10 Best Coffees for your Percolator

Discover the best coffees for your Percolator and get some buying tips.

There is something unique about coffee freshly brewed in a percolator. It is full of flavor, bolder, thicker, and almost creamy. When I’m out camping and wake up on a cold morning, this is what I look forward to most. This is my saving grace.

Percolators are the original drip coffee maker. Though electric models are available, most percolators are designed for the stove. Coffee is brewed using hot water and steam. Since most percolators brew only 1 or 2 cups at a time, it’s kind of a less is more sort of thing. If you’re like me and prefer one fantastic cup over many cups brewed in a regular pot, then a percolator could be for you. But what kind of coffee truly makes a percolator shine?

Read on to find out. 

Because of the way a percolator operates, choosing a coffee with the following characteristics is important. 

• Full Body: This is important for flavor retention during the extraction process. This process happens when the water and steam move through the grounds. Full-bodied beans have a higher oil content, more fibers, and proteins, giving the coffee a heavier mouthfeel. 
• Coarse Grind: The filters on percolators have larger holes. Fine grounds can easily pass through and are wasted.
• Medium Roast: With this brewing technique, a dark roast can be too bitter, and a light roast may be too watery.
• Whole Bean: Pre-ground beans lose more CO2, and less of the oils (flavor) end up in your cup. 
• High Acidity: In the coffee world, this means more of a certain flavor, often described as complex, lively, and bright. This is a product of a perfect, natural climate for coffee plants, grown at a higher elevation with substantial rainfall and less oxygen. Arabica coffee is known to have a naturally higher acidity.

With all of these characteristics in mind, here are 10 of the best coffee bean selections to brew an epic cup of joe. 

1. City Girl Coffee, Organic Guatemala Medium Roast, Whole Bean, Fair Trade, Small Batch

This is a small, women-owned business out of Duluth, Minnesota. Not only is their coffee amazing, but they give back to women in the countries where they source their beans. 

2. Mt. Comfort Coffee, Organic Peru Medium Roast

Grown at a high elevation on mountain farms in Chanchamayo and Chontalli, Peru, this coffee is of single-origin and boasts nutty, chocolate, and citrus flavors.

3. Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Holler Mtn, Organic

This signature blend is 100% Arabica, combining Latin American beans with East African beans for citrus, caramel, and hazelnut flavor. 

4. Folly Coffee, Classic Jo, Medium Roast

Fair Trade and Single Origin from Brazil these beans were grown in the “bean belt” where coffee plants naturally thrive. Small batch beans are nitrogen flushed before packaging to remove oxygen for freshness.

5. Kicking Horse, Three Sisters, Medium Roast, Organic

Out of Three Sisters, Oregon, this is Fair Trade and Kosher and recommended for percolators. Sustainably sourced, shade-grown beans are from Indonesia, Central, and South America.

6. Cooper Moon Coffee, Costa Rican Blend, Medium Roast

This coffee is prepared in small batches. Flavors are bright and smooth. With a sustainable coffee bean sourcing program, this company focuses on empowering women, climate change, and enhancing income for small farms. Climate change could mean big trouble for coffee farmers.

Coffee is depended on by over 120 million people in one way or another for economic survival. Warming temperatures mean the regions where coffee grows the best could no longer be ideal. 

7. Mojave Coffee Co, Shade Grown Sumatra Coffee, Medium Roast, Organic

This single-origin coffee is grown at high altitudes and roasted in small batches. Coffee from the Gayo region of Sumatra is well known for its earthy and rich flavors. Sumatra alone produces about seventy-five percent of Indonesia’s coffee. 

8. Wink Coffee, Single Origin Donut Shop

This is their highly popular signature medium roast. 100% Arabica Beans are fire-roasted in Texas but grown high in the mountains of the Colombian Andes. Coffee in Colombia is a part of the lifestyle.

Arabica plants grown at these elevations, close to the equator, are known for their high acidity, full-body, and sweeter flavor. This is a percolator classic.

9. The French Press Coffee Roasters, Guatemalan Antigua Single Origin Cofee

A medium roast, small-batch coffee grown in nutrient-rich, volcanic soil, at high altitudes in Guatemala. Coffee from this region, Antigua, also boasts ideal growing conditions. Sitting above 4000 ft, with cooler humid temperatures and lots of rain, arabica coffee beans thrive.

Typical flavors out of this area are citrus, spice, and smoke. This brew has a clean finish, floral aroma, and a thick mouthfeel. 

10. Verena Street Decaf, Sunday Drive

This family-owned coffee company out of Dubuque, Iowa uses the Swiss Water Decaf process for this brew. This is a chemical-free way to remove the caffeine, using pure water, while keeping the oils, proteins, and fibers, basically the flavor, intact. This generates a full-bodied feel and a rich flavor without bitterness.

Beans are sustainably sourced from Rainforest Alliance Certified Farms, which protects farmers, wildlife, and the environment.