Perc your coffee?

Does anyone do this anymore? I've heard a little salt in the grind gives an enhanced flavor when percing your java, any truth to that?

To percolate is to boil, and boiling ain't good. Coffee needs to be brewed at around 190-200 degrees (just under boiling) in order to extract the most flavor compounds without extracting bitterness. I just recently learned this in my quest for better coffee. My new preferred method is to:

1. Boil water
2. Take off heat for about 2 minutes
3. Brew in French Press for 4 minutes

I have found that this method makes such good coffee, I no longer dilute with milk.

quote:

Originally posted by chewingthefat

Does anyone do this anymore? I've heard a little salt in the grind gives an enhanced flavor when percing your java, any truth to that?

The Pan-American Coffee Council recommends ONLY the drip method of coffee brewing because percolating essentially involves boiling the coffee and running it through the grounds multiple times, thus leading to an "over-extracted" flavor quality.

Additionally, to quote the newsletter of the School of Public Health at U.C. Berkeley, "since the mid-'80s, studies have consistently linked unfiltered coffee to increases in cholesterol". By contrast, there is no correlation between increased cholesterol levels and the drinking of filtered (drip) coffee.

So, whether one is interested in the best taste or the least negative impact on one's health, drip coffee is the preferred method. And, of course, it goes without saying that if someone wants good tasting coffee, it is best to avoid mass-market stuff like Maxwell House, Folgers, Chase & Sanborn, etc.

However, I am also realistic enough to know that people of a certain age have become so used to the cooked, over-extracted flavor of percolated coffee that they don't appreciate the flavor of premium coffee that has been prepared by the drip method. I used to work with a woman (now in her late 70s) who complained that drip coffee "is never hot enough". After drinking some scalding hot coffee at her house, I learned in a very real way about her preferences for both the taste and the temperature of coffee, and let's just say that her preferences are very much unlike mine.

Feel free to drink as much percolated coffee as you want. Just don't expect me to drink any of it--with salt or without!

In this enlightened age of coffee making, who, and, why, would anyone want to "percolate" (aka burn) good coffee???

Well twinwillow, guess I do... When camping I should say.. Have a small quart size percolater I stick over the grill for my morning java fix.

Well, I guess there isn't any other way to make coffee in the "wilderness". I'll excuse you this time.

I perc mine every morning and love it. I don't think it burns, mine is eletric.
I had for years a drip Bunn modle never hot enough, the perc just right.
The aroma from fresh percked coffe can't be duplicated. Chow Jim

Interesting,
I grew up drinking Italian espresso in our house, and this was before the fancy machines were widely available for home use, and basically most Italian immigrants like my family only used the two-part Neapolitan metal ones that you put over the burner...water and coffee grounds in the bottom, and the top part has the spout for the finished product. I presume this is a percolation method, right? I still find espresso made this way delicious, and I have consumed it made from much fancier machines in Italy and in different coffee specialty shops around the US.
I also agree with Jim that the smell is much better than with other methods of preparation.

I think the Percolator makes the best, full flavored coffee hands down. Why, the coffee repeatedly gets drawn through the grinds instead of one time like a drip machine. I like strong full flavored coffee, but not burnt and not biiter like Starbucks. What drives me nuts is after a few months to a year the damn thing stops making hot coffee. I have had two now that eventually make luke warm coffee and then I end up having to heat it, so I go back to the drip machine. I do like the percolator in the morning, the smell, the sound and the taste.

Perc don't work!!!

Only thing I didn't like about percolated coffee was the grounds going thru the basket.. I started punching a hole in a coffee filter and sticking it between the basket and grounds to reduce the residue. At least this is my method when doing 'rustic' camping. When I have a site with electricity, I haul my el cheapo 'Mr Coffee' coffee maker along (drip).

We have one perc pot for the camper and one for the boat and it tastes pretty darn good to us on a chilly morning!

Hell, hot water would taste good on a chilly morning...but I understand...I grew up with perked...any coffee in a storm!

I still own a couple corningware percolators, and they still see occasional use when my drip machine is out of service ... or I have very old family members over (just for old times sake, eh?)

I currently use a press, which I like very much. But I must admit I’ve been kicking around getting a percolator. Something about the sound they make and the aroma, it’s a bit nostalgic isn’t it?

You can't compare the large, bitter, bad coffee set up in the back of meetings, with the home percolator. The larger one never do a good job. Also they call for a pound of coffee, but a can is only like 11 or 12 oz., so the chemisry is off from the begining. The home Perc machine is a litle more cleanup but great taste and aroma and sound. A very nice way to wake up.

I had a French Press and gave it away. Now I have to boil water, wait for it, pour it, wait, and press it before the first cup is ready. I find it does an OK job, but I do not have the patience to wait when I can set up the perc machine leave the room and when I come back hot coffee is ready to go. My only complaint is after a few months the cofee is not hot eough.

quote:

Originally posted by JakerDog

You can't compare the large, bitter, bad coffee set up in the back of meetings, with the home percolator. The larger one never do a good job. Also they call for a pound of coffee, but a can is only like 11 or 12 oz., so the chemisry is off from the begining. The home Perc machine is a litle more cleanup but great taste and aroma and sound. A very nice way to wake up.

I had a French Press and gave it away. Now I have to boil water, wait for it, pour it, wait, and press it before the first cup is ready. I find it does an OK job, but I do not have the patience to wait when I can set up the perc machine leave the room and when I come back hot coffee is ready to go. My only complaint is after a few months the cofee is not hot eough.

"My only complaint is after a few months the cofee is not hot eough."

Well, personally, I will dump the carafe if the coffee hasn't been finished within 45 minutes or so. In addition to not being very hot after a few months, I can't even begin to imagine what that coffee must taste like after a few months. But, if you want to drink coffee that is a few months old, be my guest!

I have tried expensive beans ground at home in high end drip machines. The result was smooth and palatable, but essentially boring.

A great deal of flavor depends on aroma. There is no drip machine in existence that can compare to the aroma of a stovetop percolator. Here in the Northeast we need that aroma to get us out of bed in such a wintry clime. To actually get started we need strong coffee, thick as diesel fuel. It is only then we can contemplate the overnight two foot snowfall and take up our snow shovels fortified and fueled by real coffee.

quote:

Originally posted by Tedbear

quote:

Originally posted by JakerDog

You can't compare the large, bitter, bad coffee set up in the back of meetings, with the home percolator. The larger one never do a good job. Also they call for a pound of coffee, but a can is only like 11 or 12 oz., so the chemisry is off from the begining. The home Perc machine is a litle more cleanup but great taste and aroma and sound. A very nice way to wake up.

I had a French Press and gave it away. Now I have to boil water, wait for it, pour it, wait, and press it before the first cup is ready. I find it does an OK job, but I do not have the patience to wait when I can set up the perc machine leave the room and when I come back hot coffee is ready to go. My only complaint is after a few months the cofee is not hot eough.

"My only complaint is after a few months the cofee is not hot eough."

Well, personally, I will dump the carafe if the coffee hasn't been finished within 45 minutes or so. In addition to not being very hot after a few months, I can't even begin to imagine what that coffee must taste like after a few months. But, if you want to drink coffee that is a few months old, be my guest!

Nicely played. LOL

The smell of percolating coffee and bacon frying together, must be like sniffing Heaven's kitchen.

Friends don't let friends percolate coffee!

I dont drink coffee.. Love the smell though..And the smell of my folks making perc'd coffee when I was a child is a huge memory for me.

But growing up in the 50/60's, the only way I remember my parents making coffee was with an electic percolator.
How did people make coffee without a percolator before the advent of Mr. Coffee, drip style?..
I thought perc'ing was the only way??..(back then)

quote:

Originally posted by roossy90

I dont drink coffee.. Love the smell though..And the smell of my folks making perc'd coffee when I was a child is a huge memory for me.

But growing up in the 50/60's, the only way I remember my parents making coffee was with an electic percolator.
How did people make coffee without a percolator before the advent of Mr. Coffee, drip style?..
I thought perc'ing was the only way??..(back then)

Before the electric percolator, most folks used a stove-top percolator. Now that REALLY boiled the coffee to death!

Ah yes boiled coffe, a big stove top pot,boil the water throw in som coffe, salt and a few egg shells and you have some great tasting coffe
Clay Bell

quote:

Originally posted by Clay Bell

Ah yes boiled coffe, a big stove top pot,boil the water throw in som coffe, salt and a few egg shells and you have some great tasting coffe
Clay Bell

yup, boiled on the stovetop, maybe in the old style non-perc type coffee pot. To clear the grounds we'd sometimes either; beat an egg and put that in (coffee must be very hot) - as it congeals and sinks to the bottom it strains out the grounds ... or, you can put a couple ice cubes in and move em around on the surface of the coffee - the colder melted water from the cubes sinks down in the pot and takes most of the grounds with it (and remember to leave the last swallow of coffee in the cup).

quote:

Originally posted by chewingthefat

Does anyone do this anymore? I've heard a little salt in the grind gives an enhanced flavor when percing your java, any truth to that?

I've never put salt in my coffee, but I have on occasion put salt in my beer (warm beer usually).

I do, however, sometimes put just a tiny bit of black pepper/cracked peppercorns in with my ground coffee.

Haven't had percolated coffee (that I know of) since the 1970s. My $20 drip coffee maker isn't fancy, but makes decent coffee--much milder than percolated.