Coffee Percolators - How They Work To Make A Distinctive Cup Of Coffee

We all enjoy a good cup of coffee early in the morning but how many times do we stop and think about the technology that went into refining the machines that make a good cup of coffee? Coffee machines or automatic drip coffee makers all started out from coffee percolators. Coffee Percolators still have a following, as the distinctive taste of coffee brewed in a percolator is irresistible to true coffee connoisseurs.

How does a percolator work? The basic mechanism that is employed to make coffee in a percolator is to use boiling water to extract coffee from coarsely ground beans. A percolator consists of two chambers; one stacked on top of the other and connected to each other. One chamber at the bottom is filled with boiling water that rises through a small tube to the chamber at the top, which contains the ground coffee beans. The liquid is then strained at the top through a sieve and falls to the chamber at the bottom. During this process, the gurgling sound of water rising to the top can be heard - the typical sound of a percolator. It is when this sound stops that you know the process is complete.

There are various types of percolators that are differentiated by their heating mechanisms. The heating mechanism could be electrical (the most popular) or stovetop. Most percolators today use glass for the users to view the percolation process.

Some of the vintage designs that were used are quite interesting to explore. In the early part of the 16th century, the basic design was around the way coffee grinds react. A rounded container with a spout in the middle was one of the designs used to separate the coffee bean residue from the drink. In due course, cloth was used to sieve out the residue from the drink. The designs that followed usually employed the manual process of pouring hot water over beans. More innovations refined the designs but the basic process remains the same.

Though the process of making a shot of espresso in an espresso machine cannot be termed as 'percolation', the process deserves mention due the popularity of the drink. Espresso making has, over the years developed into a science. Accurate quantities, correct temperatures, and adequate pressures are required to make the perfect shot of espresso. In an espresso machine, water that is just a few degrees below boiling point is forced over a quantity of beans at specific pressure. Note however, that the fundamental extraction has some similarities with percolation. Learn more at http://www.espressomachinecomparisons.com

Today, the percolator faces stiff competition from other brewing tools like the French press and the drip brewer. The biggest criticism against the Coffee Percolator is that without manual intervention, percolators will boil the taste out of the coffee beans. Other brewing tools like the French press are able to combat this problem by using strict temperature control. A French press is a familiar sight in coffee houses of the orient. The device consists of a glass jar with a chamber for the coffee beans in which hot water is poured. A piston is then used to force the water over the beans and extract the liquid. A drip brewer is an improvement and probably one of the most popular forms of the brewing tools that are used to make a fresh cup of coffee. So, the next time that you load coffee into your coffee machine, think about the wonderful machines that go into creating that perfect start to the day!