How to Make Coffee in a Percolator: Make Coffee with Just 4 Easy Steps

A coffee lover? Want to make a great cup of coffee in the old style? If you are thinking of a percolator then yes, you guessed it right. But wait, are you wondering now how to use a percolator properly? You can smell the fresh aroma of just brewed coffee made in an old-fashioned way in your imagination and might be feeling nostalgic thinking about your childhood days where your grandmother used to make coffee using a percolator.

But you might be feeling helpless as you don’t know How to make coffee in a percolator in that way. Well, this article is about helping you to make the perfect cup of coffee using a percolator by following a few steps.

How to make coffee in a percolator: Step by step guide to make a perfect cup of coffee. 

What is a electric coffee percolator?

What is a electric coffee percolator?
Italian coffee maker above kitchen gas flame

At first, let us know what a percolator is. Percolator is a type of machine that works by continuous cycling boiling water having the coffee grounds until the coffee extracts are perfectly squeezed and the desired strength is reached. Percolators mostly rely on gravity to cycle their brew, but electric percolators use electricity to brew the coffee. As it cycles the boiling water having the coffee grounds, you will smell the flavored aroma of the coffee.

Things you will be needing to make coffee in a percolator

If you are making coffee on a stovetop percolator then you will be needing these things:

  • Coffee beans or grounds
  • Coffee grinder
  • Water
  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Stove
  • Percolator
  • And a little bit of patience

As you can see that, this list contains the basic ingredients which are already available in your kitchen since you are a coffee lover.

Again, if you are making coffee in an electric percolator, then you will be certainly in need of electricity and an electricity-supported percolator. And you need to plug it in and put it on when you want it to start.

Let’s make the perfect cup of coffee 

Now that you have already gathered all the ingredients and have your mind settled to make the impeccable cup of coffee, then let’s get started. Carefully take a look at these steps so that you don’t miss one.

  • Keeping all the parts of the percolator clean
  • Grinding your coffee as much you want them to be grinded
  • Measuring your coffee amount to make sure how much you want to make
  • Putting the filter basket in place
  • Adding the desired amount of water according to the coffee ground amount
  • Adding the chambers and assembling the tube
  • Placing your grounds in the basket
  • Fitting the basket lid into place
  • Heating your percolator
  • Monitoring the process
  • Percolate depending on how strong coffee you want
  • Remove the percolator from the heat source
  • Remove the grounds
  • Enjoy your freshly brewed percolated coffee
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Making coffee in a percolator: 4 Easy steps to start your coffee-making journey.

Step -1: Measure the required amount of coffee.

First of all, once you have decided how much coffee you want to brew, measure the required amount of coffee and grind your beans. Electric percolators of modern days have their own measuring scale inside the pot but stovetop percolators don’t have that, so you need to measure it by measuring pots. Coffee with low acidity is recommended because a percolator can bring bitterness coffee.

While measuring the coffee grounds, you need to keep in mind that, you will need one tablespoon of ground coffee per 8 ounces of water.

You also need to make sure that you use coarse ground setting, as coffee that is grinded well ultimately makes their way into the water and make your flavored coffee. After coarse grinding the coffee beans you need to put it in the percolator coffee pot.

Making coffee in a percolator with Easy steps to start your coffee-making journey.
An espresso machine pouring coffee in cups

Step-2: Working with filter basket and water

The next step is putting the filter basket in place and then adding the required amount of water in the percolator according to its capacity as much as you plan to make.

But you need to make sure that the amount of water you will use, matches the amount of your coffee ground so that your coffee does not become too weak or too strong.

Or otherwise, you will end up making a bitter cup of coffee. After that, you have to assemble your percolator’s chamber and the tube.

Since most of the percolators are identical, so hopefully you will not feel any problem while assembling these parts. The tube is needed to be assembled while water is put in the percolator.

Step-3

And now for the third step, you will have to put the grounds of the coffee in the percolator’s basket. Don’t add excess grounds as this brewing process is a bit different than the other ways and the coffee might be strong as the strength depends on the diffusion of the coffee extract from the grounds.

This might not make the taste of the coffee you needed. You will just have to stick to the ratio so that you can make the perfect tasting coffee.

Next thing is to turn on the stove and place the percolator over the stove. If you are using an electric percolator then plug it in and switch it on.

The trick to making great-tasting coffee lies in this step. You need to heat your water slowly and get it close to the point when boiling will start without actually causing the water to boil.

Then heat increase or decrease can be done in a small range if necessary. Try to put the stove on low flame so that you can handle the strength of your coffee.

Step-4

Most of the percolators have a transparent glass at the top. So by peeping through the glass, you can monitor the water being heated.

After a few minutes’ small bubbles can be noticed to be formed and the faster this happens, the hotter your water is.

Percolate for about 9 to 10 minutes. You have to monitor closely to make sure that the bubbles are formed a few seconds apart. Moreover, if you want strong coffee, then percolate for 10 minutes.

But if you prefer little weak coffee, then percolate it for 7 to 8 minutes. It is completely up to your taste.

Finally, remove the percolator from the heat source and then filter the coffee so that you don’t find it in your cup and then pour it out. 

Just keep in your mind that, if there is any sign of grounds in your coffee, then it would become strong. So you need to be very careful about this matter.

Now, pour the coffee into your favorite cup and enjoy your cup full of aromatic liquid. Just sit near a window-side or on your couch and enjoy its elegant taste with the perfect bliss.

Final Talks:

So, You got it right? How to make coffee in a percolator? You see making coffee in a percolator is not tough as you thought. Though electric coffee percolators might sometimes bring out the bitterness in your coffee as it brews at a high temperature. But if the brewing is done under proper supervision and monitoring, it can make the special nostalgic coffee for you that you wanted to drink.

As you have reached the end of this article, so by now you should have learned how to make your great elegant tasting coffee using percolator just by following the discussed simple steps.  

Congratulations to you, as you have successfully adapted this method and surely will try making your coffee as soon as you possibly can.