We've had some discussions of fancy dancy espresso machines lately, and in the past discussed how to make cold brew. What I've NOT seen any love for here in the Pit is the old fashioned percolator.
I bring this up, as I have a 20+ year old Coleman 9 cup aluminum camping percolator which my youngest borrowed months ago, along with my Coleman camp stove, for a camping trip she, her husband, baby and dog went on. They brought everything back BUT the percolator, and I realized it when they were out of town, and we were checking on their dog, and I saw it sitting in the corner of their garage - missing the glass button/cap that the coffee percs through on top! Aha. Now I knew why they didn't bring it back or mention it...
So, I took it home, cleaned it out of old moldy coffee she had not dumped out (they had to pack their campsite in a storm after dark), sanitized the heck out of it, then found that Coleman doesn't sell the replacement parts for it. I finally found a universal top on Amazon that came in last week, and I just used the pot on the kitchen stovetop to brew some after-lunch java. The replacement cap, while much larger than the old one, worked just fine.
If anyone ever finds themself in the same boat with one of these old percolators, here is what I ordered - currently a whopping $3.99 with free shipping. I paid $5.99 last week!
Anyway, back to the subject of percolators. Anyone use one other than when camping?
I know some pros are:
1. No power needed. I've used it on our gas stove during power outages, and on the Coleman stove, or even on the edge of a camp fire or fire pit many years ago. Just used it on the simmer burner on my gas cooktop, and it took about 5 minutes to bring to a boil, then I turned it down and let it perculate for about 8 minutes.
2. Brew it the strength you want, depending on length of perc time.
3. No filters needed - although filters are actually available to go inside the baskets.
Some cons:
4. Gotta wait a while to drink that boiling coffee! I just had to wait about 10 minutes for it to be cool enough to start sipping my coffee.
5. Unless you use the optional filters, its got more oils in it than drip coffee. But no different than other brewing methods that don't use a paper filter. I.e. French press, etc.
6. Maybe takes longer to make the coffee? I dunno about this one - it took me about 12-15 minutes to make the pot I just ran. I've seem some drip makers that were that slow, but most aren't. I used to have a Bunn that made it TOO fast (like 2 minutes). Bunn sent me a replacement head that slowed the flow down for stronger coffee.
Anyway, while looking for the replacement top, and not knowing if I could find one, I was shopping a replacement percolator to make the daughter buy me, and found quite a few that seem to be highly reviewed. In finding those, like the Coletti Bozeman, a Farberware model, etc, it sure seems some folk prefer their coffee brewed this way.
I bring this up, as I have a 20+ year old Coleman 9 cup aluminum camping percolator which my youngest borrowed months ago, along with my Coleman camp stove, for a camping trip she, her husband, baby and dog went on. They brought everything back BUT the percolator, and I realized it when they were out of town, and we were checking on their dog, and I saw it sitting in the corner of their garage - missing the glass button/cap that the coffee percs through on top! Aha. Now I knew why they didn't bring it back or mention it...
So, I took it home, cleaned it out of old moldy coffee she had not dumped out (they had to pack their campsite in a storm after dark), sanitized the heck out of it, then found that Coleman doesn't sell the replacement parts for it. I finally found a universal top on Amazon that came in last week, and I just used the pot on the kitchen stovetop to brew some after-lunch java. The replacement cap, while much larger than the old one, worked just fine.
If anyone ever finds themself in the same boat with one of these old percolators, here is what I ordered - currently a whopping $3.99 with free shipping. I paid $5.99 last week!
Anyway, back to the subject of percolators. Anyone use one other than when camping?
I know some pros are:
1. No power needed. I've used it on our gas stove during power outages, and on the Coleman stove, or even on the edge of a camp fire or fire pit many years ago. Just used it on the simmer burner on my gas cooktop, and it took about 5 minutes to bring to a boil, then I turned it down and let it perculate for about 8 minutes.
2. Brew it the strength you want, depending on length of perc time.
3. No filters needed - although filters are actually available to go inside the baskets.
Some cons:
4. Gotta wait a while to drink that boiling coffee! I just had to wait about 10 minutes for it to be cool enough to start sipping my coffee.
5. Unless you use the optional filters, its got more oils in it than drip coffee. But no different than other brewing methods that don't use a paper filter. I.e. French press, etc.
6. Maybe takes longer to make the coffee? I dunno about this one - it took me about 12-15 minutes to make the pot I just ran. I've seem some drip makers that were that slow, but most aren't. I used to have a Bunn that made it TOO fast (like 2 minutes). Bunn sent me a replacement head that slowed the flow down for stronger coffee.
Anyway, while looking for the replacement top, and not knowing if I could find one, I was shopping a replacement percolator to make the daughter buy me, and found quite a few that seem to be highly reviewed. In finding those, like the Coletti Bozeman, a Farberware model, etc, it sure seems some folk prefer their coffee brewed this way.
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