Why does my percolated coffee taste so bad?

by Milton Mercado
(Chicago,IL. USA)

QUESTION:

I have just bought a stove top percolator and I would like to know if I use coffee beans or grounds?

I tried it out for the first time, but I used coffee grounds and it tasted like #@*%! I don't know if I did some thing wrong and can use some help please.

ANSWER:

This is our second question related to percolated coffee tasting bad.

It's worth mentioning, in spite of the fact that you just bought this brewer, using a percolator is not the best way to brew a quality cup of gourmet coffee. Using a French press or drip brewer will usually make you a much better brew. The percolation process tends to over-brew the coffee, giving you a slightly bitter taste.

To get the best of your coffee percolator, let's look at the fundamentals.

First, use medium ground coffee. Either buy your coffee ground, or buy beans and grind them with your home grinder.

Then you need to measure both the amount of water you use, and the amount of coffee you add.

For every 6 ounces of water you use, you need to add two flat tablespoons of ground coffee. So if you add enough water to the percolator for four 6-ounce cups of coffee, you'll need eight tablespoons of coffee, and so on.

Next, to avoid the bitter taste, take the percolator off the heat as soon as the coffee is brewed. Don't leave it on the stove top. If you do, each cup of coffee will taste increasingly bad.

If things don't work out with your percolator, you can buy a French press for about ten bucks. You can still boil your water on the stove, in a kettle. And then add the near-boiling water to the coffee grinds in your French press. It's a great way to make excellent coffee.

You can find out more about the various different brewing processes by reading our page on choosing the best coffee maker.