I have an unplanned collection of coffee makers. I even have a couple which are old enough to be considered vintage.
The pot I use most often is the French press. I’ve got three of them now. One is the well-known Bodum brand. The others are brands I don’t remember any more, one was no-name. The one I take with me when I visit or travel is the smallest French press. It’s great because I can make coffee as long as I can boil water. No need for filters or a stove element to percolate the coffee through the machine.
That brings me to the percolators in my collection. The one I like best is Corningware. It has those blue flowers on a white pot. I found it at a thrift store and miraculously it was not only clean but had all the parts too. I’ve only used it once, so far. It’s a large pot and I don’t need to make that amount of coffee on a standard coffee-drinking kind of day. I like to watch the percolator pots, especially those with the clear knob on top so you can see the coffee get thrown up to the top of the pot each time.
I also have an espresso percolating pot. I had a second one but it got broken up for parts when my Mother needed the rubber ring for one of her espresso pots. It seems to always be that rubber ring inside of them that wears out first. Actually, unless something pretty dire happens I doubt much could cause the failure of those metal espresso coffee makers.
I don’t have a ceramic drip cone filter and pot. That would be a nice addition. But, it wouldn’t be simple for taking on the road. You would have to have filters and worry about it getting chipped or cracked. I do have my old Melitta cone filter and drip pot. I even still have the lid for the pot. They are made in a different plastic from that which is around now. They feel really solid and it takes a lot of effort to find any bend in them. I prefer not to bend them. I hope the set will last until I’m a very old lady and beyond.
- Flickr: Coffee Maker Museum
- Flickr: Coffee A Damn Fine Product (Vintage)
- Silver Coffee Pot
- Etsy: Coffeetropolis
- Royal Coffee Maker: History of the Coffee Maker
I have a fair collection of coffee brewing devices, may favorites being dripolators. You know, the ones with the upper pot (where you pour the water), the basket (where the coffee goes), and the lower pot (that catches the brew). so far, I have a 2-, 4-, 6-, and 7-cup. I use my little 6-cup Corning kettle (the white one with the blue flowers 🙂 ) to heat the water in. I’ve also a Silex vacuum pot, several percolators (including a 4-cup Flameware), a moka pot, a Vesuviana stovetop espresso maker, a single-serving naloetana, a 2-cup French press, a couple of pour-overs (the sit on top of the cup)…even a 36-cup Faberwate urn. My morning ritual consists of grinding two scoops of bean in one of my two Zassenhaus mills and brewing one cup at a time in a Braun KF-12 4-cup auto-drip machine (through a gold mesh cone filter, of course). I’ve been using the same cheap cobalt 10-ounce mug for the past 10 years, I reckon. Don’t know if I could drink out of anything else. I’m up to 21 pieces so far, and have run out of room on my display shelf. Time for a bigger shelf! 🙂
I have a question that has been unanswered for years! On the Farberware Superfast Percolators, what is the purpose of the Ceramic Sleeve on the Pump Stem?
Ceramic sleeve from what I can surmise, is an antibacterial space to keep the basket from dropping down with the vibrating spring, into the water/coffee. Also it helps insulate the coffee from the metal pump stem and coffee from overheating, by aiding in heat distribution within the pot. Foremost, because of the spacer/support function, I believe it was eliminated and a solid raised ring on the pump stem now performs the function, without the extra and brittle vulnerable sleeve being needed. That’s what I think, now that I need the sleeve for my pot, and can find nearly everything but the sleeve. I would appreciate knowing if I’m right, if only so I won’t be wrong in the future.