The Empire strikes back - Percolator

In 1935 there were no paper filters or "coffee machines". Why should there be? Making coffee was a hand-crafted art. This restored EMPIRE coffee maker - model 802-L - is based on percolation and is entirely manual. If you let its cloth covered chord plugged in, it will eventually burn your coffee (or house). But - this will not stop me. Nobody can call this cowboy coffee.

In my first experiments, I put in 2 (6 ounce) "cups" of  water and after 12 minutes the  EMPIRE would perc once a while and make the water really hot.  So I ended up with piping hot and extremly thin coffee which had a hint of aluminum taste. Maybe it is broken?

I needed at least 4 (6 ounce) cups for the water to cover at least the bottom part of the tube. With enough water, the  EMPIRE started perc'ing away. The 1 tbs per (6 ounce) cup formula produced after 6 minutes a remarkable coffee. In taste related to the French Press, but cleaner, less complex with hints to a  vintage diner drinking coffee. The kind of coffee that you drink away while doing something else, like working or eating food.

However, the coffee was not hot enough and could be stronger. So I experimented with 10 minutes of  perc'ing action and the coffee lost its "acidic sheen" and had hints of bitter. One the pitfalls of the percolation method is over-processing. The formula that finally struck the balance is:

At least 2 Tbs of "percolator grind" coffee beans per 1 (6 ounces) cup of water. Make at least 4 cups. Let 8 minutes of perc'ing pass after you see your first bubble.