3 Mistakes to Avoid When Brewing with a Coffee Percolator
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1. Avoid Grinding Your Coffee Beans TOO Fine
Finely ground beans extract the coffee much quicker than a coarse ground. Meaning you’re more likely to end up with a bitter cup. A coarse ground is much more forgiving, and will give you the opportunity to control the flavor much easier.
2. Avoid OVER Boiling the Water
If the water in your coffee percolator is boiling too hard, there is a chance the water will splash your grounds out the top of the basket and into the base with your coffee. Observing the coffee through the glass top will give you the best idea of how strong the water is boiling.
3. Avoid Brewing for TOO Long
The brewing process extracts the coffee from the beans. As more coffee enters the water, the end result will be a coffee that is increasingly stronger, bolder, and bitter. We suggest a brewing time that’s between 3 – 5 minutes, or to taste.
Avoid Grinding Your Coffee Beans TOO Fine
We’ve found that when you grind your coffee beans too fine, the coffee gets extracted much quicker. A coarse ground is much more forgiving during the brewing process. Meaning you have more time to brew before the coffee becomes too bitter.
Basically, when you use a coarse ground coffee when percolating, you give yourself more time to control the flavor of the coffee. We suggest using a manual grinder to manage the consistency of your coffee grounds.
Avoid OVER Boiling the Water
COLETTI Camping Coffee Percolators are designed to be used over campfires, butane flames, and stovetops. Giving you the control over how hot your water boils provides precision coffee brewing. The clear glass top on our coffee percolators allows you to better observe the brewing process.
When the water boils too hard, there is a chance for the water to shake the coffee grounds basket, allowing the grounds to get into the base and into your cup of coffee. While observing through the glass top, control the heat to a consistent moderate boil.
If you feel like some coffee grounds have gotten into the base of the percolator, allow the coffee to rest after brewing. After a little over a minute, the grounds should have settled to the bottom of the percolator.
Avoid Brewing for TOO Long
As the coffee percolator brews, the water in the base is constantly being more saturated with coffee. This can be both a good and bad thing. The more saturated the coffee becomes, the body of the coffee becomes bolder and stronger. For some, this can lead to a more bitter coffee than they would like.
Brewing to taste is extremely important, but you can also use hot water to dilute your coffee if it’s too bitter. We suggest brewing for 2 minutes for a light cup of coffee, for a more “regular” brew try anywhere between 3 to 5 minutes. Finally, for a very bold coffee, brew at most for 6 minutes.