Vintage Coffee Makers

[jb771213]

For a percolator you use coffee ground coarser than for a drip maker.

Does anyone remember the coffee maker with a glass pot and a funnel on top? The water in the pot boils and steam pressure forces the boiling water up into the funnel where it brews the coffee, when you take it off the heat the hot coffee goes down into the pot. Every diner used to have them.

Yes , I remember.

And if you mean the same as I do, they are still on sale.

Search for Bodum Santos or Pebo. In Germany they are app. 50 Euro (80 USD).

Best regards

 

[Heather]

I scored a couple stove top percolators while thrifting. One is made of metal (aluminum?) and the other is more modern, by Corning Ware. I'm anxious to use them but a little scared.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Nothing to be scared of. I use a percolator every day and like it way better than a modern coffee maker. They're easy to use.

 

[Bingles]

Just purchased this art deco Wear-Ever stove top percolator on ebay. Can't wait to use it!!!!

I have a new Presto 12 cup electric percolator I bought on Amazon for when company comes over.. as it makes coffee much faster than a stove top model.. but there's nothing like the smell of a stove top percolator.. the sound.. and watching the coffee perk away (my Presto does not have a glass knob). So when it's just me, I'll be using this little gem.

 

[FountainPenGirl]

For a percolator you use coffee ground coarser than for a drip maker.

Does anyone remember the coffee maker with a glass pot and a funnel on top? The water in the pot boils and steam pressure forces the boiling water up into the funnel where it brews the coffee, when you take it off the heat the hot coffee goes down into the pot. Every diner used to have them.

These were known as vacuum coffee makers. When the heat was reduced on the bottom after the water boiled into the top a vacuum was created literally sucking the water through the grounds back to the bottom. There were also many metal ones. I have a stainless steel one made by Westinghouse about 1950. Makes great coffee but the seal between top and bottom is all important. Any leak and it doesn't work. There are still new ones on the market but quite spendy. You can find vintage ones online and around the junque shops and such. Sunbeam made a good one that you can still get seals for. Again that's the all important thing, the seal. Being that we're talking about 60+ year old rubber parts that can mean the difference between something that's decoration and something you can use. Perc pots are still the most reliable. Because of the difference in grinds is use filters in the percs. Otherwise I grind my own.

 

[howardeye]

These are my favorite vintage type coffee makers that I use. Looking for the best cup of coffee I had to eliminate makers in our country. I had to go to Italy where they know how to make a great tasting cup. The one on the left is the Italian stove top coffee pot unchanged since the 1940's I have been told. I have a newer electric version also. The center is the vacuum pot of the 50's talked about earlier and is being made again. The right is the oldest style being the copper coffee pot that makes Turkish and Greek coffee. After drinking coffee from these you will never want a cup from a drip pot again. If you also roast your own beans you will really be spoiled. You can learn how to do it on you tube on your stove top!

 

[Jack Patch]

My grandfather used a percolator for years. I had one for awhile for camping, the old blue enamel ware. Best coffee I've ever had.

 

[plain old dave]

Old thread, but good info. I just bought a percolator coffee pot (brand new one, don't hate), and the coffee's considerably harsher than the drip pot that just went to the Coffee Shop In The Sky 2 weeks ago. Had completely forgot egg shells. We actually did that in the Navy in the mid-90s. Back then, you could establish a divisional coffee mess and get a percolator urn and coffee issued to your shop. This BM2 in the division insisted that would help, and it did. Anybody got suggestions for a good store-bought coffee for a percolator?

 

[Bingles]

Old thread, but good info. I just bought a percolator coffee pot (brand new one, don't hate), and the coffee's considerably harsher than the drip pot that just went to the Coffee Shop In The Sky 2 weeks ago. Had completely forgot egg shells. We actually did that in the Navy in the mid-90s. Back then, you could establish a divisional coffee mess and get a percolator urn and coffee issued to your shop. This BM2 in the division insisted that would help, and it did. Anybody got suggestions for a good store-bought coffee for a percolator?

What grind coffee are you using? If you just took a can of Foldgers or Maxwell House off the shelf, it's going to brew very bitter. Pre-ground coffee is usually fine grind - designed for drip coffee makers. Percolators use coarse grind. I buy a bag of whole bean coffee and grind it at the store using the "Electric Percolator" setting. Coffee tastes great. Fine grind will give you battery acid.

 

[plain old dave]

Ah. Looks like I will have to start buying the coffee now. The missus always gets the Food City brand and it was pretty good in the drop pots, but once we run out of what we have I'll start getting the ground in-store stuff. Is there any ready made coffee designed for percolators that's any good?

BTW, made a second pot of decaf. More coffee and it seems like having more in the basket makes the coffee better. Part of it too might well have been it is a brand-new pot.

 

[storman113]

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?45545-Vacuum-Coffee-Pots

 

[Joe Foerster]

I bought this gleaming beauty for only $5 at a flea market today. I don't think it had ever been used and it works!

For more on percolators, see this thread:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=17621

"Universal" is (in my opinion) an excellent brand. I've owned several over the years. GE seems to have bought them out.

 

[Retro Spectator]

My great-grandmother had a coffee pot from the 1940's or 1950's. My father got it when she passed away. I would take a picture of it, but I don't know where it is.

 

[robrinay]

I posted my favourites in the other coffee thread - 'Who else grinds coffee? But just in case you didnt read that thread

http://s1262.photobucket.com/user/Rob_Naylor/media/Coffe machines/IMG_3867_zps5c0d246f.jpg.html

 

[LuvMyMan]

"Universal" is (in my opinion) an excellent brand. I've owned several over the years. GE seems to have bought them out.

I am currently wanting to purchase a coffee percolator like this, perhaps even one just used on a burner on the stove. It would seem they should make more "coffee" from the coffee grounds than these modern coffee makers do.

 

[robrinay]

Its all a mattter of taste and it depends upon your taste. The supposed best temperature to brew coffee and extract the 'ideal' 18% to 22% of the coffee solubles, is between 91 and 95 degrees Centigrade/Celsius and a percolator will extract at around 100 degrees. A french press is more likely to extract mainly at the 'correct temperature as the water cools, but will continue to extract if you don't pour it all out after brewing. At 100 degrees you are more likely to extract beyond 22% of the coffee flavour including more of the bitter oils that some don't like (this is called over extraction). Grind size affects the extraction rate too - the coarser the grind the slower the extraction and the finer the grind the faster the extraction. The best advice is for you to try different machines, grinds, coffees and brew times until you find the flavour you like. Personally - I like coffee and enjoy many varieties at a variety of strengths made in various machines, depending on my mood and the time of day. I was introduced to real coffee by my favourite Aunt and she brewed it in a stove (Aga) top percolator - I still remember the wonderful aroma and flavour.

 

[stevew443]

I usually make my morning coffee in a Melita pour over pot, but just for old times sake I have a couple electric percolators a non-electric percolator, but the pride of my coffee making arsenal is an old drip-o-lator that I will sometimes use.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Its all a mattter of taste and it depends upon your taste. The supposed best temperature to brew coffee and extract the 'ideal' 18% to 22% of the coffee solubles, is between 91 and 95 degrees Centigrade/Celsius and a percolator will extract at around 100 degrees. A french press is more likely to extract mainly at the 'correct temperature as the water cools, but will continue to extract if you don't pour it all out after brewing. At 100 degrees you are more likely to extract beyond 22% of the coffee flavour including more of the bitter oils that some don't like (this is called over extraction). Grind size affects the extraction rate too - the coarser the grind the slower the extraction and the finer the grind the faster the extraction. The best advice is for you to try different machines, grinds, coffees and brew times until you find the flavour you like. Personally - I like coffee and enjoy many varieties at a variety of strengths made in various machines, depending on my mood and the time of day. I was introduced to real coffee by my favourite Aunt and she brewed it in a stove (Aga) top percolator - I still remember the wonderful aroma and flavour.

I can sure see how this is with the different size of the actual "ground" particles. But at times to get the most out of coffee (in general) I would think being able to really (perk) the grounds a bit longer than any of the modern coffee making gizmo's would seem to extract more from the grounds....sort of "hammer" them with a longer perk.

I also have to think some of the "plastic" taste is there with most new/modern average coffee makers.

But yes, coffee is something in our household we will never go without. I mix some Folgers with some Vanilla bean to more or less, jazz up the flavor. We also make our coffee a bit strong.

My Husband said when he was in the Navy, on board a ship they use a canvas sack type filter in the coffee machines on the mess decks and two full cans went into the machine at a time...after it being on for a hour or two, the coffee would be like black thick oil...a real zinger of a cup of coffee!

 

[plain old dave]

I have a percolator and am having trouble with it. When I got it, it made good, harsh coffee. You know, coffee that tastes like COFFEE. But recently it seems as though no matter how much I mess with the amounts of water and coffee, the coffee's tepid at best and slightly colored water at worst. Help?

 

[jamespowers]

I usually make my morning coffee in a Melita pour over pot, but just for old times sake I have a couple electric percolators a non-electric percolator, but the pride of my coffee making arsenal is an old drip-o-lator that I will sometimes use.

I love my old Drip-o-Lator as well. When I first used it, I got the order of containers wrong.