Still smile wide when I think of the perk pots that our parents and grandparents used...and how bad that result was.
The only good thing about the old percolator was when Mom opened the 1 pound can of Maxwell House with the metal key attached to the lid. The big “Whoosh” when she broke the vacuum seal and the great smell of that fresh ground coffee!
When I moved to San Fran in 1973, I found a little coffee shop like today’s Starbucks on Chestnut Street named “Caravansary.” That’s when I discovered good fresh roasted and ground coffee and how to make a good pour-over. I still have the hand-cranked Turkish mill (made in Germany) that I bought there.
Between discovering Anchor Steam beer and fresh roasted coffee, it was heaven!
In those days, there was still a large Mills Brothers coffee roasting plant near the Financial District. The aroma of roasting coffee wafted over the entire area on days with the wind just right!
In my field service engineering travels, I would stop my long drives for real coffee breaks. Would break out the propane camp stove, the coffee grinder, and an aluminum camping percolator. There was nothing like that fresh coffee in the mountains while on a long drive to the next job!