Brewing At Home, Part 1: Moka Pot

One thing wrong here- you have to put the water above the valve- if you put it below it relies on too much steam and burns the coffee. When it stays above it is more water pressure than steam to get it through. I have been doing this for ten years and I have never even heard of one blowing up!
Also, try to get it out of there before it starts gurgling, when the coffee starts to run clearer.

Best writeup I've seen (with pictures! bonus!) of a moka pot. I've played with mine quite a bit, but one thing nags at me - how uniform should the coffee be as it makes its way up the stem? Over the brewing time, mine goes from a stream of coffee to increasingly bubbly - not quite really boiling in the stem, I don't think, but definitely not steady coffee. Any thoughts?

Nice tutorial. One thing to add - wash your moka pot with only water and a sponge/brush if necessary. The coffee oils will accumulate a thin layer on the metal surfaces, insulating the coffee/water from contacting the metal surface, and keep your coffee from tasting "metallic". Using a detergent will destroy this insulating layer of oil.

Also, if you prefer a bit weaker brew, you can fill up the coffee chamber less than completely full.

Don't let it sit too long. The coffee will be better if you take the pot off the burner just before the last gurgle. If it sits beyond that, all the creama is gone and it becomes flat. HOT and fast for best results.

Good write-up and photos.

Mike: I had a similar problem and I've done two things which have helped. I was brewing the coffee too fast. I read a post that said it should take about 45 seconds once the coffee has started pouring through until all the water has gone through. Mine was doing 10 seconds and then it still had a lot of water left in the reservoir(apparently it should always have a bit left). I think the water mostly turned to steam and messed up the pressure and water mixture etc etc etc
The other problem was that the coffee grind I was using was too fine and it clogged the pot. I went a bit coarser - half-way between espresso and drip-brew/percolator grind, and this seems to work well.

I've been using a moka pot for probably about 15 years now - since the Italian roommate....

I fill up the lower reservoir so that the basket sits without bubbling up with water. And... this may be heresy but I generally just use grocery store coffee eg: Taster's choice etc. Whatever's on sale. Sometimes I mix it half-caf, half-decaf. If I am near an Italian deli, I'll pick up some espresso. The coffee is always very flavourful no matter what I use. I only add sugar, no milk.

I just rinse the moka pot - no detergent. Periodically, I replace the gasket.

It really is a great device: cheap, no filters, unbreakable. The ones with metal handles would work on the barbecue.

RE Schwingding's comment, there won't be any problem with a metallic taste if you get a stainless steel moka pot. That insulating layer of oil can go rancid.

GREAT write up, thanks!

My question: Does the pot need to be full to get good flavor, or can I make 2 cups in a 6 cup pot? Mostly I drink alone, but sometimes have company, so in choosing I am wondering if I need to consider this or just buy the 6 cup.

thanks again.

Chris

Chris, the "6 cup" version is referring to 6 cups of Italian sized espresso. In American coffee terms, this is basically a little less than your average coffee mug. I have the 6 cup maker and it's just right. The coffee the Moka makes is quite strong, so, while I would usually down several mugs of drip coffee, the one mug of Moka coffee is perfect.

chris-

a 6-cup pot does not make 6 cups of coffee...it makes more like 6 espresso shot sized cups of coffee...

I think I have a 6 cup and it usually doesn't even come close to filling a mug (though I have noticed that mine often has a lot of variance in output)...

I just looked on a website that sells moka pots and it claimed the 6 cup should make 9oz...since I cut mine off at first sign of gurgle (or right before), that is probably about right.

Hello! I'm from Rome, Italy, and my coffee is "famous" amongst my friends.

This guide is "strangely" well done considering I never drank a good coffe out of Italy :)

Some more hints:

1) for a perfect coffee, use the smallest (1 cup) or slightly bigger (2 cups) Bialetti pot.
That's because of the ratio between coffee/water/air which varies very much in bigger pots.

2) as suggested, put HOT water inside the chamber just BELOW the valve. Too much air will have your coffee pop out too fast, the process must be as slow as possible.

3) As soon as coffee starts to spill, turn down the heat to minumum and shut it off when 1/3 or 1/2 of the pot is filled. The rest will flow anyhow and you don't get a "tea-like" coffee.

4) Most important: coffee brewing with Moka or Expresso machines STRONGLY depend on atmospheric pressure.
You should grind yourself your beans accordingly to weater: good weather (high pressure) will need a finer ground, bad weather will need a coarser ground.

5) The quality of the final products depends also on the filter holes size.

How to tune your coffee:
Get your ground coffee at a size calculated this way:

X = expresso size.
Y = suggested moka size.

Perfect size = X - - P - - - -Y

Note:
On the latest bialetti pots, the external side of the valve have a PIN on it. Before brewing your coffee, move that pin like a joystick for a few seconds, that cleans the valve for a perfect performance.

Regards,
Zibri

http://www.zibri.org

Hello! I'm from Rome, Italy, and my coffee is "famous" amongst my friends.

This guide is "strangely" well done considering I never drank a good coffe out of Italy :)

Some more hints:

1) for a perfect coffee, use the smallest (1 cup) or slightly bigger (2 cups) Bialetti pot.
That's because of the ratio between coffee/water/air which varies very much in bigger pots.

2) as suggested, put HOT water inside the chamber just BELOW the valve. Too much air will have your coffee pop out too fast, the process must be as slow as possible.

3) As soon as coffee starts to spill, turn down the heat to minumum and shut it off when 1/3 or 1/2 of the pot is filled. The rest will flow anyhow and you don't get a "tea-like" coffee.

4) Most important: coffee brewing with Moka or Expresso machines STRONGLY depend on atmospheric pressure.
You should grind yourself your beans accordingly to weater: good weather (high pressure) will need a finer ground, bad weather will need a coarser ground.

5) The quality of the final products depends also on the filter holes size.

How to tune your coffee:
Get your ground coffee at a size calculated this way:

X = expresso size.
Y = suggested moka size.

Perfect size = X - - P - - - -Y

Note:
On the latest bialetti pots, the external side of the valve have a PIN on it. Before brewing your coffee, move that pin like a joystick for a few seconds, that cleans the valve for a perfect performance.

Regards,
Zibri

http://www.zibri.org

When I use my moka pot, I always seem to have particles in the resulting coffee. Is this normal? My pot is pretty old, so I'm not sure if I have to replace any part in it.

Hello everybody, I'm from Milano, Italy.
I second what Zibri said, plus a couple of notes:
On washing a Moka: don't get too squeamish. Avoid detergents of any kind and, for God sake, don't use any abrasive cleaning methods like steel wool or scotchbrite sponges, which will abrade the surface of the aluminum and disperse minute aluminum particles.
Since nothing but boiling water goes in the water chamber, there's absolutely no need to clean it (it's about as clean and sterile as anything can get!), apart from rinsing and drying it to avoid excessive wtare deposits.
Since here the water is at the highest temperature and in more prolonged contact with hot metal, this is possibly the most critical part of the process.
Follow the same principle for the coffee filter.
The coffee pot should be rinsed immediately after pouring the coffee. If you leave the coffee to dry in it, and you absolutely want to clean it more thoroughly (which you shouldn't) just use a soft towel or sponge to gently wipe it.

As for stainless, it will leave metallic taste nonetheless. Much fainter than aluminum, but it's there. Moreover, stainless doesn't transmit heat as well as aluminum, and you'll be heating the pot for a longer time before the water boils but, again, probably you'll transmit less heat to the ground coffee and coffee pot, so perhaps in the end it balances out.

Whatever the metal, though, DON'T use detergents, DON'T scrape/brush/abrade it.
Just rinse. It all gets sterilised by boiling anyway. ;)

One question: what is the optimum hole size in the filter?

The key to having any crema at all is using the lowest heat setting that still brings the water to boiling, as others have said, within 5 minutes or less. Try the lowest first and if that doesn't work, increase slightly. I use a pre-ground espresso powder in mine. I have also ground my own from light roasted coffee, also to good effect. I read once that using an espresso ground coffee that is a blend of arabica and robusta coffee beans will have more body and increased crema over arabica alone. As to aluminum, even the alzheimer's society website acknowledges that no causal link has yet been found, and also says it is increasingly likely it will never be found. And as for leeching from aluminum pans, I have yet to find an "expert" or "doctor" who suggests avoiding aluminum that did not coincidentally have a connection to selling non-aluminum cookware, so there is definite bias, buying into people's fears, and self interest at work here. Also, most leeching occurs in the presence of strong acid or alkaline substances, water is neither.

Fantastic article Erin, and comments everyone. What a difference the photos make.

I'm about 3 months in with my Moka pot and I love it, and love trying to improve my coffee making. I can't wait to try these tips.

I have one question:

WHAT COFFEES GIVE THE MOST CREMA?

I can't get near the crema that I see in Erin's first two photos. I usually use a dark roasted blend (same as I like for drip). My daughter told me that coffees from different countries make a difference.

Tom in Vancouver Canada

Too many compliments too ltitle space, thanks!

Apparently coffee is like art - no two people will ever agree exactly! :)

I have a stainless steel pot, and find that using a Q-tip to clean the stems of the filter and the upper pot seems to reduce the bitterness and lead to a smoother cup.

With drip coffeemakers, it's essential to clean them well to eliminate the old oils which have gone rancid, so I'm surprised that this would not also be the case with moka pots.

looks like it uses a butt load of coffee!
would this size moka pot be used for one person if pouring and adding hot water for a standard size mug of coffee?

Cool discussion! :) Thanks for all the tips Marco and Zibri.

Marco - I find that my 6-cup stainless moka pot (Bialetti Class Black) brews faster than my old 6-cup aluminum (Bialetti Moka Express). The stainless brews in 5 min, where the aluminum took around 7 minutes IIRC. I'd always figured the higher heat capacity of the steel allowed it to stay hotter (dissipate less heat) and thus boil faster.

I have one of the aluminum pots and have probably used it 20 times. However, there is still a very strong metallic taste. How long will it take for this taste to go away? I want to use my pot and found it easy to brew, but I can't get over the taste. Help?!