Coffee Pots & Percolators

Coffee-pots are made in three styles:

Pots for boiling; Drip pots, or biggins; Percolators.

The pots in which coffee is boiled are deep, holding from i to 4 quarts; larger sizes are sometimes called coffee boilers. The spout, which often has a strainer on the inside, is stubby and placed at the top of the pot so that the grounds will not get into it during the boiling process. This style of pot should be sold to those who drink substitutes for coffee, since these require hard boiling. These pots are made of enameled ware, tinware, aluminum, and nickel-plated copper.

In the drip pots or in the biggins the pulverized coffee is put into a bag or receptacle in the top of the pot and hot water poured through it. This arrangement originated in France.

The percolator is a later invention upon the same principle. Finely ground coffee is placed in a receptacle at the top. A tube leads from the bottom of the pot up through this receptacle. When the water is sufficiently hot it rises through the tube, strikes the cover, spreads over the coffee, and percolates through it.

Coffee owes its refreshing properties to the presence of three substances:

Caffeine, 1 to two per cent; Volatile oils (the aroma), a trace Caffeo-tannic and caffeic acids.

These substances are extracted by boiling. When coffee is prepared by the drip or percolator method the hot water takes up the volatile oils, which produce the delicious aroma of coffee, and the caffeine; and the bitter acids the most injurious ingredients, which attack the lining of the stomach are left in the grounds.

Percolators are very decorative utensils and are often sold in other departments than the Housefurnishings Department. They are made of enameled ware, aluminum, nickel, silver, or copper, and are designed for use with coal, gas, alcohol, or electricity. Their bases are sometimes wide and flat, sometimes narrow and curved and their handles are of wood or porcelain; wood is a poorer conductor of heat than porcelain. Pieces of horn or ivory are sometimes inserted between the metal and the wood in the handle, as these materials are extremely poor conductors of heat.

Glass tops of percolators are also sold separately.