Coffee pots

[William O.]

When was the coffee "percolator" invented? I'm referring to the kind that you put ground coffee into a cup that has a long tube in the middle that fits inside the pot itself. I don't think the porcelin covered coffee pots are period correct. Could one use a tea ball to brew coffee with and still fit into the pre-1840 times frame?

 

[Coot]

According to Wikipedia, the first percolator type device was invented circa 1791 by Sir Benjamin Thompson, an American who worked in Europe with the Bavarian army. The first US patent was issued in 1865 to a James Mason but the "modern" percolator as we know it today was patented by Hanson Goodrich in 1889. To be confident of correctness (not the same as frequently accepted) I would not use a percolator at a pre-1840 event. I do know that Mrs. Coot has sold several small linen bags with drawstrings (I use them to carry balls and for jags, etc.) that were going to be used as "coffee bags" (think tea bags) - ground coffee tied in the bag & the bag tossed in the pot - no grounds in your cup. If you try it, give us a report.

 

[Black Hand]

See http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/252939/post/new/#NEW

The method I describe works just as well in a coffee pot....

 

[LRB]

The bags work exceptionally well.

 

[oldude]

Went on a moose hunt in my younger days, packed the coffee pot but left the guts in the dish washer.Ended up using a clean sock, dumped coffee into the sock and tied a knot in the end worked great. Bent

 

[Poor Private]

We do the tied linen bag in a pot, when we do a static civ. war camp. Works fine. Just takes a bit of figuring out how much coffee in a bag for the size pot your using. Mostly what I use in my mucket is a comercial sizes single cup coffee bag. 2 bags per mucket, and if it gets cold 1/2 way down I refill to top reheat and toss in another bag. It's easy to pack 5 or 6 bags for a weekend in my backpack of haversack with sugar cubes in a poke sack.

 

[Ketchakah]

Bezon,
I thought the "tea ball" was a good idea too, so i tried it. Not so much.

The tried and true "coffee bag" is the hot ticket. Pun intended.

Another thing that works well is to filter the coffee as you pour it with a section of silk or cloth over the cup.

 

[William O.]

Thanks for all the good info, I love learning about these things and will try the linen bags filled with ground coffee now that I hear that tea balls aren't gonna cut it for brewing a cup of Joe.

 

[Shine]

1.Boil a pot of water
2.place ground coffee in bowl
3.crack one egg and mix with coffee with a fork.
4.dump into water.
all of the grounds will be stuck together in the egg and it also mellows the coffee.
My grandad showed me this trick when I was little I still do it. You can use any pot.
You can also just throw the coffee in the pot and when its done brewing usually I let it boil over twice. Add a cup of cold water all of the grounds will settle to the bottom.

 

[bangfxr]

I can remember while on FTX's, ARTEP's gunnery support missions in the army the cooks made coffee with clean wool socks in big pots.

 

[Shine]

You really belive they where clean huh.

 

[Maestro]

IMHO, you really don't need to mess with tea balls, bags, straining cloths or anything else... following is Black Hand's post that he posted the link to - I'll copy it here to save y'all a key stroke - and I will attest to the fact that this method works perfectly and makes a superb cup o' joe!:

First of all, make sure you have good coffee, preferably fresh-ground or freshly roasted. While I have drunk lots of Folgers and the like, it is not what you want to use. Save it for use at home and splurge for the woods.

Get your water boiling and add a generous amount of grounds (remove from the heat for this as it tends to foam over) and replace on the fire to simmer. When (most of) the grounds seem to have sunk, remove from the fire and trickle cold water onto the surface of the coffee (this drops the grounds to the bottom). Enjoy.

Try not to BOIL the coffee, as this will tend to make the coffee bitter.

 

[Shine]

what a great idea :grin:

 

[Maestro]

what a great idea :grin:

Sorry if my post came across wrong... it wasn't intended to be an "idea"... only seconding Black Hand's post.

 

[Shine]

I thought it was funny it was the last sentence of my post. No one gets a joke anymore :surrender:

 

[bangfxr]

I'll put it this way them green wool socks the cooks used if they wern't clean before they were after wards. Army coffee you learn to drink it or yea don't and it ain't kilt me yet :haha:

 

[Shine]

I was 11B, I just dumped the packet of instant in my mouth and kept walking.\
PS the socks aren't green anymore.
they are black, so you can't tell if they were used for coffee filters. :shocked2:

 

[msuspartan]

AMEN Brother....drunk too many a 'cup a joe' from the brown stuff they refer to as 'coffee' in the Army. I ain't dead but I am not right in the head though......... :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :blah:

Oh well, it keeps my wife and son amused!!! :haha:

Cheers, DonK

 

[dave payne]

kapellmeister....I was taught that manner of coffee making many moons ago.....told it was "cowboy" or "hobo" coffee

 

[Bill Hall]

kapellmeister....I was taught that manner of coffee making many moons ago.....told it was "cowboy" or "hobo" coffee

Same here. I still brew it that way over a fire. Just seems to be the simplest way, and it works great. Bill