Electric Coffee Percolators
Coffee percolators are a type of coffee making pot used to brew coffee. As the name percolator suggests, water mixed with grounds is allowed to pass through a permeable membrane that results in a coffee drink. There are two basic types of percolators. The first type brews coffee by forcing hot water through the coffee grounds into a separate chamber. The second type makes coffee by allowing the water to continuously keep cycling through the grounds till coffee of desired strength is obtained. The water can be heated by an outside source, such as a stovetop, or there are also Electric Coffee Percolators.
The coffee percolator was invented by an American scientist Sir Benjamin Thompson way back in the late 18th century. The design of a basic percolator was first patented in 1865 by an American, James Nason. The coffee percolator evolved over the years and the design of the modern coffee percolator was patented by a farmer named Hanson Goodrich in 1889. The design patented by Goodrich is almost similar to the coffee percolators used today.
The modern coffee percolator consists of a boiling pot with a small chamber below it. A vertical tube links the chamber to the top of the percolator. A perforated chamber is present below the upper end of the tube.
The required amount of water is taken in the boiling pot and it is heated by placing the percolator over a heat source. Fairly coarse coffee grounds are added to the upper chamber. As the water begins to boil, it is forced up the narrow tube and into the perforated chamber. The water then seeps through the coffee grounds after which it leaves the chamber through the bottom and coffee is obtained in the lower chamber. It is very important to make sure that the water level is maintained below the bottom of the coffee chamber.
Electric coffee percolators simplify the above process. It consists of an internal electrical heating element that heats the water to the required temperature. There is no need to place the percolator over a stove or any other heating source, or keep a close watch over the temperature of the water.
There are several drawbacks associated with the manual coffee percolator. The coffee grounds are often exposed to very high temperatures if the percolator is not taken off the stove on time. This leads to recirculation of the brew through coffee grounds resulting in over extraction. The coffee produced like this will have less flavor. It is therefore very important to keep a close watch over the brewing process. Due to these drawbacks the coffee percolator has lost its popularity. The drip coffee maker and French press coffee pot have been preferred over the percolator in recent times.
However if the coffee is brewed correctly, such as with electric coffee percolators, the brew from a percolator has more flavor and strength than coffee obtained from other brewing methods. Due to this, the electric coffee percolators still enjoys immense popularity among certain sections of coffee lovers around the globe.
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