for the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere when you need to transport it from store to home. Once I unpacked the one I kept it had plenty of brown cardboard around it to protect it and the glass part of the coffer maker was sleeved in a protective layer to keep the glass scratch and blemish free (which mine was). The body and plunger of the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere all arrived looking new and pristine once out of the box, so I feel what the packing lacked in fancy fripperies on the outside, it more than made up with by being well made and sturdy enough to protect what is mostly a glass based item whilst in transit.


~A Super silver coffee maker~
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The pieces that make up my Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere are all well made and easy to care for. I have washed my coffee maker by hand and in the dishwasher and it comes out well either way. So far the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere has come up nice and clean with no real problems of any note that would effect its usage. The clear glass body of the coffee maker is not all that thick although it is more than strong enough to hold up to the daily use it has had since I bought this. There are no scratches or marks on the glass and it has not cracked even though I have not been all that careful with it every time I have used it or washed it.

The metal parts of the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere are still very slivery and shiny even after this little beauty has been used daily and then washed and rinsed off. The only really slightly annoying thing that I find is that if I wash the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere in the dishwasher it can sometimes end up with slight water marks on the silver lid and sides which need a little rub with a soft clean cloth or tissue to get them off. Other than that there has been no problem with the silver metal work that makes up the side supports of the coffee maker and there has been no loss of lovely silvery colour on them at all.

The lid of the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere has a sleek silver toned finish yet it is secretly made from a very durable plastic type material with an inner part that is finished in paler plastic. The silver lid has a hole through the centre through which the plunger arm runs and this means that the plunger, lid and filter are all fitted to the same central metal arm. The lid can be moved along the arm and the filter section with its fine metal mesh and metal base sits secured at the base of the plunger arm and cannot be moved as it is a static item. The filter in the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere is made from a very fine mesh that has a slightly curved shape at the sides which can sometimes trap coffee grounds in the gap that runs all the way around the metal base and the mesh base.

This is not too much of a problem when using the coffee maker as when it is in use it traps everything in its path and leaves no nasty particles in my coffee. The only time that the trapped grounds are an issue is when washing and rinsing the item as you do need to rinse them out by hand, regardless of whether you intend to wash the whole thing by hand or in the dishwasher. I don't mind this too much as I need to get rid of the rest of the coffee grounds in any case so I tend to give the whole thing a light rinse before it goes into the dishwasher which takes no time at all.


~Making a nice black coffee~
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Obviously the quality of the coffee used in the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere does effect the final result you get, although I have had some rather good results with this even when using some of the cheaper coffees such as the Sainsburys own label ones. I have found that this will produce a really nice coffee with a good smooth flavour to it which is in part due to the fine mesh filter that the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere uses to keep my coffee drink smooth and coffee ground free. I also find that as per the makers instructions it is best to add a little warm water to the clean and empty glass housing prior to filling it with coffee and hot water as this will minimize the chances of the glass cracking or breaking when in use. This warm water is t be discarded before filling up the coffee maker for use.

I find that to make a whole jug of coffee I need to put a number of heaped teaspoons full of coffee into the base of the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere then fill it with hot water giving it a light stir before I put the lid on top of the whole thing. At that point once the lid is in place I like to leave the coffee to do its thing for a coupe of minutes before pressing down the plunger. Now there are a number of things that I have tried out with this to see which produces the nicest drink and my tried and tested methods have been as follows.

Method one has been to leave the coffee in the glass housing with the plunger up for longer than usual to see what effect that would have on the taste of my drink. When leaving the coffee to its own devices for up to 5 minutes then operating the plunger I found that the coffee produced was in the main too bitter and overly strong, so I scrapped that idea. Method two was to allow the coffee to remain unplunged for 2 minutes and then press the plunger half way down only and leave it like that while I drank my first cup. The result here was that the next cups of coffee were once again too strong with some bitterness.

The third and final method was to allow the coffee to remain in the glass part for 2 minutes then plunge the whole thing gently to the bottom of the container and this was what made the best coffee. I now use this easy method every time and it never fails to produce a good hot black coffee with plenty of flavour and no nasty bits floating around in it. I find that the plunger arm works nice and smoothly when I use it and the remains or grounds of the coffee are always kept away from the liquid, leaving a nice smooth particle free coffee drink.


~Product rating~
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Although the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere is meant to be an 8 cup item, I feel that these 8 cups must be the teeny tiny type and not the full sized mugs that we all drink our tea and coffee in these days. As such I have found that the right amount of mugs per filled coffee jug is actually closer to 3 1/2 to 4 medium sized mugs which in reality will give two people roughly 2 mugs of coffee each. As the size of the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere is not super large, I feel this is a good amount of coffee per use. In terms of rating the Debenhams Silver 8 Cup Cafetiere I feel that for the money it offers a well made and attractive to look at product which is easy to use and as such I want to give it a 5 star product rating.