Stove top coffee used to be the only game in town. Long before electricity made it into homes, if you wanted a good cup of coffee you had to fire up the stove, put on a pot and wait and wait for the stove top coffee to boil. In a world of automatic drip coffee makers, it's hard to imagine wanting to still make stove top coffee, except when you're off in the backwoods camping and stove top coffee is the only game in town. So why is stove top coffee still popular?
One reason is the flavor, stove top coffee has a more intense flavor profile than coffee from an automatic coffee maker. All stove top coffee makers are essentially the same. A lower container holds the water, a funnel with a long stem holds the coffee grounds and a small carafe on the top holds all the freshly brewed coffee. Brewing coffee in a stove top coffee maker is a cinch. After taking off the top carafe and removing the funnel, fill the lower chamber with fresh, cold water. You don't want to overfill the container, or else the coffee may boil over.
Now, fill the funnel with the desired amount of coffee, one tablespoon for every eight ounces of water should do the trick. Then screw the top carafe back on and you're all set to put add some heat to the stove top coffee maker. As the water starts to boil, steam will heat up inside the lower chamber. This will force water up the funnel and into the carafe. Once it starts to make some gurgling noises, the lower chamber is empty and the stove top coffee is ready for you to enjoy. Take the stove top coffee pot off the stove so the residual heat doesn't continue to overcook your coffee.
Remove the carafe and serve immediately. As with any coffee maker, you want to make sure that your stove top coffee maker is always spotless. Use mildly soapy water after each use and make sure the safety valve isn't clogged. This is the release valve in case you accidentally add too much water. Stove top coffee is just as good as any coffee made in an automatic drip coffee maker or even a French press. Some people even say it's better, because the flavor of the beans is more intense. That said, you do want to make sure you don't burn the coffee, which is easy to do if you don't remove it right after the gurgling sound signifies that the lower chamber is empty. If you need to keep your stove top coffee hot, transfer it to a thermal carafe instead.
