Vintage Coffee Makers

[PoohBang]

Just picked up yesterday and used this morning a wonderful

Lo-Heet Drip Maker!

made perfect coffee... some of the best I've had. This style is my new favorite. All Stainless too!

 

[SameRound]

Café solo :coffee:

 

[Hamilton_Honey]

All-glass Cory vacuumj pots are cool, too. I have a small one of those, but I lost the small glass rod that serves as the filter so I can't use it. Chemexes are easier to use, anyway.

Coffee is well served by not touching metal, I'm told, so the vintage Cory and the contemporary Chemex are good choices.

Skyvue,

I have an original Cory glass rod filter that I've been hanging onto for a long time now - it still has (most) of the original box too. If you would like to have it for the price of postage, just send me a PM. I'd love for it to have a proper home, and maybe your Cory pot will be happy again

 

[dhermann1]

Hmmmm!!!

Café solo :coffee:

Qu'est-ce que c'est?
Expliquez, s'il vous plait.

 

[SameRound]

This is called an "egoîste". You must put the exact dose of coffee in the upper pour warm water and you obtain for a cup of coffee taste as selfish.*



Cela s'appelle un égoïste. Il faut mettre l'exacte dose de café dans la partie supérieure verser l'eau chaude et l'on obtiens une tasse de café a déguster en égoïste.

 

[Heather]

You are absolutely correct, you are not supposed to boil coffee for the best brew. But that shouldn't discourage anyone from having "fun" with a percolator. As for myself I'll stick with my professional diner style Bunn coffee maker. No frills but makes the best coffee guaranteed. We have used them for 12 years and they also have the best customer support you could ask for. I even bought one for my office.

We're in the market for a new coffee maker. Hubby loves the "Bunn" they have at his work and wants us to get one. I, myself, would like vintage percolator but I think I'll give this brand more thought now...

 

[Paisley]

The coffee make I just bought at an antique store looks just like this one. (I didn't pay anywhere close to $165 for it, though.)

http://www.vintageswank.com/miva/merchant.mv?Category_Code=&Product_Code=212306&Screen=PROD&Store_Code=VS

Any thoughts on whether it's a 1930s model?

 

[1961MJS]

I'm with you!!! I used a stove top percolater for years, and while it's fun, there is nothing like a BUNN. Steaming hot tasty coffee in 3 minutes or less...you can't beat it.

Hi, I grew up near Springfield IL. The Bunn plant at least used to be there. My parents bought a Bunn-O-Matic while I was in high school or college. They didn't like it. I ended up buying them a Cabela's Camping percolator. Walmart apparently no longer carries them.

Later

 

[shopgirl61]

Hi, I grew up near Springfield IL. The Bunn plant at least used to be there. My parents bought a Bunn-O-Matic while I was in high school or college. They didn't like it. I ended up buying them a Cabela's Camping percolator. Walmart apparently no longer carries them.

Later

I always thought Bunn were for commercial use only [huh] ?
I won a 50's NIB shiny chrome Universal on ebay earlier this year.
ahh the thrill of being the first person to ever open something that was brand new vintage
hey Mike, just noticed we are the same age

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

Bunn made (and probably still makes) home drip coffee makers. They're really pretty good. They've been in business for a LONG long time.

http://www.bunncoffeemakers.com/index.html

They're apparently in Georgia now. The Bunn family were one of the "old Money" families in Springfield Illinois. For example, in 1975 I went to scout camp at Camp Bunn over on the Illinois river.

Same age. That means we both graduated from High School the only year that disco was big... lol

Later

 

[Forgotten Man]

. I, myself, would like vintage percolator but I think I'll give this brand more thought now...

Modern coffee makers work well however, they take up a lot of counter space. I love percolated coffee much better! If it's done right, it can be wonderful!

Stove top percolators work pretty well, they also fill the whole home with the smell of fresh percolated coffee... In the morning that's a wonderful smell!

 

[Heather]

While I still may buy a percolator (even if I'm the only one who uses it), we decided to get a small Bunn. I've really been impressed by it's speed and how well it makes my coffee taste! Interesting tidbit on the family. Thanks for posting!

 

[rlk]

Cowboy Coffee

I've got a small collection of Vacuum Brewers I'll try to photograph and post.

 

[Wally_Hood]

I've got a small collection of Vacuum Brewers I'll try to photograph and post.

Hmmm... looks like Charlie Wooster made joe for Flint McCullough using that pot...

 

[HodgePodge]

Qu'est-ce que c'est?
Expliquez, s'il vous plait.

As explained, it's basically a one-cup coffee maker. A number of the Vietnamese/Thai restaurants here in town use them to serve 'vietnamese coffee,' which consists of sweetened condensed milk in the bottom of the cup, with the little perc dripping dark, dark coffee down onto it. They usually serve it with a small pot of boiled hot water so you can dilute it if you choose, or with a tall glass full of ice.

....just talking about it makes me want to go get one now!

 

[savoy6]

for those that have issues with bitterness....use the starbucks trick...shake a little salt onto the grounds before you run them...it cuts the bitterness way down...i didn't think there would be a difference when my wife tried it but the difference is noticable...

 

[rlk]

Cafetiere Hellem

My daily user:

Vacuum Brewer. All glass with Cory Rod filter. Ideal brewing temperature and contact with the grounds--no loss of oils. The best coffee of the standard brewing methods. Better temperature regulation and less grounds than French Press.

 

[xequar]

When I was a kid, percolators were universal. There were electric, plug in ones, but there were also ones you put on the stove. You had to be careful not to forget a percolator on the stove. Since it didn't have a thermostat to shut itself off when the coffee was done, it could (and frequently did) boil itself dry, creating a nasty mess. Supposedly coffee is best made with water just below boining temperature, like 205 degrees. Percolators give 212 degree water, which can make some of the acids in the coffee come out, giving it a more bitter flavor. I don't think anyone found this a problem back in the day. The aroma of a percolator just can't be beat. The smell of coffee and toast and bacon wafting through the house is enough to wake you up on its own.
I've tried those mocha makers, and had very little success. This post makes me want to try again.
On the subject of caffeine, the espresso maker gets more caffeine out of the coffee, but espresso roasts, and any dark roast, destroy the caffeine with heat, so it starts out as less strong.

Yes, it's true, coffee is best brewed between roughly 195 and 205 degrees fahrenheit. That temperature range works best for extracting the oils that give coffee its flavour without burning those same oils and making them bitter-tasting. From the standpoint of the coffee-connoisseur, the percolator is the worst possible way to make coffee because it burns the oils and makes a bitter tasting coffee. For the vintage enthusiast and those who like cool things, the percolator is a lot of fun, especially if you have one with a glass dome on top through which you can watch the coffee perk (my percolator sadly does not).

The reason that people in that era were able to "get away" with using percolators was because the coffee they were drinking was pure rubbish. Maxwell house coffee at about 1/8 the amount of coffee one should use to make a full-flavoured pot of coffee does not make for something I'd ever want to drink. When you have that little amount of coffee, it doesn't terribly matter how you prepare it. Seriously, for the younger members in the crowd (I'm 28), ask your grandparents to make coffee. Trust me, you'll only do that once.

Also of note, lighter roast coffees actually have more caffeine because, as noted, darker roasts destroy the caffeine and give you less oil.


Damn it, now I need to find my percolator!! Thanks guys :eusa_clap

 

[Talbot]

My daily user:

Vacuum Brewer. All glass with Cory Rod filter. Ideal brewing temperature and contact with the grounds--no loss of oils. The best coffee of the standard brewing methods. Better temperature regulation and less grounds than French Press.

That is a fantastic looking coffee maker!

Its 07:49 here and I'm full of no coffee. Time to remedy!

 

[BoPeep]

rlk - I'm not going to pretend that I have any knowledge on this subject, but just have to say that your "coffee maker" is awesome! Looks more like a science experiment. And a real pistol to clean. Very cool that you can keep that alive.