anyone here use a percolator?

[vm9799]

so i'm wanting to buy a percolator. i found a great 1950's vintage one on ebay that is in mint condition and EXACTLY like the percolator my grandparents had when i was growing up.

my questions are these......

1. are the vintage percolators safe? it's all stainless steel construction, but the the stem, basket and basket lid are aluminum. not sure if this is a reason to worry or not.

2. if i should buy new, any particular brands/models you recommend? i've looked up reviews all over the place and it seems you either love or hate a percolator which doesn't really help me. lol!

any help is greatly appreciated!

[Tizzy]

We recently switched back to a percolator, DH specified that he did not want aluminum although we did use one for awhile a few years back.

Anyway, I picked up a stainless one that looks vintage, it's made by Copco and was around $30(cdn). We steered away from glass because we have a very bad track record with glass coffee maker decanters and didn't want to tempt fate

Personally I muchly prefer this coffee. I didn't like the fact that the water was being heated up in plastic before, we have a well so it constantly needed to be cleaned with vinegar for the mineral deposits, and there's a different taste to drip coffee I've noticed.
Hope that helps

[vm9799]

thanks so much little grey mare!

i went ahead and purchased the vintage one on ebay. i shopped at every place conceivable that would sell these things and they are pretty pricey here.....not to mention, none of them have the "look" that i want.....the vintage lines with the glass perk tube on the top; "look".

it was only around $25 and after reading a ton more reviews i've found that they just don't make them like they used to and people were having issues with the performance. so that sealed the deal for me.

i can't wait to get it and use it! and yes, i remember coffee from the percolator at my grandparent's house and it was always so good! i find my very expensive drip machine makes the coffee rather bitter so i tend to use a bunch of sugar to sweeten it up. i'm hoping those days will be over soon!