While visiting my grandmother the other day I couldn't help but stop and meander through some antique shops on the way with my mom. Narrow isles and shelves and surfaces lined with everything old and dusty is a treat that I can't even begin to explain. I am a magpie, taking home and filling my nest with the things that most strongly catch my eye. You can imagine how hard it is for me to leave something behind that I can't afford on that particular day. It's okay though, I leave with the intention of visiting again when I can and hoping the item is still there. Like a vintage globe perched on a vintage surveyors tripod I left behind... stomping like a two year old out the door. "But Mom.......... I want it! I want it now!"
I have to say though that I made out extremely well. I came home with an antique travelers trunk, farmhouse stovetop percolator, two lovely tin boxes, and an array of old drinking glasses to continue our growing collection. And yes, we really do use them! That's the thing with us, we rarely buy something we can't use. Every antique that departs with us is brought home and put to task. Every morning we percolate our coffee on a 1962 coffee maker. It makes the cleanest, most robust coffee which I can't wait every morning to drink. Alas, I have to wait though... because another thing it does so perfectly well is heat the coffee to a temperature just above burn your taste buds off. My poor husband has to stare at his to go cup for most of his one hour ride to work just waiting it out.
I wanted to use the vintage metal stove top perc I found for a whopping $2 just about imimmediately... I carefully measured my grounds, measured the water into the water compartment (I think it's the water compartment), turned the flame on and waited. It did great! It did wonderful... except for the grounds in the water and the boiling over. HA! This morning, it was a second attempt after talking to some girlfriends on Instagram... again trouble. Repeated the same process as the morning before but this time the coffee came out almost see through. Dammit, stomp stomp, huff!
The percolator has three compartments... the main carafe - then the inserts which go as follows. Grounds insert on the bottom which fits snuggly into an upper portion where water goes... I think.
So does anyone know how to use one of these?
Suggestions?
Advice for the technically inclined?
















