The Percolator Part 1

Bob loves to make coffee in the electric percolator!—Bettina

If marriage is a blessing then kitchen gadgets serve as a sort of ongoing benediction--designed not only to lighten the housewife’s burden but to make routine household chores more appealing to recalcitrant husbands.

According to Wikipedia’s succinct definition

            A coffee percolator is a type of pot used for the brewing of coffee by continually

            cycling the boiling or nearly boiling brew through the grounds using gravity

            until the required strength is reaches.

In short what goes up must come down…add some coarsely ground beans to the equation and any coffee hound is in business.

But simple as its basic design is, the percolator has a complicated and controversial history—namely, over which inventor deserves most credit.

It’s generally accepted that the concept of a percolator was conceived between 1810 and 1814 by one Sir Benjamin Thompson. But a number of eager innovators followed—Joseph Henry Marie Laurens, James Nason, Hanson Goodrich—and each made notable improvements in Thompson’s initial model.

The electric percolator came into existence at the turn of the 20^th century—a tribute perhaps to the importance people placed in a decently brewed cup of coffee.

This technological innovation—a simple heating coil placed in the base of the pot and a cord to be plugged into a light socket—came about after wiring houses for electricity became routine and reliable fuses and heating elements were in common use.

But whether electric or range-top, for many the percolator is a blessing. In A Thousand Ways To Please A Husband, Bettina’s step-by-step instruction on how to brew coffee sans percolator shows just how onerous the process can be:

1.    Step 1.  Boil 2¼ cups water plus enough to scald out coffee pot

 Step 2.  Scald out pot

 Step 3.  Separate 1 egg; reserve ¼ tablespoon egg white

 Step 4.  Place 3½ tablespoons coffee, egg white, and 1½ tablespoons in coffee pot; mix

Step 5. Add 2¼ cups boiling water

Step 6.  Place pot on stove and heat; boil for two minutes

Step 7.  Allow to stand one minute

Step 8.  [This doesn’t figure into Bettina's instructions, but I always strain the coffee before serving]

Step 9.  Drink—then return to the kitchen to wash the two water pans, the coffee pot, the egg separator, the bowl or cup that held the egg white, the measuring spoon, the strainer, and the two or three teaspoons necessary for the operation

Argh!

I'd have to say that Bettina's choice to use a percolator was a masterstroke. Forcing Bob to go through the above coffee-making ritual more than once would doubtless be enough to drive him out of the house and to the nearest speakeasy in search of liquid refreshment.

As for me, after weeks of separating eggs, washing piles of utensils, and mopping up after countless boil-overs it was relief in my heart that I finally ordered a range-top percolator from Amazon.

The only question now is how quickly delivery will come--can we make do with Sanka until the blessed percolator arrives?