Dad wasn’t a big coffee drinker, preferring Lipton tea with sugar and milk instead. At first he’d fill the tea kettle on the stove (electric) which made a shrill whistle when the water boiled. Then one day, a Mr. Coffee coffee maker appeared on the narrow counter next to the stove.
Until the invention of Mr. Coffee in 1971 by then engineer Vince Marrotta, the preferred way to make coffee was to use a percolator. A percolator is a machine for making coffee. It works by sending boiling water upwards, through a tube to the top of a perforated basket, where it rains down over the coffee grounds, and back down into the boiling water.
The problem with this is unless you stop the circulation process just as the coffee is ready, and pull out the basket of grounds, you end up with a bitter brew. [1][2]
Marrotta, in a 1979 article for Forbes, explained,"The ideal temperature of the water is 200 degrees. Not 212 degrees, which the percolators give you; 212 degrees gives you over extraction, so the coffee becomes bitter and astringent. Not under 200 degrees, because then there's a tendency for the coffee to come out like tea — too weak, not enough extraction." [3]
The secret — the challenge — was to get (and then patent) a mechanism that would provide water at exactly 200 degrees Fahrenheit and then control its flow over the grounds for precisely the right length of time.
Our machine, however, was only rarely used to make coffee. Ma preferred the expediency of hot water over a teaspoon of the brown gravel that was Folgers instant. [Instant coffee history.] So Dad would fill the carafe with water and then run it through the machine without anything in the basket, then leave it on the burner all day so there was always hot water for tea. He was always chasing after us to turn off the lights and so the fact the pot was left on all day was one of very few luxuries he afforded himself. I know this was conscious because he was the one who filled the pot with water and turned it on when he got up in the morning, for a cup with his Raisin Bran and milk before he went to work.
In the 1970’s, a percolator cost about $9-12. A Mr. Coffee machine cost $40, equivalent to $248 in today’s money. My sense is that my mother bought it and then Dad, an engineer, realized he could use it to provide a ready source of hot water without having to watch or wait for a pot.
If you’re a tea snob, however, you know that 200 degree water actually isn’t quite hot enough to brew tea leaves properly. You actually need the water to be between 208-212 degrees to achieve that. Water boils at 212 but apparently there’s even a science to boiling.
“Boiling is responsible for oxygenating the water, bringing out the best flavors of the tea,” says Donna Lo, co-founder of Far Tea Leaves, a tea cafe in Berkeley, California.
This doesn’t mean that a vigorous boil will yield the best cup, though. Lo says that this will actually tire the water out, causing your tea to have a flat or dull taste. It’s best to stick to a gentle boil, which will bring in just enough oxygen. [4]
That’s assuming you are brewing with actual tea leaves. The leaves in a Lipton tea bag are filled with broken pieces of tea leaves called dust or fannings, which deliver a less nuanced flavor. [5]
You’re also supposed to let the bag steep 3-5 minutes and I know that never happened with Dad. So basically what he was drinking was tea flavored water with milk and sugar. He also used to save the teabag and use it again (I’ve been known to do this with more expensive herbal teas. Apple...tree.)
By the way, just so you know (I didn’t), Orange Pekoe is not a “flavor” of tea. It refers to a specific style and size of the tea leaf. Thus, Lipton Orange Pekoe is a grade of black tea brewed from the dried leaves and buds of the Camellia sinensis plant
If Dad was drinking it for the caffeine boost, leaving the bag in for just a minute delivered a paltry 17 milligrams of caffeine per 6 ounces of water, according to a 2008 study published in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology. Pro tip: If you want the buzz, leave it in for five minutes for 47 milligrams. Zing! [6]
P.S. Like this? Then, you’ll like the book I’m working on. ;-) What are some of your favorite childhood food memories?