What. Ground coffee, water, cold or boiling, white of egg or eggshell for boiled coffee. The coffee should be ground to medium fineness for boiled coffee; to a finer powder for the percolated and drip coffee.

How much. One part of coffee to 5 or 6 of water, depending upon the strength desired. One eggshell or half the white of an egg, to 1 cup of ground coffee.

How to make. Measure the coffee and water. Stir the white or the shell of an egg with the coffee, adding a little of the water. Put this into the pot. Add the remaining water cold. Stir thoroughly. Allow the water to rise slowly to the boiling point and to boil one minute. Remove the pot from the fire. Pour in a small amount of cold water. Then let the coffee stand for five minutes or until the grounds settle. During the cooking close the lip with clean, soft paper, if the lip has no lid. The actual boiling is continued for a brief period only. Coffee made by this method is considered by some people to have a flavor lacking in drip or percolator coffee. The egg is added to clear the coffee. Pour off the liquid coffee from the grounds, and keep hot until it is time to serve it.

Fig. 69. - A coffee percolator.

A second method differs from this in that the water is poured on at the boiling temperature, allowed to reach the boiling point in two or three minutes, and boiled for five minutes. The first gives uniformly better results. It is true, however, that different kinds of coffee need different treatment. There is room here for much experimenting.