Stovetop Percolator

The stovetop percolator is the classic camping and diner coffee pot: a metal pot with a tube up the middle, a perforated basket of coffee at the top and a glass knob in the lid. As it heats, water is pushed up the tube, sprays over the coffee and drips back down, again and again. That repeated cycle gives a strong, hot, full-bodied pot, and if you leave it too long, a bitter one. Here’s how to get it right.

The short version

• Water cycles up the tube, through the coffee and back down, until you stop it.
• Coarse grind, about one heaped tablespoon per 8 oz cup.
• Turn the heat to low as soon as it starts to perk.
• Perk for about 4 to 6 minutes, watching the colour in the knob.
• Remove the basket straight away, then pour.

How does a percolator work?

1. Heat at the base pushes water up the central tube.
2. It sprays out at the top onto the spreader, which spreads it over the coffee.
3. It drips through the coffee in the basket and falls back into the pot.
4. The cycle repeats. Each pass, the coffee in the pot gets stronger.

Because the same coffee passes through the grounds many times, and near boiling point, it’s easy to over-extract. That’s why the heat goes down to low once it perks, and why timing matters.

How much coffee should I use?

About one heaped tablespoon per 8 oz cup, or two for strong coffee, according to Talk About Coffee’s guide. Check how your pot counts cups: some percolators count a cup as 5 fl oz, and one guide suggests one tablespoon per 5 fl oz cup.

What grind size should I use?

Coarse, like sea salt or coarse breadcrumbs. The basket’s holes are large, so finer coffee falls through into the pot and turns the coffee muddy and bitter.

How do you use a percolator, step by step?

1. Fill the pot with cold water to the line for your number of cups.
2. Fit the tube and basket.
3. Add the coffee, about one heaped tablespoon per 8 oz cup.
4. Put the spreader and lid on.
5. Heat on medium until coffee starts bubbling into the glass knob.
6. Turn the heat to low and let it perk gently for about 4 to 6 minutes.
7. Take it off the heat, remove the basket and tube, and pour.

Brew mode on this page times the perk for you.

How long should a percolator perk?

Guides range from about 3 to 8 minutes after it starts perking. Start checking at 4 minutes, watching the colour in the glass knob, and stop when it looks right. Longer makes it stronger, but past a point it just gets bitter, not stronger. Coletti suggests 3 to 5 minutes for a regular cup and up to 6 for a bold one, and not going past 6. If it’s weak, Coletti suggests checking the grind and adding more coffee rather than perking for longer.

Why does my percolator coffee taste bitter?

Problem	Likely cause	Try
Bitter	Perked too long, or too hot	Turn to low as soon as it perks; perk for less time
Muddy, gritty	Grind too fine	Grind coarser
Weak	Too little coffee, or too coarse	Add coffee before perking for longer
Burnt taste	Boiling hard	Keep it at a gentle perk

What about electric percolators?

Electric percolators work the same way, with a heating element in the base. According to Wikipedia, most of them automatically turn the heat down at the end of brewing, keeping the coffee at drinking temperature but not boiling. Large ones, called coffee urns, are still used for serving a crowd at offices, events and church gatherings.

A short history of the percolator

• About 1819, Paris: a tinsmith, Joseph-Henry-Marie Laurens, is often credited with the first design using a rising tube on the stove. Dates vary between sources.
• 1865: James Nason of Franklin, Massachusetts, is granted the first US percolator patent (US 51,741), though not with the familiar upflow tube.
• 1889: Hanson Goodrich, an Illinois farmer, is granted US patent 408,707 on 13 August 1889 for the modern stovetop percolator, a design that could turn an ordinary coffee pot into a percolator.
• 1905: electric percolators are already on sale: General Electric publishes a pamphlet called “Coffee Making By Electricity”.
• Early 1970s: automatic drip coffee makers take over, and percolators fall out of fashion.

How do you clean a percolator?

Remove the basket and tube as soon as it’s brewed, then let the pot cool. Empty the grounds, wash the basket, tube, spreader and pot, and clear the holes in the basket.

General guidance only. Percolators get very hot and keep boiling while on the heat: use the handle, keep the lid on while it perks, and never let it boil dry.

Percolator vs other methods

• Moka pot: a stovetop pot that uses steam pressure, once through.
• Cowboy coffee: the simplest camping coffee, boiled in a pot.
• French press: steeping instead of cycling, for a full body.
• Vietnamese phin: a slow, single pass through a metal filter.

Explore every metal-filter method in the gravity chapter.