West Bend Electric Percolator Classic Style Coffee Maker with Heat Resistant Handle Base and Detachable Cord with Stainless Steel Stem and Basket, 12-Cup, Silver

It works great Nice color Great size Use it everyday Quality stainless steel Coffee grounds don’t get through Easy to use Very consistent Makes great coffee Use it everyday Coffee very hot and tasty

I cannot explain the wonderful cup of coffee that came from this percolator! I've been dissatisfied for several years with drip coffee makers and kerigs. They have been inconsistent, either too strong, too weak, not hot and sometimes bitter. This coffee pot is simple, no fancy buttons, or automatic bells and whistles, but it more than makes up for it in taste. Very hot coffee! If I could give 10 stars, I would. The only slight drawback is if you set the pot up the night before on 12 cups, like I do, your coffee will get wet. I had to make only 10 cups.

Makes the best/smoothest cup of coffee! So good!! Easy to clean! 5 stars from me

I had always gone with drip coffee makers but was tired of the things breaking down and also the burnt taste if left in the pot for any period of time. This baby brews smooth. Every time. And the Java rarely gets bitter, even when I leave it on all day. Downsides: Cleaning is required each time. And, yes, it can be a bit noisy. Add a power strip with on/off and you’re good. Best cup of coffee in town. Beats Starbucks and Dutch Bros any day. And it looks great too.

Just as background, I grew up in a household where we used both stove-top and electric percolators for brewing conventional heavy grind retail coffees. I’ll add that I’m also a past member, joining in 2006, of the US Specialty Coffee Association. I maintain a small roasting and commercial brewing counter in my home shop. Coffee and all its brewing gear is my avocation. Wanting to get back to percolator-brewing, we bought this Westbend unit about 38 days ago. About one week ago after having brewed our morning coffee, I smelled what I know as an electrical-insulation burnt-odor and/or a burnt coffee odor. For the first few days I suspected the coffee. To isolate the issue I brewed a few different coffees. Each time there was that same odor combined but overwhelming the coffee aroma. We double-checked the coffee by brewing with my Melitta pour-over system; no odor other than the aroma of the coffee. I then looked at the inside of the percolator and noticed a dark spot, silver-dollar size, near the inside edge of the brewing area. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a hot-spot, over-heating and either caused by the heating coil element’d proximity to the bottom of the brewing body, and/or the burning of insulation material. Whatever it is, I’m concerned it’s a safety hazard at this time. I never remember my parents, or me in my early adult years, returning any electric percolators. After years of use they usually went to storage only because we wanted the newer designs or larger capacities, not because they failed. But that was in the 60s through the 80s. Unfortunately with what I’ve seen in more recent household appliances, I’m not surprised with quality control issues, but certainly disappointed. I ran a review-search on this percolator and found a number of both ‘burnt odor smell’ issues and even more concerning, negative reports on West Bend’s warranty coverage service. I’ll start by contacting Amazon as we’ve only had the machine for 38 days. Obviously, if your looking for a percolator, I’d highly recommend looking at other percolator options. And specifically, I’d suggest using the Amazon review options/resources to check for related key word issues.

I bought this unit as a replacement for a Mr. Coffee drip-brew that died after 5 months. This was a very disappointing turn of events because I expected a lot more out of that coffee maker. I brew coffee daily, but coffee makers should be able to last longer than 5 months. Anyway, I decided to switch to a percolator because I decided the bells and whistles of the modern drip-brew didn't really do me that much good and the quality of the coffee was only decent at best. I originally ordered a percolator made by Presto, but the shipping was so slow I cancelled the order and opted for this West Bend model, which was Amazon Prime-Eligible and arrived in two days. I usually use a dark roast (French or Italian roast) with distilled water (the tap water where I live has a lot of lime in it). The coffee out of this percolator is fantastic. It's quick to brew and easy to use. The best feature of this percolator is something very simple, the thermostat. This percolator brews at the perfect temperature, and when it's done it'll leave the coffee at a perfect temperature, about 200 degrees. Also, there is no auto-shutoff, so you can expect your coffee to be at a perfect temperature until you unplug the percolator. This is really great to me because my previous maker shut off after two hours, but the coffee wasn't hot enough to enjoy until it had been sitting on the burner for about 40 minutes. That meant I had to slug down all the coffee in the remaining time or turn the burner back on, which was a slight pain in the neck. I pace myself, but I drink coffee from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, so I like it hot and ready when I want a cup. Some reviewers have complained that this percolator has a plastic dome rather than glass, but I don't really think that's a big concern. Firstly, this percolator is very affordable, so you have to expect cheaper materials. Second, considering the era in which it is manufactured, it's not at all unexpected that a manufacturer would use cheaper materials without compromising quality. Some percolators out there don't even have a clear plastic dome, so being able to watch it percolate is kind of a cool treat. The overall fit and finish of the percolator is quite nice, especially considering its price. If you're a coffee drinker that depends on timers, auto-shutoffs, pre-ground beans, built-in clocks, and other amenities, this might not be the maker for you. However, if you are enthusiastic about the flavor and quality of your coffee, percolators in general are a great choice, and this percolator specifically is a cheap and easy way to try it out. The quality of the coffee that comes out of this percolator is amazing. This is my first percolator, and I just figured bitterness and harsh flavor were something that you just had to expect from some blends, but this device proved me completely wrong. For the first time, I brewed a strong French roast and got a rich, brown, flavorful cup of coffee without any bitterness. It was almost off-putting because it didn't taste anything like what I was used to, so it took a bit to appreciate the pureness of the brew from this machine. I highly recommend this percolator.

I’ve used this percolator for 2-years now. It makes the absolute best coffee.