Percolators: A Roast

Wouldn't you know it, the day this was uploaded, I got a percolator in animal crossing

Love the video, wish you'd do more no-script stuff. Love the spontaneity and randomness that really happens as opposed to the heavily edited and scripted videos. Keep notes to stay on target, sure... But don't plan everything. Best stuff is the real stuff.

If there is, you're in good company!

Jack Stewart

Here I am watching a video about coffee, having never drunk a cup of coffee in my life, and still enjoying the content. Is there something wrong with me?

OrionGamerCat

Always wondered what a percolator was (they're not a thing in Scotland, not sure if they ever were), now I know, like a stovetop espresso pot (and those are called Moka pots, I learned two things!) only *BAD* - thoroughly enjoyed this, keep the silliness coming :)

If you want the true retro coffee experience, you need to use that Presto percolator with a big ol' tub of Maxwell House...brings "vile" to a new level...

Craig Brickey

I love my Moka pot for camping, but for everything else my (admittedly somewhat fancy) drip machine does the job. As others have mentioned I'd love your take on the Moka pot, even as a short addendum video. Anyway, loved it and I look forward to the next tone!

HOT BROWN

As someone who's never learned to like coffee, the sillyness kept me entertained, plus the reactions to your self-immolation with horribly-made beverages. I grew up with my grandma drinking instant coffee (she's graduated to the plastic pods now) and we called that thing a percolator. It just heated the water, dripped into a plastic cup and you poured that into a mug with instant in it. You should try making tea in the percolators next!!! :D

Jason Wellband

YES! As an Italian I use the moka every day! I would LOVE to see a video about it (and maybe also other coffee types)

The best use case for percolators for me is when I am camping. It's bad coffee but better then no coffee. I used one of this Alluminium stove top types.

Jay

All academic to me. I don't drink it at all.

Arthur Robillard

I LOVE the smell of coffee but I can't stand the taste. How can something which smells that good taste that bad?

Don Eitner

In this instance can we refer to the lava lamp in the background as a java lamp?

Don Eitner

arabicadabra?

hfidek

Ngl, this one should be uploaded on April 20th

Naishaline

Percolators make the worst coffee imaginable. I can't understand how anybody likes the coffee they produce.

tim1724

Of course it is! I wouldn't just not leave it there ;)

Technology Connections

I'm surprised the Senseo machines never reached Ireland. I was always put off with the high per cup cost of Nespresso, Tassimo, etc. machines widely sold here and when a German colleague told me about Senseo that used cheap coffee bags that resemble teabags , I imported one from Germany along with a few hundred Senseo compatible coffee pads and use it regularly. Besides costing around 10c/cup, it's just as easy to use as those overpriced pod machines. As for the coffee taste, anyone that had a cup asked me where they could purchase the machine.

Seán Byrne

“Too Many Small Kitchen Appliances” ... so many :) :) :)

Ian Cull

We had an electric percolator growing up, but I didn't drink coffee then. It was too bitter, now I see why. I'm pretty sure the "perk tube" was called the "riser tube" in that pot's manual. Otherwise the same except the pot was ceramic and the electric element was removable with the rest of the internals.

John Comtois

Two suggestions, both probably too much trouble: (1) The sped up percolator footage really needs captions that go *pew* *pew* *pew pew pew*. (2) I think it'd be a great followup to compare the moka pot because it's _almost_ the same mechanism.

Kevin Reid

The sped-up view of the lava lamps in the shelves was a great visual complement to the percolator doing it's thing in the foreground--was that intentional? Also, loved the cool rhythmic jazzy riff playing during the tasting scene--care to divulge it's title? Also also, I grew up watching TV ads for coffee in the 60s & 70s and until our nation's lonely eyes were turned to Mr. Coffee, the percolated stuff was THE definition of what coffee was. Nostalgia is, as you say, weird.

Mark Hesse

I find the idea of putting glass directly on a flame to be absolutely terrifying.

V.E. Griffith

This video makes me thankful for my Keurig :)

Professor Kroog

There's something about "percolator" coffee over a camp fire that hits the spot on a cold morning in the woods.

My (late) mother was an Italian immigrant. My dad wasn't. He had percolators, We had Neopolitan style coffeemakers and I always wondered why that wasn't adapted for "regular" coffee. Then came Mr. Coffee, and I started drinking it. Thank you for covering this. Also, thank you for giving me a new way to watch my lava lamp! From the slow-motion ending I wonder if you're watching too many Keith Appleton videos!

Mike Bird

For yet another nostalgic method you might be interested in 1950s stainless steel Nicro vacuum coffee pot. Here's a link to a short video: https://youtu.be/CMKundnJ4v0

Nicholas Carr

Most Dutch people I know use a "Senseo", which is sort of drip coffee. It's coffee pads made out of filter paper filled with ground coffee in 1 cups portions (not very big cups....but it's standard size in the Netherlands and it has an option for 2 cups at once). ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senseo ). Most other people that don't use the Senseo system simply use normal drip coffee. I don't know anyone that would still use these monstrosities. Even when camping, they either use electrical drip coffee makers, or pour over. (if you can heat the *&^& water, you can use pour over!). In most offices they have some form of machine that grinds the beans and uses a system that resembles the Senseo, but automated (high pressure water, through the grounds and a filter). Of course there are places where they have a drip coffee machine and a warming plate. But those offices are either very small adnd can't afford a proper machine, or their boss hates them.

Buzzin

You're grounded! In the Netherlands there are more and more fully automated espresso machines in kitchens that grind the coffee for each cup. It uses a pressure system to create.. espresso style coffee, or sometimes even complete cappuccino, latte, et cetera. Regular filter coffee is only to be found with... older people. I'm not fond of the 'nespresso' style coffee with cups, because of the waste and the relative high usage cost.

Paul Schuur

Ooh look, the recording wire is in the set 😊

Andyface

04:40 surely you mean "Hot dark Orange"?

Fred Leckie

https://images.app.goo.gl/QnwM97MRn7onZVEQ7 This thing was my preferred coffee doohickey for a while.

Wim

I’ve never heard of percolators. Have you tried Moka Pot? They are more common in Europe I guess. The concept is kinda similar but water goes up and trapped so it doesn’t circulate.

Zhenbang Xiao

As someone described by his closest friends and family as "a total hipster snob" when it comes to coffee, those two resulting brews made me gag a little haha. Both regurgitating coffee and burning it? Yikes! Excellent stuff though, I honestly had no clue how percolators functioned. And now I will happily forget and go back to my precious pourovers 👍 Total acceptance on the sugar and cream, by the way. I had to cut both due to health reasons but dang, I loved me a good creamy sugary concoction for a long time.

LGR

I like cream and sugar in my coffee sometimes too. Thanks for proudly representing us tasteful gentlemen who enjoy those fine coffee ingredients. THERE ARE DOZENS OF US!

Daniel Pritchard

Instant is still/again a thing - they even have fancy brands that sell online only and advertise on podcasts. I've heard one of them promoted on Accidental Tech Podcast, forgot the name but Marco endorsed it, I think.

Daniel Pritchard

This one made my miserable morning good again :-D Reminds me of a discussion I once had with an American colleague about coffee (I'm in Switzerland, not so far away from Italy, where they - in my opinion - make the best coffee ;-)), a lot about "taste" yeah. Even dripping coffee is mostly regarded as "bad" here, but I think it's OK. I buy my coffee directly at a friendly coffee burner (Bio & Fairtrade!), this guy told me the dripping machine is the best option for me and would produce good coffee, so ;-) And yes, also a nostalgic guy here: I am using reel to reel tape to provide music to my home office ;-)

MrHammond

Coffee on the stove is just bean soup.

PiraTed

Oh We did hot wire our small frig, for some meat we have coming, have a timer hour on hour off, holding steady at 8 F. Can't get a freezer, so 400 dollars of meat will depend on your Idea!

i have one of those old Mr. Coffees in the ad - thanks to my packrat great grandma who passed last year. it's got a bunch of spiderwebs in it :(((((((((((((((((((((

evistre

I always wanted one where all the water first went to the top, (vacuum) I believe (steam condensation?) and then went back to the lower half, going through the coffee in the possess. Would love to see you try one of that type.

In my family the perculator was abandoned when they discovered instant coffee. I'm not sure it was an improvement, but certainly less cleaning. I remember when I was a teen finding the old perculator once and made some coffee using instant on it, as I didn't realise coffee came in other forms. Not the best cup of coffee I've ever had. Right now I just had a cup of coffee from a Moka pot while watching this. I love being a grown up.

Brian Condron

Definitely lived up to the hype for me. As somewhat of a coffee nerd, this was a great combination of two of my interests.

Kevin Kostka

I'd like to get a Moka pot but seeing as how I went VERY quickly from "This Aeropress things is neat!" to "good lord that's a pain" I doubt I'd use it for more than a month tops

Technology Connections

“There’s no accounting for taste!” as you judge the people on the other end of the camera as hard as you can.... hahahahahah

Spectre

Oh wait wait wait wait... as a French man, I am horrified by your percolators. See for me, the basic basic one is what we call the "Italian Percolator" aka Moka Pot here. It's a percolator where the hot water does not fall back on the bottom part after mixing the coffee, as it is essentially formed of 2 independent reservoirs. That glass contraption you're showing us is appalling.

Raphaël

The editing in combination with the B-roll at 6:24 made me expect ground coffee all over your arm and floor

SkaveRat

That bit about fitting just the right song at the end of a tape... outch. Done it for tapes, and MiniDiscs, and audio CDs... I don't miss it too much. It's a bit of an OCD though. When I have my coffee, I really like it when the two sugar cubes are perfectly parallel at the bottom of the cup.

Raphaël

I've been very, very looking forward to this one all week!

Kevin Kostka

Back in the days before drip coffee makers, tv commercials would compliment a wife for being able to make her husband a good cup of coffee. Totally sexist, but, apparently not nonsense. You've shown that it might take a bit of skill to pull off getting something other than pee pee from the old style percolators. By the way, I would sometimes make the coffee for my parents and aunts and uncles when they came over. We used paper filters made for the baskets (hole in the center of a disc). I liked watching the coffee bloop up into the clear dome as the water boiled. When we didn't have company over, my parents sometimes drank Tasters Choice instant coffee. You ever try that? Instant coffee was a big business back in the day. I don't know if it's even a thing anymore. Fun video! Thanks. Stay safe.

Howie Walters

I have no clue who those people are as it was stock footage - a lot of it is shot in front of a green screen specifically so idiots like me can do what I just did with it!

Technology Connections

So were the older couple in the “too many appliances” infomercial your parents? Or did you borrow footage from the youtubes (as every teacher ever calls it) and then paste it in?

Sean Hearrell

I do enjoy a coffee percolator when on a camping trip.

Brett Walton