Hello everyone, this is the well caffeinated Angry Systems Administrator, posting from the darkened floor of the Anger Central Data Center. In case you didn’t figure it out from the title, I’m writing about things involving coffee, such as upgrading my preferences in percolators.
In my last post on this subject, I wrote about the stove top percolator and the manual coffee grinder I had started using. Since then, I’ve done some upgrading. (Hey, Systems Administrator. We live for upgrades) After much research and review studying, I’ve purchased an electric percolator and electric coffee grinder.
I’ve been using it for about a month now and once I figured out it’s “Quirks,” I found it to be a good coffee maker. The percolator in question, is the Presto 12 cup electric percolator. Calling it a 12 cup coffee maker is a bit of a misnomer. What the marketing people a “cup” of coffee is what real coffee drinkers refer to as a “Drop in the Pacific.” Generally the “Standard” coffee cup holds 6 ounces of that delicious, life enhancing liquid.
Real coffee drinkers tend to use large mugs that hold upwards of 16 ounces of coffee. Since this is what I use, at best a 12 cup coffee maker holds 3- 4 of these decent sized coffee containers. Still, when you take that into account, you can quickly figure out how much water and fresh ground coffee you need to use.
Another benefit of the electric percolator over the stove top is simplicity. The stove top model I also have, (And keep as a backup), requires that you monitor it a bit. You need to get the water to start perking, and then turn the burner down low. I usually used a timer once I figured out how long it took for the perking process to begin. Then I would reset the time to however long I wanted it to perk.
The electric percolator, in this case, is simplicity. You just plug it in and it’s all automatic. It starts perking almost immediately and once the perking cycle is completed, lowers the power to just keep the coffee warm. It usually takes about 1 minute per “Standard” cup.
The coffee maker does NOT have an automatic shutoff. You have to unplug it. It does have an indicator when the coffee is ready though, which is handy. Clean up is simple. The makers recommend soap and water, (The unit is NOT dishwasher safe), however I just rinse it out and a quick wipe down of the interior with a paper towel to clean out any loose grounds that make it through the basket mesh.
The basket is larger then the one in my other percolator and I use filters in it. However, the mesh is also finer which does help keep grounds from getting into the coffee. I still use a coffee filter to help and it’s very rare for me to see any grounds in the main reservoir.
Since I’ve been using it for a month, I decided it was time to give it a thorough cleaning. I don’t use soap and water as that can leave residue that affects the taste. I used several large spoonfuls of backing soda, no filter and filled up the percolator and let it run. Once the cycle was completed, I emptied it out, rinsed everything thoroughly and then ran a vinegar solution through it. (Half water, half vinegar). Then I rinsed it again and wiped everything down. There are a number of YouTube videos showing how to do this and how people let their coffee makers get that bad is beyond me.
Next is grinding the coffee. I’ve started buying whole beans and I am still testing various brands. What I had been using, since it was just a “Starter” unit, was a manual hand grinder. I liked how the unit allowed very precise adjustments to the size of the grounds, but hand cranking the thing was time consuming and tiring. I did some research and decided on the Hamilton Beach Electric Burr Coffee Grinder. I have a huge number of Amazon points so I didn’t spend actual cash on the unit.
First, this is a loud machine, which isn’t surprising and you should be prepared for it. It is adjustable, and for me a very course grind is preferred. It isn’t as adjustable as the manual one, but it does seem to do the job. It also has a selector in it that allows you to choose the number of cups you wish to make. I’m still learning on this one since it appears to use the “Official” measurement of a cup of coffee.
One of the minor issues I’ve seen is that it will spill a bit of coffee that is basically powder. It may be that it needs to be “Broken in.” I did see some comments about that, and I expected it. I suspect that the complainer wasn’t seating the hopper, (The section that the ground coffee is put), all the way in.
All in all, I am satisfied with both the Percolator and the Coffee bean grinder. I’m not interested in industrial level systems, even if I do consume mass quantities of coffee. I am interested in the KISS principle though. (Keep It Simple Stupid) Both the percolator and the grinder are fairly simple, solid and so far, reliable. Now if I can keep that worthless tool, the Angry Webmaster, from taking them. (The cheap bastard has a habit of “Appropriating” things that aren’t his from the office)
Thank you
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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~The Angry Systems Administrator~
