I love my Moka pot!

[danek]

Often sold here in the states as a "stovetop espresso maker" (I hate that claim because it's NOT espresso). Simple, easy to use, it makes fantastic coffee.

There are lots of coffee vendors that roast their own coffee near me, so I buy a week's worth at a time, grind it using a burr grinder, and fill my little 3-cup Moka pot up. Viola - a couple minutes later, delicious coffee.

A great thing about it is that it can be drunk straight or diluted to any strength desired (kinda like an Americano), making it more versatile than french press, and there is no sludge-residue as in french press coffee.

Do you use one? How do you take your coffee from it?

 

[joyfulwoogie]

Often sold here in the states as a "stovetop espresso maker" (I hate that claim because it's NOT espresso). Simple, easy to use, it makes fantastic coffee.

There are lots of coffee vendors that roast their own coffee near me, so I buy a week's worth at a time, grind it using a burr grinder, and fill my little 3-cup Moka pot up. Viola - a couple minutes later, delicious coffee.

A great thing about it is that it can be drunk straight or diluted to any strength desired (kinda like an Americano), making it more versatile than french press, and there is no sludge-residue as in french press coffee.

Do you use one? How do you take your coffee from it?

Are you talking about those coffee maker I see at Vietnamese noodle place? I occasionally use a simple filter to make a cup of drip coffee. I bought just the filter and put it on top of coffee mug and pour hot water. To me, it is just as good as any drip machine coffee.

 

[danek]

This is a Moka pot View attachment 44684

 

[Mr. Clean]

I've seen the Moka pots at places like Crate & Barrel, but never knew enough about them to buy one. I know no one who uses that method of brewing their coffee.

 

[Trius]

I have two moka pots, both by Bialletti. One is the Brikka 2-cup model; the Brikka has an extra valve at the top of the "spout" and produces a good volume of crema:

(photo courtesy Daigo Tanaka)

The other is a 6-cup standard moka pot, suitable for making moka for a number of people, e.g. at a dinner party, etc.

I love both of them, but especially the Brikka. No, it's technically not espresso, but it makes an extremely good brew and is a lot more convenient, not to mention smaller than, a home espresso machine.

 

[dpm802]

My father brought one of those home from Italy many years ago ... his was a 9 cup (demi-tasse) model. It would make two regular cups of coffee with each filling.

The coffee was delicious. Very strong, very aromatic. He took his black, I drank mine with cream and sugar. But I do remember a thick sludge at the bottom of each cup, that he called "mud."

Another nice variation is to put a little bit of lemon in it. This takes the "bite" out of the drink, if you don't care for that particular kick.

I've never heard of that "Brikka" model, but it looks enticing. I've been wanting to get another pot, since my father's is long gone. I'll have to start shopping for that particular model.

 

[danek]

I've never had any sludge in my coffee. I'd guess that either he was using too fine a grind (you want fine, but not espresso-fine) or the gasket separating the two vessels was damaged / wore out.

 

[chainfire]

I've never had any sludge in my coffee. I'd guess that either he was using too fine a grind (you want fine, but not espresso-fine) or the gasket separating the two vessels was damaged / wore out.

+1. If I ever had sludge, it was because the grounds were too fine or I walked away and let the thing run too long letting the steam pressure build & push a couple grinds up.

 

[letsdisinfect]

I tried using a cheap Moka pot i got at Ross once, but couldn't get it right.... i think i used too fine a grind, plus the electric burner probably wasn't the best

 

[Mr. Clean]

I've never had any sludge in my coffee. I'd guess that either he was using too fine a grind (you want fine, but not espresso-fine) or the gasket separating the two vessels was damaged / wore out.

JIC I were to pick one of these up...so somewhere between drip and espresso. Can you fine tune it some?

 

[dpm802]

I've never had any sludge in my coffee. I'd guess that either he was using too fine a grind (you want fine, but not espresso-fine) or the gasket separating the two vessels was damaged / wore out.

He favored the Medallia D'Oro brand of coffee, which is indeed an espresso grind.

As for the gasket, it did wear out eventually, and he went through hell trying to find a replacement. He had to wait until one of his Merchant-Marine buddies made a run to Europe, and brought him back both a new Bialetti pot, and enough gaskets to last a lifetime.

He went through the same sort of frustrations trying to find a replacement light-bulb for a Telefunken brand stereo.

Of course, this was during the pre-internet days, when those sort of esoteric items can be Googled and clicked and arrive in a few days.

 

[danek]

JIC I were to pick one of these up...so somewhere between drip and espresso. Can you fine tune it some?

My Baratza Maestro burr grinder has settings from 1 to 40 (1 being finest, but I'm told it's still not fine enough for good espresso). Mr. Moka likes it set to about 6 on the ol' grind-o-meter.

It's amazing how much coffee it takes to fill the basket (and I don't tamp it down at all). Fill the basket, fill the water vessel up to the pressure valve, tighten the pot onto the water vessel good and tight, and set on high heat.

When you start hearing sputtering, most all of the water has been vaccuum-delivered through the grounds and into the pot and the sputtering is high-temp steam over-extracting the grounds.

You're done making coffee, it's almost as strong as espresso, add hot water to your taste for an americano or add steamed/frothed milk for a latte, cappucino, machiato...

 

[Mr. Clean]

My Baratza Maestro burr grinder has settings from 1 to 40 (1 being finest, but I'm told it's still not fine enough for good espresso). Mr. Moka likes it set to about 6 on the ol' grind-o-meter.

It's amazing how much coffee it takes to fill the basket (and I don't tamp it down at all). Fill the basket, fill the water vessel up to the pressure valve, tighten the pot onto the water vessel good and tight, and set on high heat.

When you start hearing sputtering, most all of the water has been vaccuum-delivered through the grounds and into the pot and the sputtering is high-temp steam over-extracting the grounds.

You're done making coffee, it's almostas strong as espresso, add hot water to your taste for an americano or add steamed/frothed milk for a latte, cappucino, machiato...

EXCELLENT reference! Thank you.

 

[Hillie]

Cool stuff. I also use a Bialetti Brikka (smallest one) with beans ground in a Gaggia MDF at setting 3, which is actually fine enough for espresso (which I make using a Gaggia Classic). The Brikka's great though, nice coffee comes out.

 

[MotoMike]

Danek

I have one of these pots. used it a lot in Italy, brought it back with me and still use it occasionally.

Can you explain what you mean about it not being espresso? I think it is. I don't think the entire time I lived in Italy that I heard the term Espresso. All the coffee that I ever bought there was produced by forcing hot water through finely ground coffee held captive so the steam and hot water was forced through the grounds. All Coffee was called Cafe' I never saw a drip pot.

If I recall the term Espresso is Italian for express. that is to say that the coffee is made fast and served right away.

 

[danek]

Mind you, I'm not an expert, just a fan. However, my understanding is that the term espresso used in a coffee sense is, like you say, "forcing hot water through finely ground coffee". Espresso machines force hot water, under pressure at (I think 20???) milibars through a tightly tamped (50lb) puck of grounds in less than 30 seconds.

Moka uses much lower pressure, and much more time to accomplish it's brew. While it may not be the same, it's still delicious!!

In this manner, Espresso varies from Moka, albeit they belong to the same family.

 

[Hreafn]

bah who needs a coffee pot, just put it in your lip like dip.

 

[ogopogo]

Mind you, I'm not an expert, just a fan. However, my understanding is that the term espresso used in a coffee sense is, like you say, "forcing hot water through finely ground coffee". Espresso machines force hot water, under pressure at (I think 20???) milibars through a tightly tamped (50lb) puck of grounds in less than 30 seconds.

Moka uses much lower pressure, and much more time to accomplish it's brew. While it may not be the same, it's still delicious!!

In this manner, Espresso varies from Moka, albeit they belong to the same family.

Yep, that's pretty much it. I love my Moka pot. I use it a lot more than my French Press, which I also love.

I haven't seen that Brikka before. One more thing that I have to add to my list of things to buy.

 

[MotoMike]

I am no expert either. Just the observations of a cranky old fart. In Italy I noticed that almost every bar made excellent coffee. Bars there are like coffee shops that serve alcohol if you desire and many would sell gelato as well. Every bar had a coffee machine. Many had an old ornate one with lots of brass and copper, but most had the more modern versions. The Barista would efficiently serve you but didn't have a proprietary language that Star bucks and that ilk have developed. Incidentally Barista pretty much means bartender or counter man where I lived. Over here I think we created much hoopla and marketing around the experience. A venue to micro analyze it and develop a whole culture of coffee snobbery that I never saw in Italy. Now that was 25 or so years ago, so it is possible that now even in Italy, they insist that you call a small coffee a tall and are contaminating it with caramel and whipped cream.

 

[Jasonian]

I am no expert either. Just the observations of a cranky old fart. In Italy I noticed that almost every bar made excellent coffee. Bars there are like coffee shops that serve alcohol if you desire and many would sell gelato as well. Every bar had a coffee machine. Many had an old ornate one with lots of brass and copper, but most had the more modern versions. The Barista would efficiently serve you but didn't have a proprietary language that Star bucks and that ilk have developed. Incidentally Barista pretty much means bartender or counter man where I lived. Over here I think we created much hoopla and marketing around the experience. A venue to micro analyze it and develop a whole culture of coffee snobbery that I never saw in Italy. Now that was 25 or so years ago, so it is possible that now even in Italy, they insist that you call a small coffee a tall and are contaminating it with caramel and whipped cream.

No, that's pretty much a N.American thing that was spread like a virus by Starbucks.

It's not about the culture. It's not about the name. It's about the coffee.