This is an old thread but still relevant to anyone considering a perc (it shows up on Google :-). Here's my 2 for the benefit of anyone looking into this. I feel compelled to post because there is so much misinformation floating around: I think it boils down to whether or not you believe that a perc MUST boil coffee. We are told by those in the know that boiling coffee is bad. In reality, however, whether stovetop or electric, boiled coffee is not inevitable from a percolator. I purchased my first perc, a 12-cup Presto, about three years ago. It brews at 195°F using an 800-watt element. The coffee experts will tell you that this falls in the ideal brewing range. Most automatic drip coffeemakers, according to a Cooks Illustrated 2008 coffeemaker comparison, do not reach proper brewing temperatures until late in the brew cycle, if at all. So in reality the perc method is no worse than the popular drip coffeemakers, and perhaps even better suited for some. (One drawback is simply the need to remember to unplug it  there's no auto shutoff on your average electric perc!) Much of what passes for "percolator wisdom" probably harkens back to an earlier era in which inexpensive Robusta pre-ground coffee was the norm on grocer's shelves. Today we have so many more choices! Moreover, many of the electric percolators of old "slow brewed" the coffee, taking 20 minutes or longer to brew 12 cups. Contrast that with today's percolator, which keeps pace with your average automatic drip coffeemaker: 1 cup per minute. Poor recollections of bitter perc coffee may have more to say about the technique than the method. For instance, one way to ruin perc coffee is to leave the grinds basket in place to "keep warm". Just like a drip coffeemaker, keeping the coffee warm for an extended period will cause the flavor to deteriorate. A thermal server is the better option for fresh brewed coffee no matter how you prefer to make it. I believe that good coffee is mostly a matter of good technique, clean equipment and fresh water/beans. It is quite possible to give even the most respected coffee brewing method a bad name if you don't master the skill (French press, Chemex, what have you). The perc is no different. There are good products on the market and there are those who know how to use them. So why consider a percolator? Here were my personal reasons: -- BPA and phthalates, implicated in both breast and prostate cancer, made headlines some time back for appearing in certain types of plastic, even to include baby bottles (which, like coffee, are also heated). A stainless steel percolator is the solution to concern over plasticizer exposure. -- Frustrations pertaining to dribbling spouts on glass carafes. A percolator may resolve this common drip coffeemaker annoyance (the PRESTO I mentioned features an elongated teapot type spout). -- Drip brewed coffee is lukewarm in no time, especially if one adds milk, cream and sugar. The percolator brews hotter, so no need for a microwave nearby. Again another problem the perc resolves. -- Unable to justify doing as Cooks Illustrated recommended: Purchasing the no-frills Technivorm, a coffee trade endorsed automatic drip brewer built in the Netherlands that retails over $240. For $70 or less  my PRESTO was about $45 on sale at Sears  an electric percolator will land you in the same "ideal" coffee brewing temperature range for far less money. (In a classier looking form to boot.) CONCLUSION There are a lot of good reasons to revisit the modern percolator. Those who bash them are those who haven't tried them  at least not one built in this decade! The best advice I can offer readers is to try a percolator for yourself and form your own conclusions. You might be in for a pleasant surprise! REFERENCES: Writer, chef and food critic Michael Ruhlman prefers the perc: http://blog.ruhlman.com/2008/02/percolator-love.html The owner of the Coffee Geek website eschews the percolator. See his comment here: http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/02/06/ruhlman-defends-the.html Oh, and one last note: I do not work for a perc manufacturer. I just couldn't believe how inaccurate the "boiling rhetoric" is in contrast to the reality of my first electric perc and have taken it upon myself to help set the record straight. Thanks for reading!

I also use a single cup Melitta cone. I always make just one cup of coffee in the morning. Sometimes I'll make another cup during the late afternoon or evening. It all depends... My husband doesn't really care for coffee that much, so the single serve Melitta contraption works well for me. I use the unbleached bamboo filters. As someone else mentioned, they can be composted if desired. I like my coffee pretty strong, so I use 1/4 cup ground coffee for each large mug I make. I've also got a French press and an Aeropress. They both make really good tasting coffee. But they're more difficult to clean than the Melitta cone. With that, it's just a matter of throwing away the used filter and a quick rinse of the cone.

Egg in coffee? That brings me back 50 years. We had a friend that entertained a lot, she's still around but not in great health. She put out a "perfect" cup of coffee. One day I asked her secret and she said it was the egg shells she put in the coffee pot. She used a stove top percolator, she said it didn't matter what you use. She threw in the egg shells with the coffee grounds and percolated away until the color was right. She did it camping in a pot or kettle and it all turned out the same. She didn't strain the coffee, grounds settled on the bottom, I don't remember any sludge. And, she always had a pot of coffee on the stove that tasted like she just got through making it. I never did try it, DH and I always had it at work and I could always take it or leave it. I wised up when I started having extreme headaches on weekends when I was skipping the coffee, jeeze.

I'm a big fan of percolated coffee. That's coffee, in my book, not this foo-foo flavored things that people pass off as coffee these days. Never had a decent cup of coffee from a Keurig yet. If someone offers me "coffee" from a Keurig, I decline. Besides being poor taste to start with, Keurig is nothing but a glorified fad of a drip coffeemaker. And what's the #1 problem with drip coffeemakers? The owners. Few clean them. I haven't met anyone yet who cleans their Keurig either. Percolators? Great. Sitting at the cabin on a chilly morning listening to the bloop, bloop, the hypnotic smell, looking at the lake and wildlife. Percolated coffee doesn't need the pollutants to make it drinkable. My favorite was a Proctor Silex glass electric percolator my mother had. I really believe the glass ones make better tasting coffee. It just made so much better coffee that even when it quit warming the brew (tho it still perked fine) I'd make the coffee and put it in a vacuum bottle to keep it hot. Got used to doing that so I'd do that afterward and the benefit of doing that was I'd never head out and leave the coffeemaker on. Well, usually wouldn't. Yes, everyone has different tastes but I can honestly say that I can't name anyone I know who didn't prefer the perked coffee to drip. That doesn't mean they don't still use the current fad but that's a personal issue with them. As I was thinking about people not cleaning the coffeemakers it occurred to me that part of the benefit of a percolator is that it's easier to clean. A clean pot makes better coffee, no matter the method. There's a number of elements to good coffee: First is a clean pot. Next is good water, Then good coffee and properly measured. Temperature and time weigh in. There's actually a lot more to it than putting a piece of plastic into the pet rock and pushing a button. Which, come to think of it, probably is another reason I don't like Keurig. I don't like food cooked in plastic containers and making the "coffee" from a plastic pod is asking for trouble.