National Percolator Day

Do you remember coffee percolators? Percolators were the main method of preparing coffee for over 100 years, to be gradually replaced by the automatic drip brewer in the 1970’s. This older method of coffee brewing is making a comeback, and National Percolator Day on December 26 gives us a chance to learn more about and/or revisit this coffee brewing method.

Origin of the Percolator

Laurens' Percolator

Several versions of the percolator have surfaced over the years. Mr. Laurens is often attributed with creating the first percolator in 1819 in France. His device contained a metal pot with a chamber at the bottom that was placed over the heat source. A vertical pipe extended from the chamber to the top of the percolator. A perforated chamber was directly below the top of the pipe. As the water was heated it rose up the central tube to infuse the coffee above.

Napier's Vacuum Pot

Englishman James Napier created the vacuum pot in 1840.  This pot contained two glass globes, and as the water in lower globe boiled, vapor was forced into the upper globe where the coffee was brewed. Once the lower globe emptied and after the appropriate brewing time had passed, removing the heat source would create a vacuum that pulled the brewed coffee through a sieve into the lower globe, where the coffee was then decanted.

American James Mason, however, was the first to patent a coffee percolator on December 26, 1865, but four years later in 1889, Illinois farmer Hanson Goodrich patented the U.S. stove-top percolator as it is known today. Goodrich’s percolator used a broad base for boiling, the central tube allowing water to flow upwards with a perforated basket hanging on the tube. This design allowed any standard coffee pot of the day to be changed into a stove-top percolator.

Subsequent patents have added very little to Goodrich’s percolator. A perforated chamber inside the percolator holds coarsely ground coffee. A tube attached to that chamber runs to the bottom of the percolator to make contact with the chamber holding water near the heating source.  This heating source can be an electric power outlet, the stove top, or an open fire. The heated water moves up the tube where it spurts out over the coffee grounds, resulting in that wonderful “perking” sound we associate with percolators. The water falls through the perforated chamber, trickling back down to the bottom chamber. When coffee is percolated correctly, the water never reaches the boiling point. 

Electric Percolator

Modern Percolators

Modern percolators are electric, stovetop, or microwave.  The electric percolator brews the most consistent coffee with the advantage of stopping the percolation when the coffee is ready to drink. Most electric percolators switch to a warming mode to keep the coffee warm for a considerable length of time.  These percolators are often constructed from heavy duty stainless steel with an indicator light to signal when the coffee is ready.

Stovetop Percolator

Stovetop percolators do not contain their own heating element and must sit on an electric burner, gas burner, or a campfire grill to heat the water to make coffee. This type of percolator requires continuous monitoring to remove the unit from the heat source once the coffee has finished brewing to avoid the overheating that results in bitter taste.  

Microwave percolators use up to 42% less energy than the electric percolator, but the microwave timer needs to be very carefully monitored to avoid overcooking the coffee.

Coffee percolators are further differentiated into two types: pressure type and gravity type. The Pressure type coffee percolators have three sections. They contain a lower section where the water is stored, a middle section which houses the raw coffee, and the upper section where the completely brewed coffee is stored. Some of the pressure type percolators lack the upper section, instead having a tube that delivers the coffee directly into the cup.

The Gravity type of percolators continuously brews the coffee through the grounds with gravity determining the strength of the resulting coffee. These percolators contain several sections: a small chamber which is used for filling water at the bottom, a vertical tube that reaches from the bottom to the top of the pot, and a perforated chamber for coarse ground coffee at the end of the tube.

How to Make Percolator Coffee

Coarse Grind

The best grind for a percolator is a coarse grind due to the high level of contact with the water.  For best results, the water should never boil, instead staying between 195 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow it to perk for no more than three minutes.  Then pour and add cream and sugar to taste. 

Celebrating National Percolator Day

National Percolator Day not only celebrates the day when the percolator was first patented – it celebrates a way of way of life that has since departed. Despite the difficulty in “perking” that perfect cup of coffee using a percolator, many coffee lovers have refused to give up their percolators, enjoying the strong coffee with the distinctive taste. Others are choosing percolators for health reasons: percolators have no plastic parts, thereby avoiding the chemicals that leach out of plastics when they come in contact with hot water.

This year, why not give the percolator a try? There may be one hidden away in your attic or in that of your grandparents. If you cannot find one in either of those locations, plenty of models are still available for purchase. Fill with cool water, add some coarse ground coffee – being sure to sniff that delicious aroma, add your heat source, sit back, and listen to your coffee make that distinctive “perking” sound.




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