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Old 10-25-2011, 07:07 PM   #1
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Staying away from getting an electric drip coffee pot--what sort of stove top coffee maker is good? I see percolators are still available. What about those little stove top Expresso makers or even using a French press?
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Old 10-26-2011, 02:28 AM   #2
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The coffee percolator has a long history. link

The percolating coffee pot was invented by the American scientist and soldier Count Rumford, otherwise known as Sir Benjamin Thompson (1753–1814). He invented a percolating coffee pot following his pioneering work with the Bavarian Army, where he improved the diet of the soldiers as well as their clothes. It was his abhorrence of alcohol and his dislike for tea that led him to promote the use of coffee for its stimulating benefits. For his efforts, in 1791, he was named a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, and granted the formal title of Reichsgraf von Rumford. His pot did not use the rising of boiling water through a tube to form a continuous cycle.

The first US patent for a "Coffee Percolator," but still using a downflow method without rising steam and water, was issued to James Mason of Franklin, Massachusetts, in 1865.

Finally, an Illinois farmer named Hanson Goodrich patented the modern U.S. stove-top percolator as it is known today, and was granted patent 408707 on August 16, 1889. It has the key elements, the broad base for boiling, the upflow central tube and a perforated basket hanging on it. He still describes the downflow as being the "percolating." Goodrich's design could transform any standard coffee pot of the day into a stove-top percolator. Subsequent patents have added very little.
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Old 10-26-2011, 11:06 AM   #3
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I used a filter cone or a coffee sock to make coffee, and kept coffee in two 1-liter carafes, so we had coffee all day long, every day.

There were several advantages to the coffee sock or cone filter system. One was boiling water in a squat, wide-based kettle which stayed on the stove no matter how bad the seas were outside. Once the water boiled, making the coffee was quick and the same each time - the risk with percolators was that you could boil the coffee so long it was little better than sludge, especially when one was alone on watch.

Keeping the coffee in carafes meant we had hot coffee all the time (not least because a liter of coffee was drunk before it could get cold, and by the time the first liter was almost done I had made another pot in the second carafe.

Easiest, especially in rough seas, is to make coffee with a coffee sock. This method is common throughout Latin America and the coffee socks can be bought in most grocery stores - muslin cotton on a metal or plastic frame. Here's a video I came across with instructions for making coffee with a sock - literally. Making coffee with a sock With the commercial sock I never had to filter the coffee several times to get good strong coffee. But in a pinch, an old sock is an acceptable option.

The coffee cone system is a plastic filter (I had an 8-cup filter cone, and size is important) made specifically for standing on a carafe. The filter inserts could be fabric to be reused over and over again, or paper, or even a gold mesh reusable filter.

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Old 10-27-2011, 02:57 AM   #4
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Coffee sock--I've heard of it but didn't know what it meant. The thermos idea is very good too.
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Old 10-28-2011, 08:38 AM   #5
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The previous replies will produce a good brew.

The one I prefer is the stove top espresso maker. The only thing to really wake me up in the morning (palpitations are good for you? ) But it has a couple of drawbacks. The first is that the base is relatively small, so that I have had to make a quite artistic looking base from a coat hanger. The second problem is that unless you use a massively over sized unit. the expressed coffee in the top of the maker tends to slosh out.


By far the easiest, apart from instant, is the Scandinavian boiling method. In a spouted coffee pot pour in the required amount of water then one heaped teaspoon of coffee per cup plus one for the pot. Bring to the boil and presto. Added advantage is that you don't have to wash up. Once a week or when the brew gets too bitter just empty the pot.
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Old 10-30-2011, 07:04 PM   #6
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That Scan coffee you describe is what we called "camp coffee" and we used to put a pinch of salt in after boiling to "settle the grounds". However, we didn't keep it living for more than a few hours! A week?
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Old 11-03-2011, 10:31 AM   #7
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Yes, a week or longer. To enter the arena of the nit-picking obsessives. Salt might be good for settling the grounds, but have only used it regularly when the coffee was made on snow. The conventional (grannys') wisdom was that the best clarifier was eggshells. Unable to confirm, too fiddly.
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Old 01-19-2012, 04:42 PM   #8
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We have found this wonderful stainless steel french press coffee maker, not only does it make great coffee but it keeps it hot for over an hour. Only drawback is that it is good for only 2 people. You can get one at sailors solutions now.

John
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Old 01-24-2012, 01:37 AM   #9
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Stovetop Espresso maker works well. French press works well. An old camping percolator works well. Putting coffee directly into hot water, then filtering it through whatever you have works well. As long as there is coffee in the morning, all is well. I've used all those methods.

Stronger and blacker is better.
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Old 01-24-2012, 04:06 PM   #10
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Italian Expresso maker that most folk get are the aluminum Mokato's they make a good cup and the stainless steel tall ones make a better cups and less likely to spill due to a bit of design difference.

The Neapolitan style coffee maker works by boiling the water in the bottom and then inverting and letting it drip down and depending on how tight you pack the grounds can make a very nice strong cup.

Percolated coffee with the right type of roast is wonderful but you have got to know when to pull it off the heat. Turkish coffee pots with the long handle and boiling don't work well on a boat, trust me on that one. One mug filters if they have a lip to keep them on the mug or coffee socks work really well both on boats and in moving tanks.

That is pretty much my extent of experience with coffee makers that are not electric. There is a Mokato you can get for making cappuccino on the stove top and it works well. Just a bit of a pain to clean.

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Old 02-20-2012, 09:58 AM   #11
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I usually find that I have little water left in the bottom of stove expresso maker. This is a good thing - a little water left there means that the base of the pot won't overheat and distort (same goes for a vac pot). The pipe on the base of the basket shouldn't quite touch the bottom, so a little water remains.
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Old 10-29-2018, 10:23 PM   #12
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I know this will not be a popular response. But...I love coffee. I always shunned instant coffee because it tasted unpleasant. So, I would use a percolator, a French press or a pyrex stovetop affair. Most made decent coffee when paired with freshly ground beans.

I was in Whole Foods a few years back and saw they had some special sort of instant coffee and I bought a bottle. It tasted like most instant coffee. T'was crappy! That's when Lord Java appeared as a vision splendid, and told me I was doing it all wrong.

Well I'm not a fool. I have always been able to read instructions. It seems to me it's sort of difficult to screw up 'Add one teaspoon of coffee, top up with hot water, then add sugar and milk to taste'...or something similar. Where I was making the blunder was in the hot water department. If you put your coffee powder in the cup, then add a little cold milk, cream or plain old cold water and mix the coffee in, then add enough cool milk or water to make a 1/4 cup...and then add the boiling water, you will have an excellent cup of coffee.

Apparently boiling water does something chemically to coffee which makes it bitter, makes it smell funny and taste the way I imagine horse poo tastes. Using a cold liquid such as milk to prevent boiling water from changing the coffee is the trick. I use Nescafe Taster's Blend (lower grades of Nescafe, Maxwell House and Folger's etc., just won't cut it)....and although I am not a drinker, I will sometimes add just a smidge of Kahlua.

I haven't made coffee for myself, for years, which required anything more than a cup, and a bottle of my favourite blend. This also means I can drink 10 cups of good coffee, for less than $1. I recommend it. And, don't put your coffee in the refrigerator or freezer. It makes the beans taste awful. Keep it, instead, in a glass jar, in a cupboard, at room temperature and away from ultra violet light.

Finally, if you doubt all the above, try making yourself an instant iced coffee using just cold milk. You'll be a convert!
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