Percolator?

People as a whole drink a great deal of coffee but its not made very well. Home and commercial coffee makers are drip style... one pass of hot water though the ground coffee and its over. Frankly from any objective technical analysis this is ridiculous.. When my Mother got married one of the gifts she received was a General Electric percolator... stainless steel, construction... great electrics, quality made machine.. It works perfectly 66 years later.. How does a percolator work? There is a heating element strategically located and shaped at the bottom that boils water and forces it up though a central tube to in this case a glass sight that then pours the boiling water over a distribution plate and lets it drip through the coffee... not once, repeatedly... again and again until ALL the flavour possible has been extracted from the grind into the water making a superlative pot (batch) of coffee... it takes not much longer than a drip single pass coffee maker but the results are perfection every single time.. Can it make a single serving? if it is a large cup yes, or two regular cups.. This percolator from my Mother resides on our boat... I found and acquired a second identical one... they are to my search no longer available... which begs the question as to why this is the case? Why do people fall for the gimmick of single serve pods where the coffee costs WAY more than ground does and there is no possible way that a single pass of coffee through a plastic housed pod is remotely as good as coffee from a percolator is? Which goes to demonstrate that most people do what marketing companies tell them to do not what is in their own best interests...

Ontheroad · M

In my opinion and experience, it's more the bean, how it is roasted and how it is ground, than the way you make your coffee.

I've had decent coffee from stove top and electric percolators - decent, but nothing to write home about. I've had great coffee (otu in the sticks) from nothing but a large pot heated to a boil and grounds dumped in, simmered at bit and the let the grounds settle to the bottom of the pot. Then we just dipped our cups into the pot and scooped up a cup. Both of the foregoing methods were using the standard American grind/roast bean and both were drinkable, the big pot of boiling water the better of the two.

Then in the 70's I went to Europe and had my first espresso, then cappuccino and that was for me the game changer. Since then I've tried probably every style of maker from a simple press, to a drip through to a more elaborate espresso machine and have found it all begins with the bean, how it is roasted and how it is ground. After that you decide what you like as a finished cup, and then decide what type of maker/machine you are going to use.

I prefer a strong black drink without sugar and ease/speed of making, so I use pods filled with a dark roast, fine ground bean that releases the flavor as the water pours through. That and a twice daily cappuccino with my espresso machine. That's me, but if you like a perked cup, then that's good for you. The thing about coffee is that each of us has a preference and there are many ways to brew coffee and many beans/roasts/grinds from which to choose. Do what makes you happy.

CookieCrumbs · F

@Ontheroad
I agree with you. It’s all about the beans, with all else being held constant (types of coffee maker).

Since then I've tried probably every style of maker from a simple press, to a drip through to a more elaborate espresso machine and have found it all begins with the bean, how it is roasted and how it is ground.

My breakfast coffee is either from a quick K-cup when I’m in a rush, or a slow manual drip. Afternoons are made from espresso machine.

pdqsailor1 · 61-69, M

@Ontheroad for a given grind and type of coffee the way it is made .. makes ALL the difference... and no single pass of water though ground coffee can extract all the flavour the way multiple passes can... THAT is the point of the post...its not about time, quantity ... its about doing it the best way possible (expresso aside which is different)