To Make Coffee
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the coffee
Use 4 oz. (or 1 tablespoonful) of ground coffee per person; use 1/3 pint of water per oz. of coffee.
Use freshly roasted coffee if possible; grind only just before use.
For very good coffee, use 1/2 oz. (or 1 tablespoonful) of ground coffee per person.
Do not boil the coffee; pour boiling water over it, as for tea.
Brew in the urn
Warm the urn with boiling water.
Remove the lid and movable filter.
Place the ground coffee at the bottom of the urn.
Put the movable filter over the coffee.
Screw the lid, inverted, tightly on the end of the centre pipe.
Pour the boiling water into the inverted lid.
When all the water has disappeared from the funnel and passed through the coffee by hydrostatic pressure, unscrew the lid and cover the urn.
Pour back directly into the urn, not through the funnel, one, two, or three cups, according to the size of the percolator, to make the infusion of uniform strength.
If the coffee runs slowly from the tap, make it very strong so that not more than 1/3 cup would be required, and fill the rest with milk.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Ground coffee (in the method)
- Provides the flavour and strength of the brew; freshness and fine grinding affect aroma.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling water over the coffee without boiling it. Boiling scorches ground coffee and draws out bitter compounds, so water should be hot but not boiling when poured over the grounds.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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