Need a new way of making coffee... percolator, maybe?

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #29

Sally Anne = Salvation Army thrift store.

(Retta Stephenson) #30

Cold brew in glass mason jar; has fine mesh stainless steel filter. Makes excellent low acid coffee. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07772LL6V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

#31

I prefer drip coffee, and several years ago, I got away from all plastics with a glass container and a metal ‘funnel’ (got both on Amazon). I grind my own coffee, boil water and pour over grounds. Great coffee–no plastic.

#32

I used to use an old fashioned steel percolator, it was pretty good.
My favorite way of brewing is a French press. It’s a little more involved but makes an excellent cup of coffee.

(Ken) #33

My vote is for a.French Press and grinding the beans right before making the coffee.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #34

Each to his own. We all eventually figure out what we like and how best to get it. When I was growing up in the 1950s my parents perked coffee every morning. The house filled with that wonderful aroma and as a child I thought anything that smells that good must taste divine. Until the day my mom let me actually drink some! I had never tasted anything so wretched in my young life. No wonder the common breakfast of that era was a cup of black coffee, a glazed donut and a cigarette.

That single sip of perked, black coffee put me off coffee 25-plus years. I could never have imagined that 60 years later I’d be drinking a liter of it every morning. Not perked, of course.

Whatever you drink and however you make it - enjoy it!

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(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #35

I’ve always heard the reason Percolated coffee tastes so bad is because all the flavor is released from the coffee in the smell. So the less you smell of the coffee when brewing, the more good flavor you get when you drink it. Maybe why cold brew is so popular.

(Scott) #36

I drink way to much to make a french press work. I think I will just keep my Bunn always hot reservoir to make a pot in about two minutes. I worry more about microwaving in plastic but I do some of that too but try to avoid when possible.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #37

@Rclause My 4-liter coffee-maker:

(Failed) #38

Even if you get one made from stainless steel, some of the parts, like the heating element cover and the retaining nut may be made of aluminum.

Search for aluminum on this Amazon page

(Kirk Wolak) #39

I used a percolator for years.
First, I find the coffee is less bitter because you grind it to larger pieces, and it releases less of the tannic acid (ie, Starbucks overgrinds their beans). Use the percolator setting EVEN after I switched to ADC.

Second, Kinda sucks to clean. I drink 1 cup or less most days, SOME days, I get 2.
Today was a 1 cup day. So, I switched to (god forbid) Instant. And I’ve been quite happy. I installed an instant-on hot water dispenser, which I LOVE having… And I make perfect coffee in like 10 seconds. It couldn’t be easier.

YMMV…

(Brian) #40

Figured I’d update…

Received the percolator via UPS yesterday afternoon and had our first coffee out of it last evening. It went pretty well. Didn’t make a lot and it was kind of a “first run”.

So, this morning, I decided to make my “usual” amount of coffee. Ground the grounds, added what I -thought- was the right amount of water, set it on the stove and waited. The thing ain’t fast. It took about a half hour, and that’s fine. We knew it would take a while. (Think I’ll get a magnet out later on and see if an induction burner might be a possibility.)

The “DUH” moment came after letting it perk and sit for just a bit. I figured we’d make our “whipped” coffee like always. So I added butter and cream to a big jar and slowly poured in the slightly cooled coffee. And I poured and poured and poured. And I had to stop because it was too much coffee.

What went wrong? I only used as many cups as what I had always used in the Mr. Coffee carafe. Well, duh, Mr. Coffee “cups” are total BS. They’re not “cups” at all. I still don’t know what they actually are but I’m gonna have to figure that out 'cause we had it pretty well worked out what we would drink. I made way, way, way, too much coffee this morning.

It was a little weak, understandably, as I added too much water for the amount of coffee grounds. I’ll measure the water from the Mr. Coffee carafe that we usually used and add a similar amount of coffee for another test run next time and see if that works better.

So far, my wife is liking the coffee, even weak. “Happy wife, happy life”, or so the saying goes. :wink:

Anyway, there is some tweaking to be done. The horrors of battery acid and cigarette butt water haven’t materialized as a few probably figured they would. LOL!! So… we’ll see.

That’s all for now.

:slight_smile:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #41

Bear in mind that the size of a standard cup of coffee is six ounces. Yes, six. This often bears no relation to the markings on your carafe. For example, I once had a coffee-maker that claimed to make 12 cups per pot, but a pot held 60 ounces of coffee, so in effect I was making 10 6-oz. cups. And so forth and so on.

So if your mug holds 8, 10, 12, or 15 ounces, you need to adjust your brewing amount according to the amount of brewed coffee you want to end up with. If you use one of those coffee scoops to measure the grounds, the proportion to start with is one level scoop for every six ounces of water, and adjust from there.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #42

Measure everything in grams and you won’t go wrong.

(Brian) #43

Dummy me, I figured a cup was a cup was a cup. Nope. Oh, well… I know now.

I did do some measuring. The amount of water that went into the Mr. Coffee, that read 9 cups on the carafe, turned out to be 5 3/4 real cups of water. And I know how much ground coffee I normally put in for that amount of water. So I have that as a place to start. I was just surprised it was that drastically different.

(Cheryl) #44

I perk coffee everyday. I have both stovetop and electric. I like the latter because it doesn’t boil over if I forget. Try Walmart. In Canada it was about $50. Works great!

#45

Love perked coffee. But I bought a new percolator at walmart a couple years ago and was sorely disappointed. Worst coffee ever. I have been thru several vintage percolators over the years-Sears, GE, etc. currently using and old corningware plug in percolator bought at a yard sale never used. Its the best. I had a corning ware stove top but it only made 4 cups. Take 10 minutes to perc if cold. I look on ebay and at yard sales for vintage ones because they make the best coffee even if you are taking a risk with the old electronics. But its always attended anyhow.

(Brian) #46

Ended up with one of these… in case anyone cares. :wink:

So far, we like it pretty well. I think my wife likes the flavors better than I do but hey, I’m OK with it. I’m still playing with how long to brew it and how much grounds per cup of water. It’ll work itself out over time. What I made this morning was about 1.5 tbsp of grounds per 2 actual cups of water and perked for 14 minutes. I know that’s kinda long but it seems like when I cut the time down, it’s weaker than either of us likes. I do use a paper filter, not sure if that may make a difference in the timing.

:slight_smile:

(Kirk Wolak) #47

Did you do a Percolator Grind or a normal grind for your coffee…

Because Percolators PUSH coffee back up, onto the grounds, the grounds do NOT need to be so finely ground up…

I find percolator coffee to be smoother and lighter… I love it.

I drink instant because I have instant on hot water, and I drink 1 cup of coffee a day!

(Brian) #48

Hi Kirk,

I just got a new coffee grinder a week or so ago. And it seems to leave the grounds a bit more coarse. Maybe that’s a good thing. (?)

We’ve cut down the percolating time a bit, we’re now at about 8 minutes. Seems to be a bit more flavorful than a longer perc. The pot size is about a cup less than 2 actual quarts and I’m using about 4.5 to 5 TBSP of whole beans, fresh ground.

Honestly, I’m fine with it and the wife loves it. I think I got more flavor out of the $20 Mr. Coffee, but hey, when mamma’s happy, everybody’s happy! LOL!!

When I make it for the two of us, there is about 1.5 TBSP of butter and maybe 1/3 cup of HWC, immersion blended nicely. She drinks it just that way. I add a bit more HWC or half n half plus a little flavored (chocolate and vanilla) liquid stevia, just cause that’s how I like it. Guess we’re all different… but that’s OK. :wink: