I don’t mean using a drip coffee-maker. I’m talking about the pot on the stove with the basket inside in which you put fresh ground beans, fill it with water, boil it and wait for it to start shooting up into the glass bubble on the top of the lid. That kind of perking.
My mom just bought me a perk-style coffee pot from ebay. I feel like I’m in sort of an elite (if impractical) group now.
I’m not a huge coffee drinker, but from what I understand, the taste of perked coffee is significantly different (in a good way) from dripped coffee. Anyone have an opinion on this either way?
I used to use an old glass percolator that belonged to my grandmother. Unfortunately, even the stem holding the basket was glass and it eventually broke. I’ve also used an aluminum percolator on camping trips.
I’d say the difference is that percolated coffe keeps more of the bitter edge (think espresso) than drip coffee. I like it both ways, if the coffee is good.
There is something very cozy about having a percolator on your stove, though.
But I don’t use it. I remember hearing a percolator when I was a kid. The perking became slower and slower until the coffee was done. (It was an electric percolator and no doubt had a thermostat.) Percolating coffee gives me a very nostalgic feeling. I haven’t tried the electric one my dad gave me. He had a couple, and I don’t remember if this is the one that didn’t work well. I also have a blue enamel pot I can use on the stove or when I’m camping.
I also have a drip pot. You boil water and pour it into the filter manually. Hey, it works. I don’t use that one either.
I have a Krupps espresso/cappuccino machine. I don’t make cappuccino. Too much hassle. Just give me the espresso with some sugar in it! That one’s packed away because I still plan to move… eventually! Now when I want espresso I use the stove-top pot. That one makes “six cups”, but they’re talking about demitasses. I’ve found that it makes one nice big mug of espresso. (I’ve been known to get 10-shot espressos from coffee houses.)
But recently I’ve just been having coffee. I make it in a French press that makes enough for two large mugs. With some Trader Joe’s French Roast (737g./US$7.49) it’s good coffee!
Has anyone tried Vietnamese coffee (I don’t have the fonts, but it’s like “café sua da”)? I have two makers. They look like little stainless steel saucers with demitasses attached. To make the coffee, do this: Put some sweetened condensed milk into a coffee cup. Put some espresso grind into the “demitasse”, which has a perforated bottom and put that on top of the cup with the milk. Screw the filter-thing on top of it and back it off a turn. Pour in just a little boiling water. Wait about 30 seconds, then fill the “demitasse” part up to the top. Put the lid on. Wait about 10-15 minutes as the coffee drips (one or two drips at a time) into the cup. When it’s done, remove the lid and set it upside-down on the counter. You can put the maker on top of it and it catches any residual drips. Stir the coffee and sweetened condensed milk well. Pour into a glass of ice. Ooooh! That’s good coffee!
There are percolators out there, but there are other choices. I think most people probably find drip coffee better. But I’ll keep my percolators, just in case.
This is really what I’m wondering…does drip coffee really taste better, or is it the predominant method just because it’s so much more convenient? It’s a heck of a lot quicker to throw some grinds into a filter, dump water into a tank and let the thing rip. Percolating requires waiting for the water to boil, then timing the legth of the percolation, then letting things settle down…all before you can drink. Hell, with a drip machine, you can snag yourself a cup before the thing’s done dripping just by putting your cup beneath the drip. The only thing quicker than that is instant (bleah).
Not to be snooty or anything, but American Coffee is somewhat of a joke outside the U.S. ; It probably doesn’t matter how you brew it.
I am kind of nostalgic for the rythmic …schkrrroonk!! pause …Schkrooonk!! myself, but my parents made this really wimpy weak stuff in an electric percolator.
The problem with perking coffee is that each time the coffee passes through the grounds, it picks up bitter oils and tastes nastier and nastier each go-round. With percolated coffee, the coffee has passed through the grounds multiple times. The “best” coffee has the water pass through the grounds only once.
I have three Italian espresso makers (small, medium & large.) They perk coffee on the stove~top, or open fire but do make a bitter cup of coffee. I like Fenris’ explanation as to why; I use these for camping & travelling only.
I have an electric percolator, too. The problem is, although I like the coffee it makes, it doesn’t keep it warm for long. I like to drink my morning coffee over an hour or so…
so…Philistine that I am, I use a drip coffee maker, mostly. I like the kind that keeps the coffee hot in a thermal jug so it doesn’t get that icky boiled coffee taste.
Fenris beat me to it. Percolator coffee is like taking a drip coffee maker, using half the amount of ground coffee that you really need, brewing it, then pouring that brewed coffee through again and again. Yuck. You’re basically boiling the coffee.
I have a french press and it is definitely better than a drip. I don’t know how I lived without it.
Tedster, I also have fond childhood memories of that “schlop, schlop” sound the precolator makes. My mother still has a percolator, but she doesn’t use it.
I have an old glass percolater and like it better than the more up to date devices. My mother gave it to me when I expressed a desire for one. She has a whole collection, obatained from garage sales and flea markets. Several years ago the glass stem on hers broke and she went off to the store to get another, not even realizing that they aren’t made anymore. So she started the collection so she would never be without. I love the sound too.
We use an old aluminum percolator coffe maker on camping trips. The ONLY advantage is that you can brew coffee on a campstove. The actual taste is reminicent of cafeteria coffee, which IMHO, is one of the vilest, nasty substances around. If I didn’t need a caffeine jolt after sleeping on the ground on a leaky airmatress, in a leaky tent, I wouldn’t even bother.
Elkman, you reminded me of how to make good coffee around a campfire… And it doesn’t even require a leaky air mattress… !
First, you need one of those old style graniteware coffee pots, like something out of a Gunsmoke episode works fine. More importantly, you need good coffee.
The problem is, you can’t hurry this process. It can be done overnight, though. Basically, you fill the pot with clean, cold water, dump a handful of coffee in, and set the pot sort of near the fire. The trick is, to slowly heat the coffee, it might take 3 or 4 hours or more, it never boils or comes close to those temps. Very smooooooth…
When the carafe on my last drip machine broke, I was about to buy a whole new machine since replacement carafes cost only a dollar or so less than a whole new machine.
I mentioned this carafe-pricing scam in a conversation with Smother-in-law and she mentioned that although she hates coffee, her late husband took a thermos of it to work every day and that the old electric percolator was probably still
in the back of one of her cupboards. It was; but the cord,
wasn’t.
For the $3 cost of a cord, I had a “new” coffee pot–a considerable savings over a $15 carafe or a $16 whole new machine.
This percolator has a very-low-wattage heater because it dates back to a time when 60 amp electric service was state of the art. It takes 15 minutes to brew a full pot. Maybe the newer percolators overcook the coffee, but this one, with a 450 watt element vice the 1200 watts of either a modern percolator or a modern drip maker, makes excellent coffee.
I use either coffee filters especially made for percolator baskets, or I carefully punch a hole in a drip filter for the stem. I also remove the grounds as soon as brewing stops to avoid nasty-tasting re-brews while keeping my coffee warm.
I also have a camp percolator. It needs constant attention to keep it from boiling over, but I like the taste of the coffee better than drip coffee. Again, I filter and I immediately remove grounds as soon as the coffee’s done.
Properly percolated coffee has a better aroma and flavor than drip coffee IMHO.
How ironic. I am sipping my percolated coffee as I type this. My husband and I are living in a studio apartment (read: glorified dorm room), and our kitchen is so small that two people have difficulty physically standing in it at the same time. So because there is no room for appliences, we bought a stovetop percolator- I like the taste myself, perhaps because I use so much milk and sugar.
When we move to a place with a real kitchen, and can bring our coffee maker out (along with the microwave, food processor, breadmaker, and toaster), we’ll keep the percolator for camping.
I had a percolator for years, I believe a Sunbeam. But when it died, I went with the easy route (and because they’re alot cheaper, as I found out) and got just a plain ol’ Mr. Coffee coffeemaker. I still prefer perked coffee, though. It may not be as “clean” or whatever, but to me the flavor is much better than with a regular coffeemaker.
I’ve also made coffee on the stove, when I was between coffee makers, and it was really good, too, but STRONG. I never got the hang of it, and got tired of straining coffee.
Nothing like a good cuppa Joe to munch on in the mornings.
Silky “I’d like some coffee in my cream and sugar, please” Threat
