A lost skill, making coffee

For many decades our standard coffee maker has been a 4 cup electric  Farberware.

I used to use a stove top percolator all the time.  But it is a skill that I have lost. How do I tell when the coffee is done when making coffee on a stove?   I seem to remember timing the coffee from the first perk.

I've got a little percolator that goes on camping trips, and I use the eyeball method. When the liquid sloshing through the glass thingie on top looks like proper coffee, it's ready.

We bought the Farberware in the late 70s, so I am taking my memory pretty far back.  Camping wise I used instant or tossed the grounds into the water and filtered the coffee through cheesecloth.

What brought this on is that I stumbled across my stovetop perk during my basement cleaning exploits.

Phil Stevens wrote: When the liquid sloshing through the glass thingie on top looks like proper coffee, it's ready.

Internet suggests 7 - 10 min, while keeping an eye on the glass window thing.
Percolator intrigues me, I grew up with everyone in my family using coffee makers and only saw percolators at church events (where they were enormous and impressive!).

Hi Tereza,

The perk is our standard…mostly because the darned thing won’t die ( it is around 50 years old). And, it is the right size for my wife and me,  overall, drip just doesn’t taste right.  Now, I did try a Keurig we were gifted with stainless steel strainers to hold the coffee grounds.  The coffee tastes decent, but it uses more grounds than the perk.   Still, I can see it might have a place if I only wanted one cup.

I am not a fan of drip coffee maker coffee (tastes nasty), nor keurigs (like you say, great for one cup or for folks who need assistance, but i find it wasteful and also no space on my counters for another device).
my husband and daughter do pour-over every day for themselves (we have big and small fabric filters for a whole pot or just a cup) but I have gotten attached to my tiny moka pot when I want a cup (maybe once a week, I'm more of a tea person) or make cold brew (in the fridge, pour it through a strainer like tea).

I agree with Phil, I just wait until the coffee looks right in the glass thingy.  Usually only use perk when camping or if power is out.

I am currently in Costa Rica for a couple weeks and the coffee here is wonderful...  Local grown and roasted.

Where I am staying only has a drip coffee maker and it is "ok" but I prefer my french press.

I have been trying coffee at a variety of coffee shops and must say it will be hard to come back to Montana and my coffee.   lol

I am going to try roasting my own coffee when I get home.

I have used my percolator every day for many years. It doesn't have the glass bubble indicator. When the house smells like coffee it's done. Granted, it's a small house.

I perc mine for 8 minutes, but I've also developed a high tolerance for bad coffee.

I have two stove top purculators. A 8 cup which is my first one. No glass part in the lid. 2nd is a 12 cup with glass part in lid. I originally bought them for camping. But I've used both during outages as well. Love them both.

I agree with poster’s saying 8 minutes after water starts to perk.

Make sure it starts and will keep perking then turn burner to low so it’s not boiling out.

A perfect perk is when water/coffee is a steady bubble.

Another Farberware fan here, the electric percolator.

I gut them of all the aluminum parts (Alzheimer's risk) and proceed to make coffee cowboy style...although I don't strain it through an old sock as tradition might dictate.

Cowboy style = fill it with water, add grounds, plug it in, setting a wind up timer for the amount of time discovered in what I'll explain Next.

My Dad worked for the folks who invented the percolator, Landers, Frary and Clark, the Universal was its brand name.

He told me about the great amount of testing that went into figuring out when the coffee was done, but not overdone.

The magic number they turned up was right around 150 degrees F.

Slight variations either side of that produced different tastes but 150 was right in the middle of what was acceptable. Much over that and bitterness begins.

I timed my pot to find out it hit 150 in exactly 10 minutes, hence the wind up timer to track it.

The grounds will be floating on the top, so mix them in and wait a few minutes, or, go get the strainer if you're in a hurry. It's tastier if you wait.

To help sink the grounds in cowboy coffee faster just drop an ice cube or two into it after brewing.

I've used a stainless steel small percolator since a time when the electric went off, and I had this pot because of prepping. Lehmans has them in several sizes. It had a plastic bubble top but I bought a glass one online. So now I'm all stainless and glass. I put water in the pot on a high burner. Put coffee in the basket and set it aside until the water starts boiling. Then I lower the burner to medium and set the basket in.  It will start percolating immediately. (If you put the basket in cold water and leave it on high, it will boil over if you don't turn it down fast enough, and it will seem like waiting forever for it to boil. This way you just go about your other tasks and when you see it's boiling, stick the basket in.) I don't really time it. With the bubble top you can see that it's coffee. Some say you should put a paper filter in to keep out the oils.  Others say the oils are good, so who you gonna believe?  I just use the stainless filter. I like dark roast and drink it black.

I've never used a percolator.
Either a French press, or now an "aeropress". Only really makes one mug though.
When I bought it years ago I read the instructions, tried a few more times but shelved it because whichever of the manufacturers methods I used it was disgusting.
But, I came across James Hoffman on y tube who, among lots of other coffee type things had his own aeropress recipe, which was lovely.
He may have suggestions on how to use a perc too?
My morning coffee is a hand grinder with 16grams of beans (maybe half what I'd put in a filter machine or press) and isn't the speediest overall but I love it (depending on the coffee!)

My Dad worked for the folks who invented the percolator, Landers, Frary and Clark, the Universal was its brand name.

He told me about the great amount of testing that went into figuring out when the coffee was done, but not overdone.

The magic number they turned up was right around 150 degrees F.

Was making a fresh pot of coffee when I remembered this post. Since the boiling point of water is 212' Farenheit & a percolator needs boiling water to function how did that particular brand of percolator work? Seems magical or something. Might it be a typo & 250 was intended???

Mike Barkley wrote:

My Dad worked for the folks who invented the percolator, Landers, Frary and Clark, the Universal was its brand name.

He told me about the great amount of testing that went into figuring out when the coffee was done, but not overdone.

The magic number they turned up was right around 150 degrees F.

Was making a fresh pot of coffee when I remembered this post. Since the boiling point of water is 212' Farenheit & a percolator needs boiling water to function how did that particular brand of percolator work? Seems magical or something. Might it be a typo & 250 was intended???

If I recall right (and I might not) the reason behind the flat flared part at the bottom is it increases the pressure in a small area, making the water in that small area boil at a lower temperature, enough to bounce it up the tube.

That sounds logical. Maybe. Water does boil at lower temps at lower pressures. Science is magical sometimes. Next time I make coffee I'll measure the temp as soon as it starts to percolate. Then we'll know if it's science or unicorns.

Hello salut
I love the comment about building high tolerance to bad coffee.
It is rare to be served with delicious hot coffee in food establishments in these parts.
Cold cups? recycled grounds?

I have a variety of coffee making implements and I find it`s a mix of coffee quality; temperature, timing, water ......
then my eyes glaze over.
Very little gets done of a morning before and until a substantial amount of coffee has been consumed

Two French presses, one glass, regularly replaced, that oh dear elbow moment with flying coffee press: and a stainless steel version; much sturdier and retains some heat. This method uses more coffee, I think, and sometimes the brew is rather good.

Years ago, with family in Central Europe, we drank rather palatable coffee; cowboy style has been mentioned, coffee grounds in a glass, covered with boiling water, with a glass saucer placed on top. The condensation on the saucer drips to encourage the grounds to settle.

In Yugoslavia, as was, I was given coffee making lessons to make Turkish style coffee.
in a small usually aluminium pot, make a sugar syrup, bring it to a rolling boil, take it off the heat, add the very finely ground coffee, put it back on the source of heat until the liquid starts to climb, frothing, in the pot, any longer and it tastes bitter.
The pots are really small, taking about 4 shot size glasses of water, a tsp of sugar and coffee per glass, sometimes a drop of rose water.
I would order 4 coffees, then wait and wait. They didn`t know that the order was all for me.

The hedges are calling for attention and it`s not raining.
Blessings and good wishes to us all
Later I shall have a cup to drink to our health

M-H

   Love this topic!
   I, too, use a vintage farberware percolator and I will never use anything else.  Actually I have two: an 8-cup and a
4-cup that I inherited from Grannie.  When my previous 8-cup broke, I found one easily on etsy.
    My Dad used a stovetop percolator for my entire childhood.  I remember him telling me that when it starts to "perk"(that wonderful sound!"),  allow it to perk 4 minutes slowly with the heat source on low, then raise the heat so that it perks rapidly for 3 minutes and done.

Had to use my 12 cup perculator during a outage this week.

The results are in. The first spurt of water came out of the percolator tube measured 207' F according to a meat thermometer. Not sure of my house elevation but the local airport is 343 feet. House is roughly the same altitude so I don't think elevation is much of a factor. Local weather monitoring system is down at the moment so don't know the barometric pressure. Pretty sure unicorns are not involved with percolator operation. What I know for sure is the house smells like coffee now. It's time for a cup while I watch the $%%$^!@!@ ice melt outside.

jim loggin wrote:Had to use my 12 cup perculator during a outage this week.

I have a similar one and love it when the power's out.  The neighbors do too!

Once it started perking I turned the heat down to a slow perk for almost 10 minutes. I guess its trial and error till you have the brew you like.

I used this little one all the time when I was still bike camping. My son and I made a tent trailer I pulled with my bike. I made the little tent heater stove from scratch with a salvaged aladdin lamp burner. I worked remarkably well and made great coffee.

ive begun a little collection of coffee makers, right now its mostly French presses and stove top expresso makers. I'm always on the lookout for coffee makers at thrift stores and yard sales and have not yet come across a percolator neither plug in or stove top. cant stand those kerig things-ugh-all that plastic.

jim loggin wrote:Had to use my 12 cup perculator during a outage this week.

Had to. I get that.

People are deep frying coffee these days. Although I haven't seen anybody microwave it yet.

Andy Ze wrote:Although I haven't seen anybody microwave it yet.

I'll keep leftover coffee in the fridge and microwave it to heat it up in the morning. But to actually make coffee, I'll usually use an electric kettle and french press.