Percolators vs. Vacuum Coffeemakers vs. Single Cup Coffeemakers

Percolator Coffeemakers

Every know-it-all at Starbucks will tell you that percolator coffeemakers went out of style with the dinosaurs. “Water’s too hot.” “Cooks the coffee.” “Uses the same water over and over again.” Yadda. Yadda. What they don’t get is that coffee drinking is a complete sensory experience. Tastes great is only part of it. Nothing. And I mean nothing in the coffee world can replace the perka-perka-perka sound of a percolator. Combine that with the anticipation of the coffee bursting in the glass bubble on top of the percolator and the aroma of percolated coffee filling the room and you can understand why percolators will never be out of style.

Electric Vacuum Coffee Makers

How does a vacuum coffeemaker work? Water goes in the bottom chamber. Coffee grounds go in the top chamber. Heat is applied to the bottom chamber. Hot water in the bottom chamber rises to the top chamber and infuses with the coffee grounds. When the heat is removed from the bottom chamber the now brewed coffee in the top chamber is sucked (by magic) under vacuum back into the bottom chamber. Almost all the vacuum pots are clear glass so there is also an entertainment factor in play.

An electric vacuum coffee maker is more convenient and always applies the correct amount of heat. Coffee vacuum pots are a physics experiment you can get into!

Single Cup Coffeemakers

I don’t care how many people went to the moon, modern technology cannot make a really good single cup of coffee from a 10 cup coffeemaker. There are only two choices. You can pour a lot of coffee down the drain or you can get a single cup coffeemaker. Manufacturers like Bosch take this one cup coffee maker thing to new heights with their Tassimo Hot Beverage Brewing System. You can get packaged single servings of gourmet coffee, tea, or cocoa so you can experiment with single serve coffeemakers to suit your many moods. Bosch Tassimo machines are not the only choice but when you compare the Bosch Tassimo against the Bunn Single Serve Coffee Machine at almost twice the price you get the idea.