The Best Coffee Percolator

Whether you use it to kickstart a busy morning or ease into a lazy Sunday, coffee is seen as one of the simple pleasures of life. But increasingly, it seems like everybody’s favorite brew is anything but simple to make. Browse the kitchen section of any department store website and you’ll find everything from high-priced K-cup espresso makers to artfully-designed pour-over rigs that look like something out of a mad scientist’s lab.

Perhaps it’s predictable that some coffee lovers have joined a sort of mellow rebellion against all this java snobbery by embracing older methods of brewing. And when it comes to brewing coffee, there are few methods older or more satisfying than the percolator.

Among coffee making methods, the percolator has a well-deserved reputation for quick brewing, and strong, bold tasting results. On the downside, it’s easy to come out of the process with burnt and bitter coffee if you let it brew too long. For some, that allowance for a personal touch is part of the appeal.

In a nutshell, percolators function by heating water to such a degree that it becomes steam, traveling up through a tube into a filter section that contains ground coffee. In more traditional “gravity” percolators, the steam then cools back down into a liquid state, infusing itself with coffee while dropping through the filter into a lower chamber to begin the process again. In more modern “pressure” percolators, that steam keeps on rising into an upper chamber to complete its transition into liquid coffee.

As you might imagine, that process is easy to overdo, especially in the case of gravity percolators. That’s why such units typically come with a glass topper, where you can watch the coffee bubble up. The “blurp” noise it makes as the coffee reaches its optimal state is one of the most satisfying sounds a coffee lover can hear.

A word about versatility: One of the main advantages of having a percolator is that the basic mechanism can be used anywhere that you have access to heat and water. Stovetop percolators are the basic units that consist of the pitcher, filter and lid, and they are just as effective on a kitchen stove as they are over a campfire. You can also get electric percolators, which add a heating element underneath the pitcher. That makes it a bit less portable, but there’s a lot to be said for having a reliable way to keep the coffee warm after brewing it. You can expect to pay a bit more for electric units, but on average, the relatively low price of percolators is another big “perk” over other coffee makers.

You’ll want to keep in mind that percolators do need to be cleaned, and in most cases you can disassemble and clean the entire thing in the dishwasher. (This might not be the case with electric models.) That generally includes the filter section. Unlike most other brewing methods, percolators don’t need a paper filter, though some newer models allow you to insert special disc filters or other ways to accommodate finer grinds.

Finally, consider capacity. If you’re brewing for an entire family, you can expect a percolator to brew a consistent strength of coffee whether it’s one cup or 20 – provided your pitcher can hold that much. And though percolator brewing is one of the fastest methods, keep in mind that it will take longer to bring a large pot of water to a boil.

How much coffee do you need per cup? The ratio is the same for electric percolators as it is for stovetop models: Use roughly one tablespoon of ground coffee for each cup, adjusting to fit your personal taste. Keep in mind that percolators effectively “double-brew” your coffee, so it will be a bit stronger than normal. And if you grind your own beans, definitely go with a coarser grind. Percolator coffee filters have larger holes and the grinds will get plenty saturated, which means it’s easier for grounds to slip through into the coffee if they are too small.