How To Use A Camping Percolator

We have always felt that coffee and camping are two things that go well together. If you have your own unique coffee set up down then your morning routine may be as easy as knocking the morning dew from your tent. 

If coffee has been part of your morning ritual since you were young, like us, then its pivotal to starting your day right. Just like you would at home, there’s reason to invest ina nice percolator and the right equipment in order to start your day right. 

The right camping percolator is easy to use, and can even be your percolator at home. Here’s our guide on how to use a coffee percolator.

Find The Right Percolator 

The right percolator will make your life way easier, there are generally three styles of camping percolator, extraneous gadgets not included. The ones we have linked to are great choices you could even use at home.

Enamel Percolator – An enamel percolator is a great choice, enamel can be fairly durable and is commonly used for camping cutlery. While durable it still holds and conducts heat well, an enamel mug would go a long way too. 

Aluminum Percolator – The aluminum percolator is generally much more light weight, and cheaper than enamel, but is much less durable and can bend or be dented potentially affecting ease of use.

Stainless Steel Percolator – Stainless Steel is for the more high quality percolators, it is durable, easy to clean, and can be a good conductor of heat. They are generally more robust than either option and heave more evenly too, but cost more.

How Does A Percolator Work?

Would you be surprised if we told you a percolator relies on coffee bubbles to work? Well, don’t be, because it’s true!

The percolator functions by using the natural rising action of the bubbles that are created as you boil the water. This is why a percolator has two basic compartments. The first is what you might call a chamber where the coffee ends up. The second compartment is where you put the water.

What the two pieces also rely on is something that you might call a coffee filter or a coffee basket. THis is a small little dish in most cases that has this central tube attached to it. This is where you put the coffee grounds.

Essentially, water bubbles are forced through the tube and fall over the coffee basket and back into the water below. The cycling of this water through the basket brews the coffee and hey presto you are ready to start the day.

What About Extra Equipment?

The reason people like using camping percolators is because they can be really easy to use when camping and you don’t really need much else beyond the actual coffee.

There are of course a few things you will need to make your coffee, here’s a simple run down:

Coffee

of course, you will need some coffee of some sort. Whatever you do on this green earth, don’t use instant coffee. You can either buy ground coffee which is okay, or you can buy coffee beans and grind them up. 

This depends on where you are but you will need a coffee grinder to grind the beans, if you are in a camper then go for it but this would be unnecessary weight in a pack. Although there are camping grinders.

Drinking Vessel

You will of course need a drinking vessel, something to hold the coffee. If you are really prepared you could use the same thing you eat out of, to save weight of course, such as a mess kit. Although feel free to use anything that can hold heat well without burning your hands, a mug would work.

Heat

You  of course need heat to brew anything, but luckily this can  come from anywhere. The joy of a percolator is that you can whack it in the morning fire and do it that way, or you can use a camping stove if that’s what you have.

Water

We need water to brew the coffee, not too much, but this is going to be bailed anyway so could come from a nearby water source.

How To Use Percolator

Well, using a percolator is pretty easy once you know how they work, and the process is the same no matter what percolator you are using.

Firstly, fill the water compartment with the amount of water you need. Different percolators will have different volumes of water, some 8 cups, come 4, some less. Either way, the amount of water you put in you should get back out in coffee, more or less.

Secondly, fill the coffee basket with your coffee grounds. The amount chosen will of course depend on how you like your coffee, and how many cups you want, just like the water.

Once you have reassembled the percolator, which will change per your own percolator, that is pretty much it. The last thing you have to do is to put it on the heat. As the water boils it will 

cycle through the coffee as we explained before. 

This is potentially the hardest part, as you want to let the water boil initially but then reduce the heat, the easiest way to mess up with a percolator is to boil the coffee, that will taste bad and suck. If you reduce the heat after the initial boil occurs you should be fine though. Let the coffee sit once it reaches your desired level.

After it has sat for a minute, as it will be hot, you’re ready to serve.

Final Thoughts

Coffee can be vital to your performance and we often need it more than we would like to admit, so being able to make it while you are adventuring is only going to improve your general performance while you adventure.

Using a percolator can be really easy, most people get confused by the operation and function but once someone has explained it it can become pretty common sense.