Percolator?

[Dr. Bob]

Howdy,

When did the percolator coffee pot become available?  I found a white enamel one with the black around the top edge.  Not in bad shape and real cheap!   Cheap is always good!!  Thanks!

Dr. Bob  NCOWS Senate Candidate

[Terry Lane]

Dr. Bob and all,
I'm sure Del can answer. He'll be back from his cooking excursion to Filley tonight sometime. Take care.

[Delmonico]

1830's for the perculator, late 1870's at least for the white enamal, it seems to have been common in resteraunts and hospitals by that time.  It sure shows up in those places in pictures from that time once in a while.  Also the White House Kitchen had it in at least the 1880's.  Good find if you like perked coffee.

[Dr. Bob]

I don't think like a computer, so I have a hard time with search engins.  Trying several, MSN, Googl an Ask I found little information with good dates.  It would appear that the first one was invented in the first decade of the 19th Century.  The first American one is dated Dec. 26, 1865.  I suppose that I will have to get a little coffee and try it out.

Regards,

Dr. Bob  NCOWS Senate Candidate

[Delmonico]

I had it in my mind it was in the era I mentioned, I've seen it somewhere in my research.  I cheated and looked it up in the Dictionary, it became a word in comon usage in the American version of the English language in that time period.  If folks were commonly talking about it, it must have been being used.   I often start their before I search more.  Shhh, don't tell anyone my secret, they don't teach kids that in school any more.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Del will correct me iffn I'm outta line and keep in mind that 'bout the ONLY coffee I drink is whut GW boils up at our git-ta-gethers.

I HEARD that perked coffee is 'bout the worst tasting due to the boilin' releases more acid from the grounds, making it more bitter.

Yer turn, Del ...

[deucedaddyj]

Couldn't you just boil the water in the perc, take the basket out, then add the grounds after boiling it?

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I reckon. 

[Four-Eyed Buck]

You have to have some boil to get the perc. to work right, but it's a fine line to get it just right. When I first started to drink ground coffee( instead of instant......yechhhhh), I made some stuff that's positively melt a spoon and disintegrate yer socks Talk about wide eyed and bushy tailed!.....................Buck

[Delmonico]

My question is why would you boil it with the basket and then remove it, just boil it with out the parts.  For those who want perfectly clear coffee just make a bag out of washed un-bleached muslin, tie it with cotton string. and drop it in.  Boiling water extracts the tannic acid from the coffee bean, this is why perked coffee is more bitter than drip type and why when the drip machines got cheap nobody perked any more.

If you want to know how bitter tannic acid is, get and unshelled pecan, open it and get that stuff from between the meats that looks like red pastedboard and taste it.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Ugghhh!

[Ozark Tracker]

Them percolators  made a lot of coffee before the drips,  but some of it sure was bad.

When I was in basic training,  in the field they just got the water boiling in a 10 gal pot and throwed in a pound or 2 of coffee boiled it a litttle  then poured some cold water in and skimmed off the coffee.

[deucedaddyj]

Well, you wouldn't have to use the basket, but if you wanted to see it actually perk when it gets boiling, I think you'd have to leave that in there. If nothing else, just for effect.

[Delmonico]

When the steam comes out the spout it's a boilin'.

[Dr. Bob]

So, if you want to see coffee perking, put water in the pot and bring it to a boil, drop your "sock" of coffee in and let it brew without boiling.  Then remove the "sock" and insert the stem and basket and return the pot to the fire and you got it!  Will look PC and not be bitter!!  Or get a big plain coffee pot and do the first step above. 

When I make coffee for myself, I use a Corning tea pot.  I bring the water to a boil, turn the fire off and add a Folger's coffee single and dip it in and out until the coffee that drains out is no longer darker than the coffee in the pot.  Never bitter and strong enough for me.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy again.

Does anyone here put in a teeny-weeny pinch of salt and a few pieces of eggshell in their grounds?  My Dad always got "rave reviews" from folks who drank his coffee.  Or ate his food. 

He used a boiler/pot/container ... whatever the fool thing is called.  It looked like 2 glass funnels joined at the spout.  The coffee grounds fit in a filter in the top funnel - with the pinch of salt and a few broken eggshell pieces.  Then the 'just' boiled water was poured thru.  I told him one time about 40-45 yrs. ago that he must've made the best coffee in the world.  I was speculating, since I (a) didn't drink coffee and (b) was just a lad of maybe 13-15 yrs. old.  He said his coffee COULD be improved by not having to use the extremely hard water we have here in Indy.  Keep in mind, this was LONG before the home water filter systems that many of us have available now, like my triple osmosis system in my house for drinking water.

Adios!

[Delmonico]

That was the early non-electric drip coffee maker, Grandma had one and I wasn't smart enough at the time to want it. 

And no I don't put no salt or eggshells in my coffee.

[Be-A-triss Bandit]

My dad and grandmother used the egg shells.  Dad used to just boil it in a pan and called it "cowboy coffee".  Mom percolated until the 80s and took it off the fire when it started to perk, took the basket out when it was done and put it back on the stove.  It was still oily and bitter but the aroma!  Todays drip machine just don't smell as good.  If you ate in the University cafeteria in Lincoln in the 40's thru 60's you may have had my grandma's eggshell coffee.
BB

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

In the Air Force, we used to sprinkle salt onto the coffee grounds before cooking, it removed the bitter taste of perc'd coffee.

[deucedaddyj]

Last night I wanted some coffee, but we were out of filters, so I pulled out the percolator. I tried adding some salt to the grounds like Buffalo Creek Law Dog said, and it actually did improve the flavor quite a bit.

Still not the best cup I've ever had, but it was decent enough.