Percolators, Eastern Bloc and the Technics RS-X301

Sometime in the middle of March, my single cup cafetiere, after a long two years of rigorous use and abuse, fell apart. Both its wired mesh and plunger (forgive me, for I am no technical coffee-artiste and do not know the components all that well) broke, and seeing as the month of March is a typically horrific month for personal finances, there was a substantial delay in its replacement.

This delay, however, allowed room for thought: What are the key differences between the percolator and the cafetiere. One plunges and the other cycles the…