296662 Fri Apr 02 14:35:38 -0800 2004 10 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1634857 So, I love vintage kitchen and barware, and lately I've been drooling over the bakelite and chrome coffee sets on ebay - snazzy little numbers with sugar, creamer, tray, and a coffee maker. I assume these are percolators. Here's the thing - though I vaguely remember my mother's percolator making that fabulous noise on holidays, I didn't drink coffee back then and I have no idea what percolator coffee tastes like. I fear it may not be a good thing - that's certainly what I've always heard, but someone told me recently his parents won't drink anything but percolator coffee. Are they crazy? Is it not that bad after all? Do I have an excuse to bid on the chrome set with the Deco lines and the red bakelite handles? If the coffee is terrible, can I do anything to adapt the pot to just hold the coffee, rather than brew it (that may need to go on the not about food board.) Thanks. Fri Apr 02 14:35:38 -0800 2004 0 curiousbaker 1 1634873 It is truly awful stuff! Sorry. Fri Apr 02 16:28:28 -0800 2004 1634857 0 Becca Porter 1 1634878 I had to do a paper in college on coffee making methods many many years ago. Mr, Coffee was a new product as were the Bunn home machines and had to brew a lot of coffee by many different methoids. The perked was the worst. The reason it was so bad was that perking boils the coffee and makes it quite bitter. It is a harsh method of coffee brewing and in the process of perking the coffee passses through the grounds several times. Not good coffee. Fri Apr 02 17:20:56 -0800 2004 1634857 0 Candy 1 1634915 I LIKE percolated coffee...so there! I think you should buy one of those sets (sometimes they are really inexpensive, I was tempted recently). Try the percolator with your regular coffee and see what you think of the flavor. If you prefer another brewing method just pour your completed coffee in the percolator and let it keep it warm. Sat Apr 03 00:03:54 -0800 2004 1634857 0 SylvesterR 2 1635060 My father also still loves and makes perked coffee. I'm not yet sold. However, I think there are probably a couple of salient issues and questions which if addressed/answered might make a difference. 1. The era of perked coffee dominance also coincides with the era of really bad mass marketed ground coffee. Perhaps we have wrongly associated bad raw materials with the method employed. 2. There is probably an ideal grind (coarser or finer than drip) for getting a balanced cup of perked coffee. If someone knew how to ascertain that, and ground some really good, fresh roasted coffee at the correct grade, then maybe anti-perk prejudice would disappear. Just a thought. Mon Apr 05 14:50:45 -0700 2004 1634915 0 mrbarolo 3 1635103 I use A&P Bokar coffee and a farberware percolator, and always have, they grind the beans in the store for you. There are also nifty percolator-basket sized filters that work well too, I think they give a smoother flavor. Mon Apr 05 23:45:24 -0700 2004 1635060 0 sylvesterR 1 1634940 At the risk of sounding presumptuous, why not stop fretting just make some and try it? You'll know soon enough. IMHO, nothing beats the sound and smell of perking coffee, but the end result is usually thinner and sharper than drip, but for some not at all unpleasant. Sat Apr 03 14:11:24 -0800 2004 1634857 0 bob oppedisano 2 1635027 Oh, I'm fretting mostly because the sets I want are a bit of an investment (the collectible quality of the style, more than anything else). But I think I will give it a try - as was mentioned, I can always use the urn to keep the coffee warm. And I can certainly use the sugar/creamer/tray in the worst case - and the set will certainly LOOK fab. But I won't spend too much. Mon Apr 05 10:24:27 -0700 2004 1634940 0 curiousbaker 1 1635040 I recently had some great perked coffee, and wondered why I'd hated it all those years at potlucks, etc. I think the difference is a) drink it as soon as it's done, similarly to brewed coffee, it will burn quickly if left with the heat on. b) use a lot more coffee than normal, the theory being that the bitterness comes from overextracting the oils from the grounds, which won't happen if there's more grounds. One more caveat -- they recently did a study that showed that coffee raises cholesterol levels, but then another study showed that it didn't-- the difference was that one study was done in england where mostly perked or french pressed coffee is drunk, and the other was here where most coffee is filtered. Turns out the filter also removes the chemical that raises cholesterol. But if you're not worried about cholestorol, go for the one that tastes the best. Mon Apr 05 11:33:00 -0700 2004 1634857 0 Jessi 1 1635095 I drink perked coffee every morning and love it. However, I've found that the actual percolator makes a difference. I use the classic Farberware stainless steel electric percolator that is still available in stores (I have the smallest model -- there are three sizes). However, being a collector type, I bought a very '40s looking percolator a few years ago, and found the results to be undrinkable. I think it's the metal. The stainless imparts less flavor to the coffee, whereas the older machine left a definite "zinc" flavor. My guess is that the deco machines may be of similar contruction, and may not produce very good coffee. Somebody posted a reply as to the correct grind -- most grocery-store coffee grinders have the coarsest setting labeled as "percolator," and the next finer as "electric percolator." I find that this works just fine. An the 5-cup marking of my trusty Farberware (the "cup" markings seem to correspond 6 oz, so we're talking 30 oz), I use 9 tablespoons of electric percolator ground Pete's french roast. Works great. Mon Apr 05 20:00:19 -0700 2004 1634857 0 Zach Georgopoulos 1 1635112 To say it is awful is an understatement. I'm in my 50's and always drank perc coffee because it was all we had for years. But once I discovered the Mr. Coffee coffeemaker, I never drank perc again. It's not even an acquired taste ... it's a forced one---meaning I would only drink it again if forced. ;-) Tue Apr 06 10:29:22 -0700 2004 1634857 0 Alexis Dale