First, he claims that percolators have disappeared, when the stove top ones have been around all my life and still sell well.

I am what might be termed a coffee addict, ordering beans and grinding myself to ensure they’re fresh (haven’t got round to roasting them myself yet, I’m sure that’s the next step).

Point is that you can get stove-top percolators anywhere, and there is no question they make better coffee than that repugnant drip-filter cr.p. The best coffee, I think not. All percolators will burn coffee slightly so a slightly sweeter been is required. Some advocate the “French Press” (as you call it in the land of an electoral process that seems to take the entire time someone is in office), but that is still not much of a step up from the drip-filter. The good old Italian style stove-top percolators (although burning coffee slightly) or cafetieres/espresso machines will give far better coffee.

For more information, go to http://www.coffeegeek.com – or, if you want to report on a gadget (this being a gadget blog), try the Handpresso: http://www.handpresso.fr/