How does this coffeemaker work?

January 17, 2011 9:21 AM

How does this coffeemaker work? It came from a grandparent, and now my mom's offloaded it onto me because she couldn't figure it out.

It's gotta be a percolator of some sort, but has anyone seen something like this before? Do you put it directly on the burner? Which way is up? Where do you put the water, and where do you put the grounds?

Here it is all put together (I think the right way):
http://imgur.com/rfDBZ

Here are all the pieces laid out:
http://imgur.com/DCTA0

Here's a close-up of what must be the filter:
http://imgur.com/zNRmF

My best guess is you put the coffee in between the screw-off piece with the little holes. You boil the water, maybe in the part without the spout, then stack the filter on top of the part with the handle.

posted by boghead to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

It's a Drip-O-lator. It's an early kind of drip coffee maker.

Here's how you use one. Basically, put the ground coffee in the top half, pour water just off the poil over it and the coffee drips down into the bottom half.
posted by bonehead at 9:33 AM on January 17, 2011

This seems like an oldschool moka-pot.

I can't quite tell from the pictures, but if you can with the pieces you have, i'd follow one of these brew guides
posted by furnace.heart at 9:38 AM on January 17, 2011

Could it be a Drip-O-Lator style coffee pot? I've never seen one myself, but I stumbled across it in my Googling.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:39 AM on January 17, 2011

Actually, it looks more like a Neapolitan Flip Coffee Pot.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:40 AM on January 17, 2011

Yeah PhoBWanKenobi, I think you got it. There's a stamp on the bottom that says "Eterna 8" and some indication it's made of aluminum and produced in Italy.

I was just talking with some friends downstairs and the flip method (detailed here) was what someone suggested.

Thank you me-fi!
posted by boghead at 10:03 AM on January 17, 2011

It's a Neapolitan coffee pot, and it makes fantastic coffee. You need to use a rather course grind. Here you can find step-by-step instructions for brewing.

The part with the spout is actually on top while the pot is on the stove and the water is heating. Once the water boils, you hold onto both handles and quickly flip the whole thing over so the water can drip through the coffee grounds.

I can't tell from the photos if you have the perforated screw-on cap for the coffee chamber. (This cap is sometimes called a filter.) If you do, you would spoon the coffee into the chamber, and screw the cap on before inserting the cyindrical sleeve into... I can't remember if it's the top or the bottom container. Try it with just water first.

Good luck -- you'll need to experiment to find the amount of coffee that works for you. I used to make good, strong "American style" coffee with it Apparently you can also make a very strong brew to be drunk in smaller amounts.
posted by wryly at 10:28 AM on January 17, 2011