My coffee snob friends tease me a lot about the fact that I use a stove top percolator to make most of my coffee. Partly I love being involved with the preparation of my food and beverages. I’m also a very cheap Yankee who doesn’t like to waste money on fancy gadgets if I don’t have to. Lastly, I live in rural coastal Maine that loses power during blizzards in the winter and hurricanes in the summer, so a coffee maker that doesn’t need electricity (I have a gas stove) is a great choice.
But the first consideration is the quality of the coffee that a stove top percolator brews. In short it is a rich and bold cup of coffee. While a good percolator coffee machine can be bought for under $25, the coffee grinder that produces the ground coffee that goes in the percolator can be quite expensive. And that’s where I invested my coffee making dollars. I have a $200 burr coffee grinder that produces an even ground. When you use a coffee percolator you should use a coarser grind so the water can continue to pull out the flavor as it repeatedly perks through the coffee grounds.
It is also wonderful not to be at the mercy of Mother Nature. When the power goes out I can use my gas stove or burning fireplace to make coffee in my percolator. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the video below to see how to make percolator in very primitive conditions.