Coffee percolator is a coffee brewing device that looks like an urn. Coffee percolator, or caffettiera in Italian, may have gotten its name from the word percolate. The percolator was really the first device invented for brewing coffee. Today they are no longer commonly seen and were mostly replaced by drip coffee makers, espresso machines and French press.

Coffee percolators are a cruder way of brewing coffee. Most of the time it exposes the coffee grounds to higher temperatures compared to other brewing methods. This may cause the already brewed coffee to circulate again through the beans. Over extraction can make a coffee taste extra bitter and strong.

Coffee percolator may eliminate part of the volatile compound found in beans. This may result to a release of pleasant aroma during the brewing process but may produce a less flavorful cup of brewed coffee.

Coffee brewed using percolator has a quite distinctive flavor that some people consider as an acquired taste. The proper use of percolator takes a lot of talent so as not to ruin the taste of coffee. Coffee percolator enthusiasts laud the hotter and more robust coffee brewed from this device. They defend that the potential drawback of this method can be eliminated by controlling the brewing process carefully.

There are several parts of a coffee percolator. Starting from the top, it has an opening or spout where it lets someone to pour coffee to a cup or any other container. The lid along the spout is usually made of clear material so you can check on the coffee while it brews.

The percolator also has a perforated chamber designed for holding coarsely ground coffee. And finally, a tube attached to the chamber, runs through the bottom making contact with the chamber that holds water next to a source of heat.

There are two basic types of percolators. The first one pushes pressurized boiling water through the coffee grounds into the chamber. The second one uses gravity in continuously moving the brew through the grounds until the preferred strength is reached.

When using percolator, the required quantity of water is poured into the lower chamber and the desired amount of ground coffee is put in the top chamber. The water level must be lower than the bottom of the chamber for ground coffee.

Place the percolator closest to a heat source such as stove or campfire. The temperature rises making the water in the chamber boil forcing the water up the tube. The hot water goes to the top through the perforated lid of the chamber. It then seeps through the grounds and leaves the chamber through the bottom, going back into the lower part of the percolator. The whole cycle repeats continually.

The overall temperature reaches boiling point while the brew continuously seeps through the grounds. The perking action or the spurting sound of the pot stops and the coffee is ready.

It is necessary for manual percolators to reduce the heat to avoid the coffee of having a bitter taste. Some percolators have a built-in electric heating element that automatically reduces the heat, keeping the coffee warm but not boiling.

Some manufacturers make electric percolators with advanced controls designed to possibly extract the best tasting coffee. It may need some experimentation in brewing the perfect coffee through the use of coffee percolator, so be patient and prepare on having aborted tries.