Anyone making coffee with a stove top percolator

[lordkenmore]

>If I go out - I cannot drink my usual order of black coffee. Espresso machines just completely ruin the taste. It always tastes burnt and over-extracted - that said, "Espresso blends" of coffee are notoriously dark, and I prefer a very light roast.

It's also worth noting that espresso uses a different technology. Water is forced through the coffee with a lot more pressure. I can't remember the numbers, but I saw them years back, and the "force" vs drip coffee was considerably higher. In a way, I personally consider espresso to be funadmentally a different drink--both by taste, and also the fact that its brewed with pressure, rather than a system with no force greater than gravity.

I'm not sure how much I like espresso. I'm not sure I've ever really had the pure stuff under meaningful conditions. I've had it from low powered machines, but not good high end machines. Maybe I should purposely go and have some, although I'd need to find a good coffee shop first.

I do like dark roasts--it's what I usually use (and what my mother used before me). And I do like coffee drinks based on espresso (e.g., cappuccino).

>As for drip machines, the Technivorm Moccamaster is *The Last Word* (as Launderess would say) in drip coffee machines

I remember lots of commentary here about the Technivorm. I'd be curious to have coffee from it. For my purposes, the big minus is simply the price tag in the US. Also there's the question of how well it would work for brewing small quantities of coffee (which is what I usually do).

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

So far used two times. including TONITE!!!!

Just bought MY Old School Stove Top Percolator & Now A-Percolatin' we will go!...:

 

 

-- Dave

 

[stan]

Let us know

What you think Dave..
Try using part of a eggshell in the basket sometime, helps with any bitterness.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

& the Race Results: Dave's Percolator comes in 1st Place

Well, the coffee actually tasted good & the pot even made it FAST!

 

However, I made the 2nd one on my small Simmer burner just to pour out a small portion of clear water, but no matter--I placed it on the Reg. Size burner that it is shown on, and again, a perfect pot, very QUICK!

 

No bitterness, but there is something novel about putting eggshells in the very cavernous brewing chamber, if I ever even make eggs & save the shells w/ every pot--and would need to alternate the burner used to make each thing on, if my other burners are really for "Speed" Boiling & have a long griddle unit--and an electric griddle, as well...

 

Now as for more on taste, the same general rule applies: That the more coffee, less water, makes the more stronger brew, which I had applied to that 2nd pot, whereas the first allowing an equal amount (I filled the water up to the "6", of which a small indentation for the "graduates" guides me on the filling, whereas 6 1/2 scoops of the coffee did the trick, stopping a bit shy of the water on the 2nd go...) still made a tasty 'best part of waking up', though the 2nd was a "night cap" to see if it would keep me awake; but didn't... (Well, that & "just a little bit of loving"...--LOL!)

 

 

-- Dave

 

[stan]

Glad it worked out

for you Dave.
Notice it says "Rapid Brew" is the pot designed to brew faster than any other stove top percolator?

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Can't think of too many coffee slang terms, but *

Well, here's what happens when I fall in love TOO MUCH w/ my new percolator--that I paid nearly $40 for!--and got sold on the "Rapid Brew" tag that it came with--and really noticed it DOES make a "quick brew"... But like I said, a problem arouse, just because I should NOT go to the stove & turn the burner on first thing (I loaded the coffee & water in the night before) when I'm in a hurry getting ready for work:

 

The coffee was brown, but a bit weak & when I peaked in the brewing chamber saw the coffee looking as though I did NOT turn it on, other than some of it charred...

 

Hence, I should have in my total unalertness would have been to have taken my shower first, then used what was an ample amount of time afterwards to make my java flow... Unlike what I did w/ my Mr. Coffee ("Ned", I call him) where I touch a button (after preparing the compound "last night" there) and the brew sits ready for me, nice & warm...  I just needed the percolating "supervised" and figured since my wife & daughter were up & while I was standing in the kitchen, could accommodate my daughter's breakfast needs w/ a bowl of cereal or toast while getting ready for Sunday School that Mom would take her to, a while after I'd left for work...

 

So, imagine my frustration not to have gotten through my work day w/ the nourishing coffee I used to enjoy (though I put in a spoon, or two of some Handy Dandy INSTANT COFFEE, to avoid drinking colored water, flavored w/ my Coffee Mate Spiced Latte) & the anxiousness to have to wait til I got home to just put new water in the bottom of the pot to percolate it again & use up the unused 'grounded beans' on top...

 

So the consolation is to give the stuff time to fully brew when I'm in a pinch (or use the faster Coffee Maker) & get my shower out of the way first if I can't wake up any sooner ("David, it's time to get up!"--the wife always calls)...

 

Just a misfortunate, isolated incident I'm sure won't be repeated...  Also since the pot is capable of making 8, 10, even 12 cups, then to reheat the left-overs, since coffee in it tastes so good--and just EVERY time of the day...!

 

I love my *"Bessie"...! (* name for my new pot!)

 

 

-- Dave

 

[stan]

Guess you

could perc the night before, and pour into a thermos..
I might try that myself, just so I can crawl out of bed, and pour.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Thermos--not as much fun (probably have a couple insulated traveling mugs that I never use) and the percolating at night could keep me awake--the temptation to drink it AND the smell... (I know someone who HATES coffee, but he used to brew it just because the odor could wake him up in an instant--but I despise to even mention someone who pours it right out!)

 

Well, I keep being hooked on this way to brew, so I have to learn it's easy to chalk up a few mistakes w/ this method, as with a lot of other things in life, that are or have become,--well, not perfect!!!!

 

 

-- Dave

 

[stan]

Dave

How many cups are you making, and how long does it take from cold before you can pour?

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Still love making my Blend in Bess! Gonna make some--

--Today!!!!

 

I make the water up to the "6", which yields 3 cups that I drink w/ my percolator pot...  My automatic coffee maker, it would be "4" yielding 2 cups, or "5" yielding 3 in the way of water... The coffee is the same amount as water used, plus a 1/2 scoop, and on that note, must admit the cheap blend does taste a lot better the old fashioned way, but I'm not ready to unplug "Ned" just yet...

 

Though, lastly, I'll add, that turning on the pot with the hopper removed to reheat beats microwaving--and no making those cups brewed in my Mr. Coffee scalding hot or lukewarm w/ a lot of cold spots...

 

So, then, to answer your question Stan, between 10 & 15 minutes on the initial brew, and usually 5 not not quite 10 min. reheating, if that's what you want to know...

 

 

-- Dave

 

[stan]

That's

About the same in the old pot I use.
I start out full fame for the first 3 min then reduce heat to medium to avoid boil.
After perc starts, I reduce heat slightly to get a steady even perc. Once perc starts, I time for 8 to 12 min. Pull off heat and let sit for 5 min

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Help! My UNWATCHED Pot is BOILIN'!!!!

Well, here's another "Going from me testing it, to testing ME!"; long story short:

We get up for our weekly morning Mon.-Fri. routine, to get our daughter off to school... Her Kindergarten starts after 8:00, we live right near her school, few blocks walking distance, though the trek must begin bet. 7:30 and 7:35... Mom usually accompanies her, while I occasionally join the two, or do the even more occasional escorting her alone--and always weather permitting, sometimes taking a 'scenic route', to get in more walking exercise on the way home...

 

Anyway--short story, long? The same thing as above, only fewer "un-charred grounds", so w/ it on the stove filled w/ water 1/2 way to up "6", right now, we're gonna see!

 

 

-- Dave

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Some people have their X-Boxes--me, it's my Java Pot!

Quick Post-Script:

 

Anxiously return from the school... Get the burner quickly rockin'--and mind you, the water's half-way full! But this time with more time, let it boil as it would w/ a full-serving...

 

So, result:

Finished perfectly & found myself w/ the Joe flowin' through my veins & my Java Jive meaning a few frequent trips to the bathroom (having to really hold it, driving my wife to our daughter's Sunday Schol to retrieve her Winter boots left there, then dropping myself off at home when I couldn't clench it any longer, with my wife going to Laura's Kindergarten to bring 'em to her there!)

 

I felt too anxious in this situation, in other words, to let anything sit til later (as I often handle most failures, or at least the previous one), so I will after adapting to these new ups & downs and getting into the swing of how mornings here are & the hang of percolating in an era where Revereware has become Farberware, (Yes, ironically, 'Made In China' is seen on every piece of the fixture!) hope to have a clean slate & always do an Old School Brew!

 

Get ready, Ned! You're getting unplugged & "put to bed"...

 

 

-- Dave

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

More Continuing Adventures of DaveAMKrayoGuy Java Junkie:

Where's Ned???? Ned!!!! Where Are You????!!!! And where's the TOASTER!!!! Oh, it's over THERE!!!! But, NED!!!! Where are YOU???? Oh, THERE You ARE!!!!  Now where is your Carafe????!!!! There it is!!!! It's in its BOX!!!! Oh, now it's UP THERE!!!!

 

Yes, amongst more trial & error & mostly trial, of adding more water & maintaining a strong brew, (and I even was up at FIVE!) I have officially declared my percolator pot (Duchie, though Coochie, in some ways--as in "pass the"--The Musical Youth song seems to be an earworm right now) to be my official coffee making tool...

 

Need to decide on location: Stove top or my toaster's former headquarters, of which is left a pile of bread crumbs & I needed it on that more open area of my countertop...  (DaveAMKrayoGuy, singing off!)

 

 

-- Dave