Cuisinart PRC-12 Classic 12-Cup Stainless-Steel Percolator, Black/Stainless

I am extremely satisfied with this purchase. The coffee is much better than our drip. I was amazed by the time it takes start to finished perked coffee, which is 7 minutes! It perks within about a minute. The cleaning is pretty easy and easily done in a sink. I started buying Maxwell house and I am very happy with flavor in this percolator. The coffee is hotter than our drip maker. The biggest reason was getting away from plastic, which every drip maker has hot water continually pouring over plastic, this can’t be good over time. We had a Keurig coffee maker but these plastic k cups worry me also, I have no way to test for plastics and now I don’t need to worry about it. I feel this is absolutely a healthy move for my family. Don’t ever see me moving back to the plastic coffee makers.Update- we have made Starbucks veranda, pikes peak and Tim Hortons, and all tasted better than drip. I have been using the marks in the basket for cups of coffee and it’s been working great! We started getting more grounds in coffee if going above the 12 cup mark for coffee basket. I did use the disc filters at bottom of basket, and if I used more than 12 I put another filter on top of the grounds and this reduced the grounds in coffee. The issue I see is because it perks fast it fills the basket and grounds come out the top of basket. There are really not a lot of grounds without doing this. I also use a blue scrub pad on inside of the pot where the percolator pipe sits, it’s an easy clean. To be honest I clean this better than the drip and feel better about it. I am super happy with it. Getting rid of plastics makes me feel much better. I still can’t believe how quick it works.

My first Cuisinart PRC-12 was a gift, and I loved it because it brewed better coffee than the drip coffee makers that I had been using previously. It also lasted for a long time before the heating element began to fail. It lasted for at least four years, and probably longer before I noticed it couldn't make coffee any longer. I used the percolator every day. After some thought, I decided to buy the same percolator again, and it is still great.I use paper filters inside the brew basket by punching a hole in a 12 cup coffee filter with a bamboo skewer, and that keeps grounds out of my coffee. Also, when the plastic ball in the lid broke, I found a website where I bought 2 more of them to replace just the bulb and not the whole lid, so spare bulbs are available. The original plastic bulb lasted nearly the whole lifetime of the percolator, so at least four years and maybe five.Bottom line, this percolator is worth a try. I like strong, hot coffee and this percolator makes it great. I tried a camping style stove top percolator in the interim, and it worked, but the inside parts were made of flimsy aluminum, and it was possible to boil the coffee too much and ruin it, if I got busy doing something else. This percolator stops perking automatically and has a warm setting, which I appreciate.

I love my new percolator! The coffee smells wonderful, sounds fantastic while it’s perking and tastes amazing ! Not all percolators have the see through area where you can see it perking and that was a must for me. It’s very easy to use & clean. The temp is hotter than my cuisinart drip coffee maker which I love. It is fast also, faster than I thought would be. I’m very happy with my purchase and I’m enjoying choosing different coffee beans to try with my new cuisinart bur grinder as well!FYI: a filter is not necessary if you grind your beans coarse but I did go ahead and order the melitta disc coffee filters from amazon also ( it popped up as an option when I ordered) I am using the filter simply because there are so many grounds to throw away each time and the little round filter makes the grounds come out easier when throwing them away since they are wet and try to stick to the basket. Also, I’ve seen people complain that this coffee maker does not really make 12 cups.... on all coffee makers - 1 cup only equals 6 oz. so it’s no different than any other pot.

Percolators, in my opinion are the best way to make perfect coffee. I’m happy with this purchase, but with all good things there will always be at least one fault. As seen in the photos the cover has a plastic bulb which over time deteriorated and broke. I noticed the cracks in the plastic several months ago so I ordered a replacement cover for when it did, and it finally broke. I recommend having a replacement on hand.I wish these were glass.

I wanted to use this percolator for a while before reviewing. I have found it makes good coffee, and I can use fewer coffee beans than my previous percolator. It is lightweight. So much so I worried about its sturdiness, but no problems have occurred... so a great percolator if you struggle with a heavy percolator. It cleans up well, stays shiny. Coffee is delicious, won't get that "green coffee" bitterness/burn that happens within 30 mins on an automatic drip hot plate. Coffee stays fresh for at least an hour. The only downside is the glass percolator top is fixed, rather than removeable for cleaning, so I have to use a little brush to clean up inside it. I recommend this percolator if you like grinding fresh beans. No paper filter means saved $. A great percolator!