Coffee Makers - A Brief History of the Coffee Maker
Though there are many popular kitchen appliances one which we are all familiar with is the coffee maker. A coffee maker is a kitchen appliance used to brew coffee without the need to boil water in a separate container. There are many different types of coffeemakers utilizing many different kinds of methods but in the most common coffeemakers, ground coffee is placed in a paper or metal filter which is set inside a funnel and placed over a glass or ceramic coffee pot. Cold water is then poured into a separate chamber and then heated to the boiling point and then directed into the funnel. This is also known as the automatic drip brew coffee maker.
We all search for that perfect cup of coffee; it is honestly an extremely simple process. Take roasted and ground coffee beans place in some hot water and the liquid is our coffee. Around the time of the 19th century it was considered normal to add ground coffee to some water and boil it until the aroma smelled right and pour the beverage into a cup for drinking.
The first modern coffee maker was the drip coffee maker. This coffee maker is well more than one hundred years old and has changed little in style and design. Originating in France around the 1800's, was a two level machine where the top compartment holding the water would drain through holes in the bottom compartment into the awaiting coffee pot. Also around this time, the French developed something known as the pumping percolator coffee maker in which boiling water in a bottom compartment forces itself up through a tube then trickles (percolates) through the ground coffee back to the bottom compartment.
Next to arrive on the scene is the vacuum brewer coffee maker. These became popular in the 19th century as they utilized the vacuum principle. The way the vacuum worked was to heat water in a lower compartment until expansion forces the contents through a narrow tube into an upper compartment where the ground coffee was housed. One such coffeemaker was the Napier Vacuum Machine, invented in 1840. Vacuum devices were extremely complicated for everyday home use they were prized for producing a clear brew and stayed popular up until the middle of the 20th century.
A coffee maker known as the percolator was designed and produced beginning in 1865. In both the drip-brew and the percolator versions the similarities were apparent; both required gravity and pressure to move water into contact with coffee for a required amount of time to produce an acceptable brew. Domestic electrification simplified the operation of percolators and vacuum system coffeemakers and made them an everyday staple in the home.
Lastly there was the development of the drip coffee maker which was also known as the dripolator. A number of different machines used to automate these methods were around until the mid 20th century. The first automatic drip-brew coffee maker for home use, Mr. Coffee, was introduced in 1972. This machine combined aspects of the drip-brew process and the percolating process but with the added feature of an electric element being able to heat the water separately. Since its introduction, the number, styles, size of these coffee makers have changed dramatically. Coffee makers no matter what their future changes may entail have lived up to the fact that they will continue to remain a staple kitchen appliance throughout today’s households.