Nearly 6 million French press coffee makers sold across the country are being recalled after dozens of people reported getting burned by shattering glass carafes. Bodum USA announced the voluntary recall of certain 8- and 12-cup French press models with replaceable glass carafes, warning that the carafes can break unexpectedly during use and pose a risk of serious burn injuries.
70 Breakage Reports, 48 Burns
The recall stems from 70 reports of glass carafes breaking during use, including 48 reports of consumers being burned, according to Daily Coffee News. The outlet reports that Bodum USA is recalling roughly 5.9 million units in the United States, and that damaged or cracked carafes can break without warning, posing a risk of serious burn injuries. As Boston 25 News notes, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall alongside Bodum.
Eight Bodum lines are covered under the recall: Bistro, Brazil, Caffettiera, Chambord, Crema, Java, Jesper and Kenya, per the same account from Daily Coffee News. All of the affected products are 8-cup or 12-cup French presses built with replaceable glass carafes, a design that has been a kitchen staple in American homes for decades.
A Common Culprit: Metal Spoons
The recall notice points to a specific habit that can make the glass vulnerable to shattering later on. Metal spoons or other metal utensils used to stir coffee inside the carafe can damage the glass, the same report states, and the carafe may break during a future use. Bodum is urging owners to switch to non-metal stirring tools going forward.
To that end, Bodum said in its statement, carried by PR Newswire, that it is providing affected U.S. consumers with a free Bodum-designed plastic stirring spoon and an additional warning label. Notably, the recall remedy does not include refunds or replacement coffee makers, according to the Daily Coffee News report.
Decades of Sales, Nationwide Reach
The scale of the recall is tied to how long these French presses have been on the market. The affected coffee makers were sold from 1974 through October 2026 at Target, Walmart and coffee and home goods stores nationwide, per Daily Coffee News, with retail prices ranging from roughly $15 to $65 depending on the model and size.
Not Bodum's First Recall Rodeo
This isn't the first time a Bodum-linked French press has drawn a federal recall. Years earlier, Starbucks recalled about 230,000 French presses sold in the U.S., plus another roughly 33,000 in Canada, after reports of injuries tied to a different design flaw, according to Denver7. That recall covered the Bodum + Starbucks Recycled Coffee Press, roughly 263,000 units of which were sold between November 2016 and January 2019 for about $20 each, as Daily Coffee News reported separately. In that case, eight people in the U.S. and one in Canada complained that the plunger knob broke, causing lacerations and puncture injuries, Denver7 reported, and those units had been sold in Starbucks stores and online, as well as through independent sellers on eBay, Amazon and Walmart.com.
The current recall involves a glass-carafe hazard, unlike the earlier recall involving a broken plunger knob. For now, Bodum's fix for current owners is simple: request the plastic spoon and warning label through Bodum's recall website or by phone, then switch from metal to non-metal stirring tools.
