Percolators move boiling water through coffee grounds to produce a rich, full bodied coffee brew. The grind and amount of coffee used for a percolator differs from drip or French press coffee makers. Increasing or decreasing the amount of coffee grounds will have change the strength of the finished coffee. You must use a standard coffee-measuring spoon which equals 2 tbsp. for determining the amount of ground coffee to use.
Grind your coffee beans to a coarse or French-press grind. The grounds should be larger than sugar or sand particles.
Divide the amount of water you will put into the percolator by five to determine the number of 5 oz. servings. For instance, if your percolator holds 50 oz. of coffee, you will make 10 servings.
Determine the desired strength -- light, medium or dark.
Use half of a standard coffee measure per cup for light, three-quarters for medium and a whole standard coffee measure for each cup of strong. For the example, if you want to make 10 cups of medium-strength coffee: 10 x 3/4 = 7 1/2 standard coffee measures.
Add the coffee grounds directly to the percolator basket or put them into a percolator filter before putting the filter into the basket.
Brew the coffee in your percolator according to the directions for the machine.