This is a wonderful classic and, at the same time, an ingenious device to make coffee. In this article, we will show you how a percolator works and what coffee is best used in this machine.

Which coffee is best in a percolator? Medium ground is ideal

Which coffee is best in the percolator? To enjoy a delicious cup of coffee from the percolator, it is best to choose coffee that has not been too finely ground. Medium-ground is the best choice. The typical finely ground espresso coffee is a bit too fine. Medium-ground coffee avoids coffee grit seeping through the filter and into your cup.

Grind your own coffee or buy ground coffee

You get the best results when you grind your own coffee. Everyone knows the wonderful smell when you open the coffee grinder with freshly ground beans. The flavor is best retained in your cup from the percolator. If you don't have time for this or don't want to invest in a coffee grinder yourself, there is also a lot of ground coffee you can buy. You can recognize coffee suitable for a percolator by an icon on the packaging.

Mild taste

Because the water in the percolator percolates through the coffee several times, it is best to choose a rather mild coffee. An indication of this is always found on the packaging. Normal roasted coffee is ideal.

How does a percolator work?

A percolator is actually a fairly simple mechanical tool. The big advantage is that a percolator is cheap and has a long life. It is therefore a durable object that was already in wide use in the 1950s. Call it a timeless object that you can still benefit from today.

The parts of a percolator

At the bottom, you see a reservoir that you fill with water and is suitable for placing on a stove. On top of that fits a filter with an open upward-facing tube. On top of that, you place the upper chamber, which also has the handle and the pouring spout.

How a percolator works: placing the appliance on the stove

To make coffee, fill the reservoir with water, place the filter on the reservoir, spread coffee on the filter, and attach the upper chamber to this whole thing. Then place the entire percolator on top of your stove. The water in the reservoir gradually heats up and begins to boil. This gives you air bubbles that propel the water through the tube into the upper chamber. There it seeps back down through the coffee and ends up in the lower chamber. The moisture rises from there again through the tube and again seeps through the coffee. So the advantage is that the coffee is "used" several times. This is a big difference with filtered coffee or with an espresso machine, where the water seeps through only once.

How much coffee do you have to put in the percolator?

How much coffee do you have to put in the percolator for optimal taste? This is, in part, a personal question. One likes a strong cup as a pick-me-up to start the day; someone else prefers a mild taste. One coffee lover may also like milk with his coffee, while another prefers it black. A good rule of thumb is to use 70 grams of coffee per liter of water. This is equivalent to 10 tablespoons. If you would like to use the best coffee in your percolator, be sure to check out our coffees that are suitable for this appliance and taste the difference!