The coffee percolator might seem a little old fashioned today, but its invention was a big step toward brewing better coffee. Before this, people were making coffee by merely boiling water grounds — a coffee brewing method known as a decoction 1. People created the percolator to produce a cleaner cup of coffee, free from the grounds.
Related: French Press vs Coffee Percolator. The percolator works by heating water until there is enough pressure to push it up through a tube. It then falls through the coffee grounds and is returned to the water reservoir. This does give percolator coffee a bit of a bad rap for being over-extracted, but fans say this is an issue of how you use it:.
With the right technique and a little attention to detail, you should be able to get a strong but not overdone coffee. The arrival of the drip coffee maker was a death knell for the humble percolator. The design completely automated the process, reducing user error, and allowing people to do other things while their coffee brewed.
A drip coffee maker works on the same theory as a pour-over, but the resulting coffee differs significantly. The water is heated in the machine, dripping slowly through the ground coffee to produce a smooth but mild brew.
I love being able to really taste the beans in drip coffee — espresso is amazing but I like spreading out the experience. Drip coffee may not have the punch of other brewing methods, but it does allow you to taste the subtleties of the coffee. Just be aware that the warming plate, which is one of the significant advantages of the drip machines, can be detrimental to the taste 2.
If you want to see how drip coffee stacks up compared to French press , we have a guide for that too. Now that you know a bit about these machines, how does percolator coffee vs drip compare? The method is one thing, but in the end, it comes down to which one will suit you best in terms of your requirements and your tastes. The process is automated from start to finish. Programmable drip coffee makers will let you adjust strength or keep-warm temperature, but the rest is automatic once these are set.
Stovetop percolators require some practice to use. Also, you might need to experiment with variables if you want to perfect your coffee. Still, modern percolators will take out some of the elements of human error.
Go below this and the water may not pull out sugars, oils, and other compounds fast enough, leading to an overly sour under-extracted brew. Go over this and the water can easily pull out too much, leading to a bitter over-extracted mug of coffee. Boiling point for water is degrees at sea level and goes down as you rise in elevation. If you live anywhere under about 5, ft in elevation, boiling the coffee as it re-brews will almost certainly result in over-brewing over-extraction and a bitter cup.
If you live pretty high in the mountains, you can get away with boiling your coffee since the boiling point will be within the ideal range. Unfortunately, for most of us, percolator brewing requires the water to simply be too hot to produce a balanced, nuanced cup of coffee. When you set the over-extraction issues aside, percolator brewing still suffers from another, oft-unnoticed, weakness: the lack of a meaningful coffee experience.
The act of brewing coffee can be meditative, sensory-rich, and rewarding on an emotional level. It gives you a sense of personal satisfaction, it offers a moment of peace and mindfulness as you brew—and these things can really impact the rest of your day. If you want your coffee experience to be rich with meaning and deeper personal rewards, skip the percolator. Coletti Coffee explains that a percolator works by convection: As the water is heated, it moves from the heat source in the form of bubbles and steam, which push through the hollow stem up to the coffee basket at the top.
The process is repeated until the brew is at full strength. Drip coffee makers essentially rely on hot water that drips down through the grounds to make the coffee you drink. The flavor is unbeatable : Coffee made in a percolator has a smooth, creamy taste. Some people argue that makes percolated coffee bitter or over processed, but according to Coletti Coffee , if you use hot water rather than cold for the brewing process, the water will heat more slowly and regulate the temperature.
Each day, I just empty leftover grounds from the pot and wash all parts with soap and water. It's nostalgic : For me, my percolator is a brief look into the past. Mine has clear knob on the lid—just like my mom often had—so I can watch the color turn from a soft tan to a dark brown, just as I did as a kid.
The brewing process is my relaxing if not gently hypnotic ritual: the aroma that fills the house, the quick peek of the coffee rising into the clear lid, the steady sound of the perc combine for a soothing morning routine. If you're simply looking for an efficient caffeine boost, a convenient drip coffee maker is perfect for pouring a quick cup before you race out the door.
I'll venture to say that if you're not a coffee-lover, you might not want a percolator: some people will likely never quit the simplicity of their single-cup brewers. But if you really love the flavor of coffee and savor the taste and the experience, give a percolator a try. Your rewards will include the hypnotic whirring of the brew, the intoxicating scent of ground beans meeting piping hot stream, the soothing swirl of the strengthening brew, and of course, a delicious pot of strong, bold coffee.
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