Here's to Mr. Coffee, Known to Some as Sam.

There is a great dividing year in the history of coffee in America, and it is 1972. Before it, the percolator. After, automatic drip. (If you're under 50: A percolator was a coffeepot that held ground coffee in a metal basket perched on a skinny hollow stem. Water boiled up the stem and plopped over the grounds, over and over. A glass knob on the lid let you watch the brew bubble and blacken. When it was dark enough, you poured yourself a mug and sat down with eggs, toast, stewed prunes, the paper and a cigarette.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]