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Percolated Coffee
Use same amount. Put coffee in perforated cup with water in bottom. Set on stove, and when it begins to percolate let it stay on fire fifteen minutes. I would advise using a percolator, for the coffee is much better. Always use care in keeping pot well cleaned and aired.
A stovetop percolator entry from a run of coffee methods; the proportion is carried over from the preceding recipe rather than restated. The general period standard is a level tablespoon of ground coffee per cup of water, with an extra spoonful for the pot.
- The proportion"Use same amount" points back to the preceding coffee entry, so no quantity is given here. Work from one tablespoon of coffee to each 6 oz cup of water and adjust to taste.
- Fifteen minutes is too longFifteen minutes is a long percolation -- the same water is pushed through the grounds again and again, and coffee percolated that long tends to turn bitter and flat. Six to eight minutes of active percolation is usually enough.
- Grind coarseThe "perforated cup" is the percolator basket, and fine grind will slip through it and cloud the cup. Use a coarse grind, close to what you would use for a French press.
- Regulate the heatOnce it begins to percolate, drop the burner to low so the pot burbles steadily rather than boiling hard. A rolling boil scorches the coffee and drives off the aromatics.
- Why she prefers the percolatorThe percolator keeps grounds and liquid separate, unlike methods that boil grounds loose in the pot; that separation is the improvement she is recommending.
- Cleaning is not a throwaway lineCoffee oils build up in the tube, basket and lid and go rancid quickly, which will sour every subsequent pot. Wash and dry the parts after each use and leave the pot open to air, as directed.
- YieldHousehold percolators of the period came in a range of sizes. Brew only as much as will be drunk, since coffee held hot on the stove deteriorates quickly.
Percolators of various patterns were developed through the nineteenth century, and by the early twentieth century the stovetop percolator was in wide use alongside the older practice of boiling grounds loose in a pot and clearing them with eggshell or cold water. This entry recommends the percolator over the method of the preceding coffee recipe, and the insistence on a well-cleaned, well-aired pot reflects a period concern with rancid coffee oils in metal vessels. The electric percolator carried the same method into American kitchens until drip brewing overtook it in the 1970s.