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I grew up understanding the difference between ‘everyday coffee’ brewed in the stainless steel percolator and ‘real coffee’. My grandmother made the first for my mother and her friends. It was, to quote my mother, an acquired taste. I know now that it was an acquired taste because, frankly, percolators make terrible coffee. When we were at home alone, my grandmother made real coffee on top of the stove with a moka pot. I never had to acquire a taste for this coffee. It was rich and dark and flavorful, a symphony on the tongue. As a little girl, one of my favorite breakfast treats was Nana’s moka pot coffee poured over my cornflakes with the milk.
A moka pot is a three part metal pot that you use to make coffee on top of your stove. Fully assembled, it is shaped like an hourglass. The bottom part holds the water for your coffee. The middle part is a metal filter that fits between the top and the bottom pieces and holds ground coffee. When the water in the bottom part of the moka pot heats, the steam is forced up through the grounds in the filter into the top pot, where it condenses into a liquid again. You can find moka pots in nearly any department store or supermarket for far less than you’ll pay for them through a specialty coffee shop. If you want the best, though, Bialetti makes several different models in 100% culinary grade stainless steel. Most moka pots that you’ll find in supermarkets are made with aluminum, which can affect the taste of the coffee.
Coffee brewed in a moka pot can be a heavenly experience – or it can be a huge disappointment. There is an art to making coffee in a moka pot that includes the amount of water, the amount and grind of the coffee, the compactness of the coffee grounds in the filter and the heat of the water used to brew it. It is possible, however, to make excellent coffee without any acidity or bitterness in a moka pot if you follow a simple procedure.
First, keep your moka pot scrupulously clean. Coffee flavor is the result of extracting oils naturally found in coffee beans. Those oils cling to any surface that they touch. Disassemble the moka pot after every use and clean the filter and top pot, being sure that you clean the underside of the top pot. Every few weeks, run some vinegar through the moka pot as if you were brewing coffee to get rid of any mineral deposits left behind by hard water.
Before you use your moka pot for the first time:
Follow the directions below using spent coffee grounds or inexpensive coffee that you don’t mind wasting. The first pot of coffee you brew in this should be thrown away. The intent is just to clean the machine out before using it for the first time.
To Make Coffee in a Moka Pot
Unscrew the top part of the moka pot and set it aside. Take out the filter basket.
Fill the bottom part of the moka pot with water to the pressure gauge line.
Drop the filter basket into place and add a heaping tablespoon of finely ground coffee for every three ounces of water in the pot. Do not tamp the coffee. The coffee will expand when the steam is forced through it, effectively producing its own tamp.
Screw the top part of the moka pot into place.
Put the pot over low heat and wait. It will take about five minutes for the coffee to finish. You’ll know that it’s done by the throaty sound of the coffee sputtering.
Pour into an espresso cup and enjoy.
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Keith says
…just didn’t have a chance to learn this trick from them.
Keith says
Thank you, *Tom (the first)*. I was just in the process of redacting my reply when up popped your response to our “alter” Tom. Here was my comment I was in the process of redacting:
“Tom, I fully concur with everything you’ve said up till now but I don’t quite get your point here. I am not a scientist and my Moka pot is not “polished and shiny inside the base” but every Italian I know (yes, I repeat, EVERY ITALIAN I KNOW!!) tells me I must NEVER (I repeat, NEVER) let soap touch the pot otherwise the taste will be seriously impaired. Why this is so I don’t know (Sorry!! I do have various scientific theories, but not being a scientist myself their value is probably zilch!!). Be that as it may, I have never particularly wished to sacrifice one of my precious Moka pots for the sake of a useless experiment to prove that they were (surprise! surprise!) right all along!!! Anyway, apparently you agree with them (see your posts of 30 Aug, 17 Nov x 2, Jan 22, Mar 10, Jun 9 & Jun 10).”
Btw I very much agree with Dina about air-drying the rubber seal. This is one thing I didn’t pick up from my Italian friends. But I have learnt from experience that if I hang up my gasket to dry, it dries properly leading to a more hermetic seal and so creates a greater pressure within the pot leading to a better brew. I should hastily add that I expect our Italian friends already know this and I
Tom (the first) says
First, I would like to distance myself from “Tom”‘s comments on Feb 26. He’s a different Tom. Its not me.
Second, I will answer his question: it is not shiny, it is dull.
Third, I will ask “Tom” to knock off the Alton Brown imitation. This isn’t a science class. The entire Italian Republic does not use soap. Basta.
Tom says
None of the people sternly warning not to use soap or vinegar actually has any empirical basis for this advice. Can we have less evangelism and more hard science please?
I don’t soap my pot in any case, but it often produces something best described as mine run-off. I suspect the highly porous unpolished aluminium walls of the base are leaching acrid compounds into the water.
My question is, are your people’s pots polished and shiny inside the base, where you fill it with water?
Dina Crusiamato says
Tom is correct, never use soap in a Moka. It is vital to change the rubber ring when you are getting poor results. Always let it air dry after each use. Upside down on a towel is best. I use a scrub brush to scrub out the inside of the base if hard water spots appear. Mine is from Italy.
Keith says
General advice regarding cleaning. Ignore almost all the advice you find on the internet. Just follow the advice you get from all Italians. Which is: no vinegar, no nothing, JUST W A T E R.
Keith says
Sounds like you need to change the gasket. Don’t know where you can buy one in the UK, but this is where I get mine from over here on the continent: http://www.natarianni.fr/321-pieces-detachees-cafetiere-aluminium . And they take international orders as well. By the way, when you cleaned the gasket, did you clean the filter plate as well (the round metal bit that the gasket holds in place)? If the holes are bunged up, you can use a sewing needle to unblock them. Not ideal, but it does work. And you can use your bare fingernails to get the accumulated coffee and calc off. But then again, when you order a set of three gaskets, you get a new filter plate thrown in as well.
Imho vinegar, as with ALL cleaning agents, is a definite no-no.
Hope this helps.
Mike says
I think my girlfriends filter is blocked. First sympton was that it leaking from the side. So I cleaned the rubber gasket. Now, it produce copious amounts of steam through the pressure release valve on the side, and a very small amount of coffee makes it into the upper chamber. Its a two cup steel Billati. Whats the best way to clean it. Its probably an accumulation of coffee and calc. I was thinking of vinegar. Any suggestions?
Keith says
OneDoubleShot:
Nice website that! I think I may learn a few tricks from your amazing recipes ;)
Keith says
OneDoubleShot:
I take my Moka pot off just at the moment it starts “spluttering”. This means the coffee has an edge to the flavour but doesn’t have that nasty bitter taste that comes from leaving it on too long when spluttering. Some people take it off just before it reaches the spluttering moment (but it is quite an art to judge when that moment is) because they don’t like that edgy, hint-of-bitterness flavour. It’s a matter of personal taste.
Adrian M:
I always get a residue of water remaining at the bottom, darkened by the coffee ground from the filter. This is normal. It’s the last bit that can’t (and shouldn’t) go through the filter. As for the slime, there you have me completely foxed! Sorry :((
PS Perhaps you’re talking about a kind of mould that can develop in the bottom pot?? This can happen if you store it for a long time screwed together. When storing it, I always leave it open to breathe, and place the filter bit upside down in the jug compartment.
Adrian M says
Hello- happy holidays all!
I get a gross ,clear slime on the bottom of my al. moka, the coffee is “ok” lot’s of caffien, I’m so friggen wired and it’s 4 am!! – but what about the slime? i’ve been afraid to use this great machine. I wash it, with water adn a brush (it’s not an everyday moka) – I’ve looked everywhere adn found only questions about this experience, but no answers. – i’d love to read your thoughts and alleviate my fears, – and the clearish, gelatinous goo.
happy Holidays all!
A
OneDoubleShot says
I still don’t get when to take the Moka Pot off the fire. Any help here? If I take it off before the entire pot is brewed, it just stops brewing.
paul Fogarty says
Sorry..me again,..does anyone out there have one of those Alessi 9090 moka pots,s ? I got one – again on Ebay for next to nothing compaired to the price of a new one – but its 30 years old and not so shiny any more,, I was wondering about the seal the handle makes when you snap it shut. On a conventional pot you screw it closed, so no matter how thin or ” used ” the rubber ring becomes, the seal stays the same because you allways put the same pressure on when you screw it closed. but the Alessi handle can never get any tighter as its fixed in the one position, so as the rubber seal becomes ” used ” to the clamping pressure maybe the seal might become weak , It has,nt happened to me yet as Ive only used it a few times – but if anyone out there has one of these, do you find you have to replace the gasket more often, than on a simple screw type pot ? The machine itself is a lovely looking design but I still reckon the screw design is more secure.
Paul Fogarty says
I got a 3 cup Bialetti Moka Express on Ebay, its from 1972 but was still in its original box and brand new with lovely bakelite handle, I felt a little sad making the first cup of coffee in it – given it was completly unused for nearly 40 years ! and still as shiny as the day it was cast ! ..
If your pressure valve blows, could be a blockage in the top tube, or coffee packed in too tight – dont tamp a moka pot, maybe too high a temperature on the hob, or a dodgey pressure valve , maybe ? ( never heard of anyone with a faulty valve yet though )
Lisa says
I LOVE my Bialetti 6 cup moka pot. Dreamy, really. I am mystified by one little thing. Everyone once and a while the pressure valve blows, SCREAMS rather and I can’t figure out what I have done wrong. Thoughts? Tips?