[UPDATE: After two years of daily use, it continues to flawlessly percolate incredibly delicious, hot coffee. But the little screw-in rings around the plastic top finally began to break down, so I ordered a couple glass replacement tops (they come in a two-pack): 2 pack Fitz-All Replacement Percolator Top, Small (2) Works great. Looks a little different as the top is a little bigger and you can't use the black ring around the base (it won't fit under the glass), but I don't have to worry about plastic in the brew.]

I've had this pot for close to a year now (purchased Feb 2014), and just have to write a review. After my last drip coffee maker broke after only two years (because they're all made in China now out of cheap junk), I decided to try once again to find a better, more affordable way to brew an excellent, smooth, delicious and HOT cup of coffee. I've tried them all, drip, press, pour over (including the popular Japanese Hario), Italian stovetop Bialetti, none of them make it the way I like it, and most of them deliver lukewarm coffee by the time you get it to your lips - and I hate microwaved coffee, tastes awful. The only thing I haven't tried is a Keurig type single-serve machine, as they're expensive and will just break in time, same problem as drip.

And then I came across this little wonder on Amazon, read the astonishingly good reviews and decided to risk giving it a try. I mean, $20 isn't a lot to risk. And WOW. I remember my folks percolating coffee when I was growing up, they used an electric percolator at home and a stovetop percolator for camping, but I assumed that was an inferior way to make coffee given all the fancy gadgets on the market now. Was I ever wrong!

It not only makes good, hot, smooth coffee, the smoothest coffee any maker can make. It brings out flavor nuances I didn't even know coffee had, makes cheap grocery store coffee taste wonderful - and for the first time in my life, I'm experimenting with all kinds of coffee beans from all over the world, and finding out why everyone raves about rainforest shade-grown coffee so much, especially organic. I mean, I've tried it before, I just didn't think it tasted that much better for the price. But it turns out that percolating coffee at a low temperature (simmering, percolating is NOT boiling) for just the right amount of time (5-7 minutes, once it starts percing) keeps the water just hot enough, and saturates the grinds so thoroughly, that every bit of flavor is extracted along with the coffee sugars that shade-grown coffee produces, with not a hint of bitterness (cheap coffee is grown fast in the sun, and doesn't have time to develop the full flavors or sugars). It gives the coffee not only flavor and depth, but subtle sweetness. And talk about flavor! Depending on what you're drinking, where it was grown and how it was roasted, you'll taste earthy notes, sweet notes, smoky notes, chocolate notes, fruit notes, caramel notes, nutty notes - it's every bit as fun as tasting different wines or handcrafted beers!

But like I said, it makes even cheap coffee taste really good, and it even tastes delicious black - I've always loaded up my coffee with cream or milk, because black coffee has always tasted horrible to me. Not anymore! I enjoy it both ways now.

I've gotten into it so much, I've even started measuring grounds by the gram on a digital food scale, instead of just scooping it out - the difference in grams really affects the flavor, and you can fine-tune the amount to get it just how you like it. And I've found that different beans and roasts need different amounts to taste the best, some more, some less.

And the coffee is HOT. I make a full pot, and pour it into a good-quality Thermos carafe (I use a Thermos Vacuum Insulated Stainless Steel Carafe, 51-Ounce ), keeps it hot and fresh-tasting for hours. No more lukewarm coffee, or burned coffee from sitting on the drip machine plate. And if the power goes out, I can make coffee outside on the gas grill, or take it camping with me.

The great thing about a stovetop brewer instead of electric (I considered both) is you can experiment with temperature, length of percing and amount of grounds to get the coffee to taste just how YOU want it to. I've really had fun experimenting, and find that rainforest coffee can be perced longer (because more sugars and less acids), whereas cheap coffee in a can (sun-grown, full of acids and few sugars) should be perced less, or the acids start to come out.

A few practical notes: first, read the instructions. It comes with great instructions for brewing different amounts and strengths and other helpful tips.

It takes longer to brew a pot than drip machines, about 20 minutes for a full pot, 15 to bring it to perc temperature (enough to grab a quick shower) and 5-7 percing. And you can't set it on a timer so it's ready when you wake up. It also takes a little extra washing up each day, between the pot itself and the thermos carafe, and it needs to be hand-dried on the outside to keep up the nice shine (or you get dried water spots on it). For coffee this good, it's worth it! And it's nice to know you have CLEAN parts each day (instead of mold or bacteria that can build up in drip machines).

But very busy people might not like that part of it so much, and sometimes I use a press or something else for a quick cup on super busy days when I have to get up and out really early and don't have time to wait for the pot to brew or wash it up after. Or I just get up a little earlier, I hate to miss my percolated coffee...

Experiment to find out how long it takes to reach a good steady, percolating for the amount you want to brew - and then USE A TIMER. If you forget to turn it down once it starts percing, it will overheat and boil and produce a horrible, nasty tasting brew. NEVER boil the grounds! Heat on medium-high heat, not high, to avoid boiling, and turn it down low or medium-low for percing.

It works great on gas or electric stoves. I have a ceramic top electric, set it right on the burner (no trivet needed), heat it on 8 (out of 10) and perc it on 2.8. You can perc it hotter, up to 4 or 5 maybe, it just depends on how you like it to taste. I find that the lowest temperature to keep it percolating regularly brings out the smoothest, sweetest, mellowest flavor, which is how I like it. People who like a stronger, punchier cup can use more grounds at hotter temps. Experiment!

Some have complained about the clear plastic top deforming with the heat. I keep mine a little loose as plastic expands with heat, and have had no problems. But you can also buy glass replacement tops through Amazon. You don't have to use a filter, but I do (just a regular drip basket filter, which I poke down over the stem in the basket), as I use a lot of pre-ground coffee which is made for drip machines and finer than percolator grind, hard to find and a little coarser, a little of which can get into the brew, though not much. The paper also helps filter out the oils which can contribute to heart disease. I just dump it all into my composter each day (coffee grounds are great for the garden, btw). If the spring that supports the basket on the stem ever wears out, you can buy a replacement for that, too.

Someone complained in an older review that the handle broke off because glued. Either the manufacturer changed it or the reviewer was talking about a different percolator, because this handle appears to be screwed and riveted on. In fact the whole unit appears well made and solid.

Over time, coffee oils will build up on the inside, including inside the stem and inside a couple of curled narrow lips inside the pot (one at the top and one at the bottom, due to how the pot is constructed), staining it and which can affect flavor. The way to get rid of them is to perc a pot using dishwasher powder instead of grounds - scours it clean, and leaves it looking like new. I've done this twice now in the nine months I've had it, and it works great.

In all, I'm amazed this humble little pot can produce such a fantastic brew. Turns out they really knew what they were doing in the "old days," and they did it better! No more newfangled coffee gadgets for me, filling up landfills as they break, just delicious, smooth, incredibly tasty HOT coffee from a pot that should last a lifetime.

This Coffee maker is Excellent. The water heats up Very quickly in it, and the basket is great, nothing falls through it...you do not need a filter! I just throw ground Coffee in, and it does NOT seep down into the water/coffee! I use it also with ground, loose teas, and it's so fast and easy! I like that it holds a lot more water than those little teapots that hold barely any (I threw my old one out after buying this!). The lid fits very securely on this. Its just So easy...no plug, no internal water heater that will eventually burn out, no filters, has a very comfortable handle on it, super easy to clean,and a great price!!

I bought this to have another coffee option that doesn't require electricity to function. I have more coffee options than is reasonable, from the Jura J9 Impressa (an amazing piece of equipment) to a $5.00 pour over filter and just about everything in between including a Keurig, a Nespresso, several french presses, a Chemex and espresso machine.

What I was looking for was a solution that requires no power, but makes a fantastic cup of coffee without requiring any other equipment or filters. I can take it with me anywhere and make coffee. The other thing I wanted was something that would make 'real coffee', not the washed out taste of instant coffee you get from Keurig and to a much lesser degree from Nespresso. I wanted real coffee, where you can taste the bold flavor of a properly roasted coffee bean.

This delivered in spades. I should say that it is pretty easy to mess it up with a percolator, all you have to do is over cook the coffee. It will get really nasty tasting pretty quick. If you don't brew it enough, then it will taste like watered down coffee, also not fulfilling. My wife, who doesn't like strong coffee and typically goes for the Keurig, loved this coffee. So, it walked that line and pleased both of us immensely.

For me, this is how I do it to make the perfect cup(s) of coffee. Add 1 coffee scoop (probably about a tablespoon, but I have an actual coffee scoop) per cup of brewed coffee. Add the appropriate amount of COLD water and place over a burner for 25 minutes total. This brought to water to a boil and started the percolation process at about 15 minutes, giving 10 minutes of percolation for the blissful taste of a perfectly brewed cup of java. Remove it from the heat immediately. I do pour my coffee through a melita coffee filter, but that is not wholly necessary as there was almost no residue left despite the fact that I didn't use the right coarseness of the grounds. The grounds container held back the grounds.

About the burner... I was using a gas stove, but you could be using an electric stove in more or less the same exact way. I used the smallest burner I have. I wanted to bring the heat up fairly slowly an allow to percolate without boiling over and also heating the handle so much that you couldn't touch it bare handed. I have read about some people that have a cup of coffee in a few minutes. I am not sure how you do that if you are using a reasonable size burner, starting with cold water and giving it enough time of percolation to brew a decent cup of coffee.

You can monitor the progress of the percolation via the clear nob at the top of the cap. It is not super easy to make out, but you will notice at first that the water coming up is extremely clear, basically just water. Eventually as the water filters through the basket into the grounds the water starts to resemble coffee. When mine was done, it still wasn't super dark in the cap knob.

You may have to adjust the time or amount of coffee to your likely, but this is a good place to start.

Do I think this is a special percolator? No, probably any percolator that works would make just as delicious a cup of coffee, but this one does work well. The price is reasonable if you consider that you will most likely never need to replace this save for some accidental damage. You could probably find better construction for a much higher price, but this seems to be adequate.

Cleaning... It's pretty simply actually. But, I have noticed that I have to wipe out the basket, which I do not have to do with a french press.

Sturdy, and no need to empty grounds before pouring coffee

I love my coffee but I'm not a coffee elitist. I just want good tasting coffee; not too bitter, and I definitely don't want the burnt plastic taste that I was getting with my $30-ish drip coffee maker.

Follow the directions for brewing. At first I kept the burner too high after I noticed it brewing. This caused some grounds to spill over into the coffee. For my gas stove, I now put my burner on medium until I see the first bubble in the glass top (hence the babysitting). I then dial the burner to low and set a timer for 6 mins. No issues with grounds since then and the coffee is tasty. I can grab the handle with out gloves using this method as well. If you keep the brew cycle too hot, you won't be able to grab the handle and when pouring you will get spitting as the hot coffee comes out of the cooler metal opening.

What I like is you can clean every single component and there is no plastic contacting your coffee except for a very tiny section on the lid.

One critique I have is you can't see the water level too well when filling. There are numbers stamped into the stainless steel on the outside, which are barely perceptible inside. I kind of have to guess how much water to put in. Might be better to fill a carafe and pour that into the pot.

Also, the stem (whatever you call it) is very weak at the base. Be careful when handling as I slightly bent mine while cleaning.

Like the other critiques, the coffee cools quickly so either make only enough for one cup per person, and then make another pot for additional cups, or drink your coffee quickly (I make two cups for myself and the second is quite often just warmer than luke warm by the time I get to it), or poor it into an insulated carafe.