Broke out the percolator for morning coffee

[JeffOlson]

Keurig makes dirty water.

I agree, but it is what I use simply for convenience--though I do add lots of compressed whipped cream to make it palatable!

[pariah]

I bought a stainless 'Stellar' moka pot a few years back. weights about a kilo, extremely well made.





There's a trick to making decent coffee in this. Firstly the grind, just above espresso fineness. Fill the base with boiled but not boiling water. On the stove at low/medium heat, pull off the heat before it boils dry and spits. That stops it overextracting and tasting bitter

[diablo45]

Just to add to the fun, I make my wife her coffee in this when we are camping. Pyrex 6 cup perculator

[dguzzi]

I thought it was Sam Lator that invented it. Perc was a brand name....



  I'm joking of course.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

Just to add to the fun, I make my wife her coffee in this when we are camping. Pyrex 6 cup perculator

this is a cool rig

[Muzz]

That stovetop is exactly like my "everyday" coffee maker.

However, the nicest of the lot is made by my Sunbeam espresso machine.

Although it was the cheapest of the lot and completely manual, Consumer used this model for years as the control as far as taste went for coffee machine as it made the best tasting coffee.

edit: I grind beans to suit, none of this pre-ground stuff (unless it is for my "everyday" coffee.

When my mate Jimmy TwoTanks comes around for coffee he always has two "large" cups; he reckons they are the best and he must know every coffee shop here in Christchurch!

[bacongrease]

   Water,  water.  H2O  more important to me than the coffee bean.  I will not drink the swill at my dad makes .  it stinks,  I would rather go without.
He is used to the water so he sees no problem.  He doesn't make sludge like he did in the past.     

[Perazzimx14]

   Water,  water.  H2O  more important to me than the coffee bean.  I will not drink the swill at my dad makes .  it stinks,  I would rather go without.
He is used to the water so he sees no problem.  He doesn't make sludge like he did in the past.     

Agreed. Just like wine making wine if the water tastes bad and you won't drink it plain flavoring it won't make it better.

[Muzz]

In Christchurch we are were pretty lucky in that we had water from an aquifer 260 feet down that comes from the Southern Alps.

Then someone up north had contamination  and out government decided that all water must be chlorinated.   However, our council decide to fight this, upgraded all the bores and in particular the bore heads and have been able to lower the levels.  If we want perfect water we get a 2 litre water container, leave in the sun for a couple of hours (the chlorine turns to hydrochloric acid) and refrigerate for 24 hours. Water is back to perfect; we always have one in the fridge for a hot day when you just want cold water.

Don't bother now doing that for coffee as it is past the stage of being noticeable.

[mechanicsavant]

I’ll support the Wally- world purchases for us “budget minded types . My stainless percolator & French press (yes Mr. Coffee makes a French press) were around $20 . If i remember thePerk is a “Martha Stewart”, pinkies out bitches !

[malik]

This is my camping kit -





The moka pot is thin stainless (475 g - about the same weight as an equivalent sized aluminium one). Unlike those made for the kitchen stove, the base is thin, so excessive heat can buckle the base, but that's better than high heat boring a hole through aluminium (that happened to a mate's new pot last trip). I prefer heat diffusing metal handles - I've lost lots of plastic handles, melted or burnt. This is a "six cup", which means 2 small cups, or half a mug. Good enough for camping.

The other stuff - roasted beans in the dry bag, hand grinder (morning exercise) kettle & tea leaves for a decent cuppa. I usually take along a couple of small Duralex glasses - coffee seems to taste better in glass - and a collapsible mug for the tea. Works for me.

[Perazzimx14]

So I decided to get an electric percolator because I despise the Bunn auto drip we have. It makes decent coffee but it is super temperamental and if you load 1 extra grain of coffee in it, it will overflow out of the basket and all over the counter and floor.  I've often told the wife if she ever see's me in the yard whirling the Bunn around by the cord like its the hammer throw it because it spilled over for the last time. 

Decided on the Hamilton Beach 12 cup percolator as it got good reviews and was in stock at the local mega mart. Got the unit home and made a pot of coffee. It was a bit strong so I dialed back the grounds on the next pot. Poured the wife a cup and she took a sip and was hooked. She's not historically been a fan of stove top percolator coffee so this was good. That was Tuesday. Today I took the Bunn off the counter and it'll be on FBMP in the days.


Setup and clean up are a breeze. Pour in water to the 6, 8, 10 or 12 cup mark then spoon in the amount of coffee you want in the basket. Put the basket on the perc rod and cover. Plug in and 12 minutes later you got a piping hot pot of delicious coffee. To clean up simply disassemble dump the grounds in the garden, trash or down the garage disposer (it helps clean and de-stinkify it). Rinse everything with cold water and done.

[LowRyter]

Our Bunn works great.  It's the type the preheats the water and makes small 10 cups in about 2 minutes.

Add just a sprinkle of salt in the grounds to kill bitterness.  And sometimes I'll do my old trick and add touch sugar and cinnamon just for a richer black coffee.

[Perazzimx14]

Our Bunn works great.  It's the type the preheats the water and makes small 10 cups in about 2 minutes.

Add just a sprinkle of salt in the grounds to kill bitterness.  And sometimes I'll do my old trick and add touch sugar and cinnamon just for a richer black coffee.

We have the same/similar Bunn with the heated reservoir of water. Being the reservoir is uninsulated I always wonder how much power it requires to keep the water heated 24/7 for 1 maybe 2 pots a coffee per day?   

[LowRyter]

We have the same/similar Bunn with the heated reservoir of water. Being the reservoir is uninsulated I always wonder how much power it requires to keep the water heated 24/7 for 1 maybe 2 pots a coffee per day?

I've never put a meter on it, so I wouldn't know.  This one needs regular cleaning or it gets constipated.  We've been through so many drip coffee makers that have been awful that we're glad to finally have one that works.  I think we threw away the two or three previous to this one and don't remember so far back to the last one we that worked well.

[Lannis]

We have the same/similar Bunn with the heated reservoir of water. Being the reservoir is uninsulated I always wonder how much power it requires to keep the water heated 24/7 for 1 maybe 2 pots a coffee per day?

We had one of those for years.   Given that there are heating elements (not electronics or LEDs, but actual resistance heaters) running all day and all night 24/7/365, we began to suspect that the benefit of getting 10 cups of coffee finished in 2 minutes rather than 6 was probably not worth what we were paying in electricity for it, and I'm not sure what that was ....

Lannis

[Perazzimx14]

We had one of those for years.   Given that there are heating elements (not electronics or LEDs, but actual resistance heaters) running all day and all night 24/7/365, we began to suspect that the benefit of getting 10 cups of coffee finished in 2 minutes rather than 6 was probably not worth what we were paying in electricity for it, and I'm not sure what that was ....

Lannis

I imagine it added a few dollars to the power bill each month then the 4 or 5 times a month it's overflow it was the gift that kept on giving. I don't mind not seeing an empty space n the counter where it used to sit. Eve if the percolator ends up being a flash in the pan I'll petition that we go with a cheap drip machine that has no heated retention pond and automatic shutoff.

[Boynextdoor]

I can still remember as a kid, waking up to the smell and sound of my mom's percolator in the kitchen.  I can't stand these KEURIG coffee makers everyone has today, including my wife.  I've tried every brand coffee pod imaginable, Starbucks, Dunkin, Green Mountain, on and on, they all taste awful.  So I found a percolator just like the one my mom & dad had when I was a kid.  A 1960's vintage Sunbeam percolator on ebay.  Made in the good ol USA and still works like a charm.  Good, drinkable coffee.  Sure, the grounds are a little messy, but it is soooo much better that coffee from those little plastic pods!

Oh, God! I still remember my Granny's coffee. High-quality coffee beans(she prefered light roast - White knight or Cameron's(like this one), decent percolator and fresh water - that's the recipe!
 

[dguzzi]

  Grandparents used an enameled percolator (red and white) they put an egg white in to trap most sediment, then a strainer as you pour (to catch the egg white).  I was to young to know if it was good tasting or not.