Good morning folks :D
My friend and coffee-buddy 
A percolator works by cycling boiling water through a tub and over coffee grounds using gravity.
The first percolator was invented by a tinsmith in France in 1819 named Joseph-Henry-Marie Laurens. However, on August 13, 1889 a US patent was granted to Hanson Goodrich for the modern (and still used today) style, stove-top coffee percolator.
Percolating was the way to brew coffee for most the 20th century, until the 1970s when the modern day drip coffee machine was perfected and mass produced.
I'd never used a percolator until I was gifted one by a friend that came over and experienced my cowboy coffee (steeped in a stock pot and poured through a kitchen strainer 😳) after I broke my French press. I was skeptical that this would produce a decent cup, as the only percolated coffee I'd ever had came out of one these.
The coffee urn. I'm sure most of us have had coffee from one of these at some point. They are omnipresent at community centers, churches, and other places large groups regularly gather. Filled with a gallon (or more!) of water and usually the least expensive ground coffee from a can, they make a brew that is usually almost passable.
This is the one she got for me. Seems like a solid maker. All stainless steel with a composite handle and a glass knob at the top to see the coffee doin' it's thing.
- There are 5 pieces to this maker; the pot itself, the inside base with the tube for the water to percolate up through, a basket for the grounds, a lid for the basket and a spring that the basket sits on top of.
- There are markings inside for 4, 6, and 8 cups water.
- Inside the grounds basket are also markings for 4, 6 and 8 for the grounds.
- Grounds are in!
- Lid engaged!!
- LETS BREEEEEWWWWW!!!
I've used this about a half dozen times now and the coffee that comes from it is not terrible, in facts it's just fine. It's a little hard to judge as I broke my French press about a month ago and have not been making coffee at home since then. When I got this unit I bought a new brand of coffee so I have no past experience with this coffee to gage the quality of the percolator.
My main hang-up is the boiling. I've always thought that the water for coffee (and tea for that matter) is supposed to be hot, but not boiling, and I know from my job as a cook that boiling most things (soups and sauces) will degrade the quality and kill the flavor.
I think I am going to get another French press and do a side by side comparison with the same coffee. For the past 6 years or so I've been using a drip coffee machine, which I loved because it had a timer I could set so I would wake up to a freshly brewed pot, no waiting!
Though for the last year I've had a job that starts too early for me to sit home and enjoy coffee, plus the machine was old and needed replacing, so I got rid of it and bought a simple French press. This was great, until it broke :(
