How many people would you say is skilled in the preparation of coffee eve as it is the most consumed beverage globally because of its benefits in increasing productivity. Not that it grows hands and legs to help you in your work, but its hands and legs are in its constituents like caffeine that gives you the mental strength to pursue your goals.
Whether it’s to complete five missions of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) or to log in the new products in your store completely: this and many more is the reason, a lot of people have turned to coffee to help
- Keep them alert and away from sleep.
- Keep them focused on their tasks.
- It also has anti-inflammatory functions, which we discussed here.
- It also has a great smell.
But a lot of people only know how to make coffee. It’s funny how most people know that you can drink coffee black or with milk and sugar. What about preparing it and making it ready for consumption.
Coffee is harvested as a bean – it’s actually a seed – and then it undergoes a series of processes to make sure it is ready for consumption. Some of these processes start from harvesting and end in brewing. Some of the processes in between are:
- Drying
- Roasting and;
- Grinding
Brewing
Brewing is the process of making certain products or substances by soaking the raw material, boiling it, and then fermenting it. Products that involve brewing are beers, tea, and, yes, you guessed right, coffee.
We need to brew our coffee before it can be ready for consumption, but a lot of people don’t know how to brew it, even with the several ways of brewing coffee such as:
- Using a Coffee Cone to pour over or drip
- Chemex is another form of pouring over to brew
- The French Press or the Plunger
- The AeroPress another form of press brewing
- Vacuum brewing using the Siphon coffee maker and;
- Percolation
We’d be talking about the percolation way of preparing coffee or how to percolate coffee. If you will.
Percolation
Percolation is a term in physics and chemistry that explains the process of any liquid slowly and gradually passing through a filter. It is mainly credited with coffee, and that’s why we are here. One way of experimenting with percolation is in brewing coffee. First, a filter is placed in a cone, and then the cone is placed in a beaker or anything that can hold both the filter and the liquid. The grounded coffee is then placed in the filter, which is already in the cone, then hot water is poured evenly around the coffee. The liquid coffee slowly drips down into a container, and then the coffee is ready: this is what is known as the drip or pours technique of brewing coffee. But percolation doesn’t stop here as well. This brewing process takes a very long time, and it involves patience and expertise, or you might start tasting grains of coffee in your drink, and you don’t want that. For this reason, percolators were invented, and they also have different types, but their primary purpose is to brew your coffee the best way possible.
Percolators have been criticized in recent years, but it was one of the most popular ways of making coffee. The criticism of the coffee percolator is that it is easy to over-brew the coffee, while the ancient pouring method allows you to control the thickness and flavor of the coffee. The percolator doesn’t give you such luxury. It’s just an excuse because this criticism came when other coffee-making machines like the drip machine and the home coffee maker were invented. They changed the way people made coffee, and then the percolator was neglected because people started seeing it as old-fashioned.
Some other excuses were that making use of the stovetop coffee percolator made coffee bitter. Still, we all fail to understand that coffee-making is all about skill, expertise, and patience. I’ve heard of people who claimed they brew their coffee themselves because it tastes better that way. I don’t know where I heard it, but coffee properly prepared through percolation can be incredible. If you have never tried it before, you can’t say you know how it tastes, and that’s why we are here. Continue, and we’d show you how to make the best cup of coffee using a coffee percolator.
How to Make Coffee Using a Coffee Percolator
First, how does a Stovetop Coffee Percolator work?
A stovetop coffee percolator is a percolator that sits on the stove and is heated. The steam from the boiling water is forced through the grounds of coffee that are already inside the percolator.
The percolator has three chambers
- A place that holds water
- A hollow tube that carries boiling water upwards and;
- A perforated basket that holds the ground coffee.
The mechanism is a fascinating one. The ground chamber holds the water, and when the percolator is heated, once the water starts boiling, the hollow tube allows the water to pass through to the top layer where the grounded coffee is held in a perforated basket. The boiling water or the steam that goes up rains on the grounded coffee moves through the grounded coffee. The perforated basket doesn’t hold the water, and then it drops back into the water, which continues to boil and go up. This process goes on for a while before the coffee is appropriately percolated. This is how it works.
How to Make a Great Cup of Coffee in a Coffee Percolator
I said a great cup of coffee because these steps are the best way to get it right. You might try it any other way, but you might end up over brewing or brewing, which is not brewing. Let’s get into it then.
- Get Your Measurement Right
The first and most important thing you have to do is know the type of coffee you want. Overfilling the basket would give you a strong and thick brew. Another thing to note is that you need to make the amount you need at that moment. If you make excess and leave it to sit, it turns bitter, and this is where the excuse about bitter coffee started.
To know the right measure, you can use a coffee scale or use one teaspoon for 8 ounces of water, which is just a rough estimate. Making use of a leaf is better as it makes it more precise.
- Grind Your Coffee
Percolated coffee is ground to a medium-coarse size: this is because a finely grounded coffee can seep through the perforated basket, and it can ruin your taste. The best grinder to use is the burr grinder. Grinding the coffee is easy with it.
- Assemble The Percolator
Look in the instructions on the perforator to see how to assemble the parts rightly. There are several YouTube videos dedicated to this as well. However, the first thing is to put water in the first and ground chamber of the percolator. Put the coffee in the perforated basket and secure the lid. You’re good to go then.
What is the Ideal Percolation Time?
Generally, the best coffee to use with a stovetop coffee percolator is the less bitter coffee bean, like the Ethiopian and the Columbian coffee beans. But you can also use any other type of bean. You just have to pay attention to some things like measuring right, grinding to a medium-coarse size, and not using too much heat.
The percolation time is up to you, but the following are things you must do.
Pay Attention to the Percolator
How do you do this? I know I explained that percolation of coffee involves the water boiling, but it is the steam we need. We don’t want the bubbling water boiling, so don’t use too much heat. Keep it at a minimum to allow the water to go up gradually. Too much heat makes the coffee bitter. If you notice the water has started boiling, reduce the heat.
When you get your desired boiling rate, you can relax and let the percolator work for 5- 9 minutes. You get to decide how long you want it to brew, but the minimum time needed is between 5 and 7 minutes. Brewing for a long time can make the coffee bitter. You have to keep checking, and when it suits your taste, then it is ready.
Serve Your Coffee
First, make sure you have removed the basket and the chambers in the percolator. You can then move on to pouring your coffee. Removing the inner chambers and the basket would prevent the ground coffee from falling into your brewed coffee.
Keep switching things up after your first try. Experiment with the amount of water and grounded coffee, but most significantly, experiment with time and heat.
That’s it—an extensive guide to percolating coffee. Try new things, experiment, have fun, and most especially enjoy great coffee.
