I was taught my technique by grandma, who used one of my Silex since it was given to her as a wedding gift 70(ish) years ago. She warned us often to never overfill the lower chamber, or we'd get a dangerous eruption of water.
I'll bet she was making frou-frou.
You bet your bippy; she was making Cajun-style cafe au laite, and doing so with fresh-roasted beans for most of her life. Grandpa owned a country store/gas station in
Humble, Texas (one of my all-time oxy morons!), and had what looked like one of the old time Royal peanut/coffee roasters (besides coffee he also sold fresh roasted goobers).
Grandma gave my mom & dad a Silex for a wedding present (late 30's) that they never used - only a modern aluminum percolator was good enough for them!
I used to spend most of my summers helping at the store, but was never allowed to use the roaster - that had to wait until a few years ago when I began home roasting. They had a double-decker Silex vac pot setup in the store that I wish I had now - it could make two pots at a time on the lower burners and keep two warm on the top burners.
Coffee was free to everyone who came in the store; her beignets & donuts were a nickel each, and she was always busy frying fresh ones. She's the one who taught me what good coffee was supposed to taste like. I could never get past the first sip with the stuff mom used to make! :icon_puke_l: