Percolator

[Fiend606]

I havn't seen a coffee percolator since I was young in the late 70s maybe early 80s. My grandparents used one and as a child I was given coffee by them but it was half coffee/half milk that I loaded with sugar as a 6 or 7 year old . I never drank percolated coffee as an adult till yesterday. I found an old but almost brand new stove top 8 cup percolator with the twist on glass bulb on top. It has no brand markings on it anywhere I can find. I made a pot of coffee with it and it was probably the best cup of coffee I've had. It was strong and smooth with great flavor.

Any body still use a percolator? Any tips or tricks to use one or improve the coffee?

 

[aldomarino]

Ditch them. They make the house smell great, but all that great smell in the air is taking away from the taste of the coffee. Plus, they keep the water too hot. Get a Bodum.

 

[Stevew443]

I have a couple electric percolators that I use on occasion plus non-electric ones that I use on camping trips. One way that I like to make coffee is with an old dripolator that I have. My grandmother had one and that was some of the best coffee ever.

 

[Savager]

I'm a coffee fanatic, and have a percolator in the regular rotation at the office. Once you get a proper grind dialed in, a perc can make a very decent retro cup of coffee!

 

[Savager]

BTW - It's a 1957 West Bend..

 

[Cphobes]

It's what we use for our group camping each summer, an old aluminum 20 cup comet I think is the brand with a glass bulb. With the glass blub you can use it over the campfire without fear of it melting.

Personally the pour over is the best for me at home.

-Stephen

 

[redrako]

For decades perking coffee was the only way most people made coffee. Perked coffee was good, strong, honest coffee, but I suspect that if I had it today it would taste slightly burnt. The only place that I saw a drip machine were the Bunn drip machines at small Mom and Pop restaurants.

I attended College nights for many years and you could save a lot of money if you took double courses (English 1 & 2) on Friday nights or Saturdays. On the first class, everyone discovered that the coffee bar was closed. I ran out the next day and bought a 30 cup percolator and would get the coffee going before class, someone else brought the cream and sugar.

I need to dig my Farberware percolator out of the attic this weekend.

 

[EL Alamein]

I've read a lot of information about percolators over the years. Many praise them while others damn them. I've read that they extract at the perfect temperature and that they extract at too hot a temperature.

IMHO, the electrics were perfected long ago and always make a perfect cup (with a few grinds, which is what I think the main criticism was of them back in the day). The taste, to me, far beats anything I've ever gotten out of a drip maker or a chemex-like product. A percolator is more akin to a coffee press IMHO.

The stove top percolators are more of an art because they require monitoring and controlling to make a perfect cup. Once dialed in I feel they do just an excellent a job as their electric counterparts. The taste is just a tad different to me though. Slightly better IMHO, but I don't know why.

I've used nearly everything available and settled on the percolator. I used to use a 40+ year old at the office to make my own until I was told that it was a safety hazard and I couldn't use it anymore (yes, most of my co-workers were shocked when some nanny came around sounding the alarm that I was making my own coffee in a percolator and that it was a safety issue). At home I used a stove top, which I prefer.

Use what you like. Never confuse the box office for the critics.

Chris

 

[yakster]

If you live at high altitudes, the lower boiling point of water improves the results with a percolator and moka pots too.

 

[Fiend606]

I've just been heating it up on medium heat and once it starts percolating I turn it down to a very low heat where it percolates slowly but steadily for 10 minutes. I don't get any kind of burnt taste. The coffee is strong and smooth. It has a flavor I don't get with the keurig or the drip maker that I really like. I'm not too fond of the grounds in the last cup of the pot but I can accept it for the flavor and I get a caffeine buzz off two cups in my regular mug which I havn't felt in a long time drinking coffee.

 

[chongo gordo]

I recently received an Espresso Zone catalog, and they had a nice looking percolator; glass bulb, stainless construction. I've heard the same from the above commentator, they run too hot and it burns the coffee. My Bialetti always burned my coffee too. I've never had much luck with stove-top coffee makers.