How Does a Coffee Percolator Work?

Have you brewed coffee with a percolator? Curious about this retro design that’s still popular after all these years?

If you love strong and hot coffee, you might be a percolator coffee fan. In this article, we’ll explain what it is and how it works. I bet by the end, you’ll be tempted to give it a try!

What is a percolator?

A coffee percolator is an old school way of making coffee that was most popular before the invention of drip coffee machines. But it continues to have some avid fans. It’s a coffee brewing device that looks like a kettle. Inside, water that is near its boiling point is continually cycled through the coffee grounds, yielding a stronger brew the longer the cycling continues.

There are two types of percolator: stovetop and electric. They work essentially the same way, just using different heat sources. An electric coffee percolator has an electric heating element in the base and needs to be plugged into a socket. In contrast, a stovetop percolator requires an external heat source, like a burner or flame.

On the other hand, stovetop percolators are less expensive and are popular with campers as one of the easiest ways to brew a large amount of coffee with only a campfire. The downside to the stovetop method is that it requires your full attention.

Percolator or Moka Pot?

Percolators are often confused with Moka pots, but they are very different brewing methods. The confusion arises because both are stovetop methods that start with a basket of coffees over a water chamber. But the similarities end there; they use very different brewing principles.

The percolator uses gravity to continually cycle the water through the coffee grounds as it brews. In contrast, the Moka pot uses steam pressure to force the water through the coffee just once. Because the Moka pot extraction is much faster, you use a much finer grind of coffee.

The resulting cup of coffee is different as well. Moka pot coffee is very strong, almost like a shot of espresso. Percolator coffee can be strong as well but has a body more like drip coffee.

How a percolator Coffee Maker works

A percolator is a coffee pot with a chamber at the bottom. A vertical tube runs from the chamber to the top of the vessel, and a perforated basket sits near the tube’s top. There’s a heat source at the bottom, either internal or external.

To brew percolator coffee, fill the bottom chamber with water and the upper basket with coarse ground coffee, and turn on the heat. For a detailed step-by-step guide, check out our how to make coffee in a percolator article.

When heated, the steam creates a vacuum that sucks water up the central tube. It then showers down over the ground coffee back to the chamber below. This process is repeated until the coffee is the strength you want.

To watch a percolator coffee maker in action, here’s a video:

During brewing, you want a temperature that maintains a gentle bubbling in the chamber. This is called “perking.” Most coffee percolators have a glass knob or lid so you can watch the action.

Why use a percolator?

For fans of percolator coffee, there is really no other brewer that yields the same style of coffee. It makes a hot and strong cup of coffee.

Because it uses hotter water than most brewing methods, over-extraction is a concern, leading to bitter flavours (1).

But fans claim this is easily avoided by carefully controlling the temperature during brewing.

If you’re looking to perk up your coffee routine, try a coffee percolator. Who knows? This retro brewer might be your next big thing!