[HN Gopher] The humble brilliance of Italy's moka coffee pot (2018)
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The humble brilliance of Italy's moka coffee pot (2018)
Author : BerislavLopac
Score : 246 points
Date : 2024-01-23 09:13 UTC (13 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.atlasobscura.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.atlasobscura.com)
| tussa wrote:
| For me it's also the process that makes it so rewarding. The
| grinding, packing, listening to it bubbling on the hob, the
| smell, the gurgle at the end and finally the pour. Then you also
| get a nice cup of coffee! It's an amazing "gadget".
|
| If you enjoy coffee and haven't tried one, you're missing out.
| secretsatan wrote:
| I understand that packing the coffee in a moka pot is a real
| faux pas
| stevoski wrote:
| My dictionary says
|
| "faux pas: an embarrassing or tactless act or remark in a
| social situation"
|
| I can't work out how packing the coffee in a moka pot is a
| faux pas.
| unwind wrote:
| Depending on your level of coffee nerd/snob factor, "doing
| it wrong" can indeed be a source of embarrassment. I don't
| think this is limited to coffee snobs, either.
| bell-cot wrote:
| Making & serving coffee is often a social ritual, so doing
| it "wrong" is a faux pas.
| michaelt wrote:
| Ah but it is _also_ a faux pas to apply social ritual
| rules outside of the formal dining areas of the house.
| Nobody 's tamping down the ground coffee in their moka
| pot in the receiving room or the dining room.
|
| If a guest is invited into the more intimate areas of the
| house like the kitchen, (food safety issues aside) they
| can no more object to what they see than a theatregoer
| given a backstage tour could complain that the actors are
| out of costume.
| petesergeant wrote:
| > If a guest is invited into the more intimate areas of
| the house ... they can no more object to what they see
| than
|
| My brother, I can assure you that this is not actually
| how that works in the real world
| michaelt wrote:
| It is among the kind of people who use the terms "faux
| pas" and "social ritual" and who think it's possible to
| use a moka pot in an "embarrassing or tactless" way.
|
| If I'm having the queen around for high tea it might be a
| "faux pas" to serve biscuits in a plastic packet or tub,
| and proper to arrange them artfully on a china plate. But
| if we're following that ritual, the queen absolutely does
| not enter the kitchen.
|
| If on the other hand the guest wants to engage in the
| "we're just regular people" ritual they gain the right to
| enter the kitchen - but lose the right to complain when
| the biscuits are served straight out of the packet, or to
| use the term "faux pas"
| petesergeant wrote:
| The faux pas is the admission that you've done this amongst
| peers who expect you to know better (presumably; personally
| I'd drink caffeinated dirt)
| ahartmetz wrote:
| Yes, yes it is. Source: did that once, got a minuscule amount
| of coffee in the top part and an about equal amount coming
| out of the sides.
| happymellon wrote:
| If you are doing it at home, then there is no one to judge
| you.
|
| Just make good coffee, and stop using those pod abominations.
| tussa wrote:
| I'm all in favour of a better word. What's a good one of for
| pouring the granules into the sieve and leveling it off?
|
| "Packing" definition doesn't require stomping although it's
| often applied, both with coffee and suitcases.
| eschneider wrote:
| If you pack too hard, the steam can't go through the coffee
| and if you're lucky, it'll come out the overpressure valve
| and if you're unlucky (or overfilled the water) you can blow
| up the pot.
| kefabean wrote:
| They are indeed hypnotic to use, cheap and quite practical.
|
| The trouble is I've never been able to get coffee to taste as
| good out of one of these compared to almost any other method of
| making coffee - eg. filter, espresso, French press. I'm not
| sure whether it's my technique, the grind I use, or something
| intrinsic to the process itself.
| md_ wrote:
| I wouldn't say it's you. Moka pots aren't great, though they
| are convenient-ish. ;)
|
| As https://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/5197/is-the-
| moka-... says, preheating the water might help if your
| results are overly bitter.
| chongli wrote:
| There is absolutely a technique to it. Watch Moka Pot Voodoo
| [1] by the Wired Gourmet. The key to getting good taste is to
| carefully control the temperature of the coffee puck and flow
| rate of water through it. Pre-boiling the water in the bottom
| chamber before dropping in the coffee basket and screwing on
| the lid solves the first problem: keep the coffee from
| overheating. Moving the Moka pot on and off the heat in order
| to maintain a gentle, steady flow solves the second.
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-PeYeiqPLU
| andersrs wrote:
| I brew on a Bialetti Venus every day with induction. I think
| you are doing it wrong. I find that the awful bitter tastes
| come late into the process accompanied by yellow colors and
| bubbles/splutters. Avoid at all cost.
|
| My method: 1) Fill the basket level. You may tap/shake any
| clumps to get it level but do not tamp. 2) Heat it on 1000
| watts until the first drop of coffee comes out the pipe and
| then reduce power 400w. 3) When you notice any hint of yellow,
| or any bubbles/spluttering or you have enough coffee then
| immediately dump it into a pre-warmed mug of milk. Ideally you
| want to stop the process before any bitterness arrives.
| tussa wrote:
| > I think you are doing it wrong.
|
| I'm going to swallow my pride with stoic calm on this one in
| case you are correct. Thanks!
| federiconafria wrote:
| I can't believe we have the exact same process. Even the
| power down.
|
| But... Black coffee for me.
| Finnucane wrote:
| That is interesting. I don't have one but was thinking of
| getting one of the induction-ready pots. How fine of a grind
| do you use?
| jtanderson wrote:
| Serious question: doesn't pouring into milk negate/mask much
| of any bitterness anyway?
| NoPedantsThanks wrote:
| I have one and have tried it quite a few times, being very
| careful to follow whatever procedure I'd been shown. To me the
| coffee has always tasted burned. But... I buy much better
| coffee now.
|
| It is fun and I like the ceremony, so I'm going to check out
| the video someone linked to above.
|
| All I know is, buying light-roast coffee and a proper burr
| grinder will change the way you view coffee. I even wrote a
| little app to calculate the exact amount of water per gram of
| grounds, and then you can enter the total weight of the vessel
| (intended for Chemex-style pour-over) and a wet filter. It
| saves that and then tells you how much the whole thing should
| weigh when you've added enough water.
| yakshaving_jgt wrote:
| Moka pots are a little too fiddly for me. You need to be careful
| with the water temperature (and a few other variables) for it to
| not produce overly bitter coffee.
|
| Since these days I'm only making coffee for myself, I almost
| always use the Aeropress. It's perfect every time.
| j4yav wrote:
| A lot of people who make coffee at home get off on fiddlyness
| (no judgment, me too). The less reliably it makes a good cup of
| coffee the better it tastes if you can manage to get it to
| produce one.
| FirmwareBurner wrote:
| _> Moka pots are a little too fiddly for me. _
|
| Same for me, beautiful and genius design of its era that looks
| futuristic even today, but it's been surpassed by the Aeropress
| in convenience, simplicity and ease of use today. Not gonna say
| in taste, as the resulting taste is subjective to each
| drinker's preference.
|
| Seriously, the Aeropress inventor should get a prize or
| something, it's just mind boggling how something so simple like
| an oversized syringe for coffee, hasn't been invented much
| earlier. Shame he sold the company to some private equity group
| who instantly raised prices and removed accessories from the
| box.
| mastazi wrote:
| I like the Aeropress a lot, but I don't like making coffee in
| an object that is made of plastic. When I make filter coffee,
| I always use metal or glass brewers for that same reason.
|
| I understand that glass might not be viable for Aeropress as
| it might break, but I hope that someone will come up with
| some other material, maybe metal with an insulation layer?
| kgabis wrote:
| What's your reasoning behind avoiding coffee made in
| plastic? Is it a form of plasticophobia?
| FirmwareBurner wrote:
| I think it's because of all the news on micro plastics
| being linked to increasing the chance of cancers.
| kgabis wrote:
| I don't think plastic coffee brewers can be a source of
| micro plastics unless they're ground into dust which is
| far from their intended use case.
| mastazi wrote:
| Have you ever had to replace a pan because the non-stick
| coating had worn out over time? That's wear and tear. It
| happens regularly with pans and many other plastic
| objects, and I have no reason to believe that it doesn't
| happen with coffee makers.
|
| Also, you seem to be under the impression that
| microplastics contamination can only happen when
| mechanical wear and tear is present - but it can be
| caused by heating as well [1] [2]
|
| [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37624070
|
| [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36440911
| sk11001 wrote:
| The water needs to boil, so you can only do so much about the
| temperature. If anything, it's not fiddly enough to give you
| the control to make better coffee like an aeropress or a pour-
| over can.
| intended wrote:
| Aeropress is remarkably good and consistent.
|
| If I want to know how good a set of beans are I use an
| aeropress to get the baseline.
|
| French press coffee is also great- but boring.
|
| Pour overs are blasted finicky in comparison.
| secretsatan wrote:
| I love these, but I recently made the mistake of buying a store
| brand one, I thought it looked the same, but actually, they don't
| have the spout quite right and it doesn't pour right, I have to
| pour my coffee over the sink because it dribbles everywhere.
|
| I should have just repaired my old one, I left it too long on the
| stove and melted the O Ring, but it should be replaceable
| FirmwareBurner wrote:
| _> I recently made the mistake of buying a store brand one_
|
| Do you know that old saying, "you buy cheap, you buy twice"?
| davidgerard wrote:
| yeah, the O-rings are trivially replaceable, keep a pile to
| hand
| eigenket wrote:
| You can very easily get replacement O-rings, I've had my moka
| pot for about 15 years and I'm on my third ring. The first got
| lost and the second damaged.
| projektfu wrote:
| Yes you can generally buy the gaskets, but might need a
| specialty store to find them. They harden after a while anyway,
| and there's going to be someone in your life, a friend,
| housekeeper, in-law, who will throw it out in an effort to be
| helpful.
| TomK32 wrote:
| If the new one is thick enough alu you might think about filing
| the spout to make it work like the older one you have
| planede wrote:
| Do yourself a favor and get a silicone replacement gasket
| instead of the Bialetti one.
| fawnwind wrote:
| I really enjoy my moka pot. They can take a bit of work to dial
| in, but for an espresso style drink I can't think of any other
| brew method that is as cheap and simple.
| mittermayr wrote:
| To me, the Moka pot is always a funny (and reliable) example of
| design and the many ways people make their own interpretations of
| it. Ask any friend to describe how, exactly, they make coffee
| with it. There should only be one way, and everyone is sure that
| their way is the correct one. Yet, there are so many variations
| of this, it's crazy. From grind size (more coarse than espresso,
| less than filter), to grams and fill-level (brush off, or exact
| measure?), to those still convinced it needs tamping (it does
| not!). Then temperature (as hot as, gas stove burn-it-with-fire,
| or slow-build) and even lid philosophy (open while it heats, open
| after it has started bubbling) -- and when to close it off, after
| the first bubbles, once it's been bubbling, until the water is
| gone, etc. Also, what beans and roast profile? Espresso? Crema?
| Filter?
|
| Nuances, sure, but every single time I ask someone about their
| Moka pot, they have a slightly different way of using it than I
| have.
|
| Case in point: I fill water up to just touching/under the valve,
| then use a medium-coarse grind with dark espresso beans, with
| enough coffee to fill the basket level, no tamping brushing off
| or touching. Then heat it hard on gas if available, leave the lid
| closed while it builds up but open immediately with the first
| bubble and put it off the heat. Let it continue for another half
| minute and then pour. And you?
| sharperguy wrote:
| Most likely you've seen this, but it should be mentioned James
| Hoffman has spend some time experimenting with the Moka pot and
| has published his preferred technique on youtube [1]
|
| [1]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfDLoIvb0w4
| jarvist wrote:
| There's also a fantastic Youtube video in a neutron beam
| facility of a Moka pot, in which you can see the full process
| of brewing. The water and plastic handle appear 'black' as
| hydrogen scatters neutrons so strongly.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VESMU7JfVHU
| 317070 wrote:
| There is also this gem of a website, where you can explore
| a 3D CT-scan of a Bialetti moka pot, to see all its
| features and flaws:
|
| https://www.scanofthemonth.com/scans/coffee
| viasfo wrote:
| Their scan viewer software now works on mobile devices: h
| ttps://app.lumafield.com/project/a5a9c7ef-d1c9-426e-9e2a-
| 63...
| asymmetric wrote:
| Wow, it's really a shame about the new Bialetti pots.
| I've recently gotten one off Amazon and now I'm not sure
| if I should instead hunt for a used old model.
| ce4 wrote:
| Who knows if it wasn't counterfeit?
| secretsatan wrote:
| I always wished they would make a transparent one
| ljf wrote:
| Pretty sure I saw someone with a glass one on youtube,
| but it wasn't as exciting to watch as I'd hoped. I'd
| still like one though.
|
| Found the video:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7FoqR9oCfI
| Gormo wrote:
| Too bad Scotty never time-traveled back to _our_ 1984
| with the formula for transparent aluminum.
| xgkickt wrote:
| Not sure of the year, but aluminium oxynitride exists
| (edit: and more commonly, sapphire).
| shiandow wrote:
| I've seen one that had a glass lid that allowed you to
| view inside the top.
|
| You knew it was working when the glass fogged up.
| s0rce wrote:
| Seems like there are models with a transparent top (low
| pressure part), ex: https://www.amazon.com/Premium-
| Crystal-Glass-Top-Stovetop-Es...
|
| You might want some blast protection if you use a
| completely transparent one due to the explosion risk and
| flying glass pieces.
| s0rce wrote:
| I really like that video. However, I think this could have
| been done with X-rays by adding heavy salts (ex. sodium
| metatungstate or vastly more hazardous thallium salts) to
| the water or using a heavy organic liquid (ex.
| diiodomethane).
|
| However, if you have a neutron imaging beamline you
| probably are motivated to make a cool demo.
| nunez wrote:
| Of course James has a recipe for this.
| Mikhail_K wrote:
| I would not put too much stock into James Hoffman's confident
| assertions. He claims to be able to taste difference between
| different coffee grinders - but doesn't do it in a blind
| test.
| nerdponx wrote:
| He has done plenty of blind tests on his channel.
| 2devnull wrote:
| I trust a lot of what he says, but not everything. He has
| an interest in the machines and his own career, not just
| in the coffee. Trust but verify.
| nerdponx wrote:
| Of course, same goes for any other coffee-expert-content-
| creator (eg Lance Hedrick) or really any other expert in
| any other field.
| samvher wrote:
| Just tried out his suggestions combined with some of the
| comments there (what I tried: put boiling water in the moka
| to start, pre-heat my electric stove while preparing the
| moka, use a full but not overly full basket, and avoid
| sputtering by actively controlling the applied heat with
| the lid open and taking the moka off the heat the moment
| sputtering starts) and my impression was that it makes a
| noticeable difference. Specifically, I had always just
| accepted that moka coffee is fast and easy but bitter, and
| this was much less bitter: I preferred it and I think I'll
| keep these changes.
|
| YMMV of course!
| wolfpack_mick wrote:
| I'm right there with you on all those things!
|
| One thing to add: If you want to think even less in the
| morning. Just weigh the beans and water with a kitchen
| scale. 18 gr of beans, 160gr of (boiling) water
| (basically a 1:9 ratio regarding on the size of your
| basket).
| h8hawk wrote:
| Many people, including myself can taste day and night
| difference from result of different grinders. You can
| easily verify this by variance of particle distribution of
| different grinders.
| gv83 wrote:
| The famous "coffee for people who don't like coffee" video
| that has been a running gag in Italy for months!
| Xcelerate wrote:
| What is the context of the gag? I like James Hoffman and
| his videos.
| gv83 wrote:
| Italian households throw the thing on the stove without
| such meticulous (and time expensive) ceremony every
| morning, so this falls under the classic "American can't
| cook" gag
|
| I don't even know if the guy is American, just anecdata
| from my Facebook feed
| nonameiguess wrote:
| He's English, not American, and became a coffee
| influencer like this after winning the World Barista
| Championship in 2007. This is, in fact, a "world"
| championship, not like the MLB World Series which is
| really just American. It's been held in the USA a few
| times, but also all over Europe, Australia, Japan, and
| Korea. Making coffee meticulously is hardly something
| specific to Americans or even typical of Americans. It's
| very weird you would even have this stereotype when the
| very word "barista" is Italian, the WBC itself started in
| Norway, and Europe in general is usually far more
| associated with fine cuisine and caring about
| craftmanship in food and drink than the US, which is
| associated with hot dogs, light beer, and deep frying
| everything in butter.
| nomilk wrote:
| "It depends". Someone who prefers a slightly bitter coffee
| might enjoy slight tamping that slows the rate the water passes
| through the grounds and creates bitterness.
|
| But your point is accurate: everyone has a slightly different
| way. I'd argue irrespective of the exact variation, the Moka
| Pot outperforms most other mechanisms for making coffee (other
| than cafe espresso machine).
|
| Funnily, if you'd asked me at 6-monthly intervals for the ideal
| way to use a Moka Pot, I'd have given slightly different
| answers (i.e. each time I would have _thought_ I 'd mastered
| the technique, but by doing little experiments, and sometimes
| accidentally, I'd found slight improvements over the years).
| agubelu wrote:
| Coffee nerd tip: if you want more bitterness, you're probably
| better off using less coffee for the same amount of water
| ("weakening" it a bit).
|
| If you tamp it, there's a greater chance that the water
| breaks an easier path through the coffee and doesn't flow
| evenly through all of it, which tastes worse.
| Marsymars wrote:
| > But your point is accurate: everyone has a slightly
| different way. I'd argue irrespective of the exact variation,
| the Moka Pot outperforms most other mechanisms for making
| coffee (other than cafe espresso machine).
|
| I'd expect it depends on your coffee preference. I haven't
| ventured into the home espresso side yet, but regularly use
| pretty much everything else: SCA-approved drip machine,
| AeroPress, cold brew, french press and pourover. Of those, my
| favourite results have been pourovers with light roasts
| (bean-dependent, of course) - isn't a Moka Pot going to give
| you notably different flavour profiles?
| kozikow wrote:
| All of those variables they described are a contention point in
| other coffee-making methods like espresso as well.
|
| And many of those options are "correct", but depend on your
| preference - do you like more concentrated coffee? Do you like
| it less bitter? Do you want more caffeine? Etc.
| erie wrote:
| Fun fact about getting rid of bitter taste in coffee is a
| tiny bit of salt, a cracker or anything salty, it basically
| prevent the tongue from tasting bitterness:"Adding it to
| coffee can actually cut some of the bitterness. In fact,
| salting coffee is a tradition that goes back hundreds of
| years in countries like Turkey, Hungary, and Siberia, and
| more recently, it has become popular in Vietnam, where coffee
| is combined with whipped salted cream or milk. " I prefer
| cold brewing coffee to get rid of bitter taste. On another
| note, I have recently won a bet with someone who would not
| believe that the Moka Coffee Named after the Yemeni city of
| Mocha, with ch similar to German, unpalatalised ch.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Is there any history of molasses in coffee?
| andersrs wrote:
| The exact same process right up to the last step. I don't leave
| it for 30 seconds I dump the coffee straight into a mug. I
| believe the bitter tastes come through at the first bubble.
| jfrej wrote:
| Based on your technique of pouring straight into the cup, I
| wonder if that's the reasoning behind the "coffee fountain"
| kind of moka pots [1] (apart from convenience).
|
| This instagram account has a nice collection of different
| ones [2].
|
| [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Coffe
| e_p...
|
| [2] https://www.instagram.com/mymokahome/
| chpatrick wrote:
| For me it's cold water up to the valve, coffee up to the brim,
| no tamping, maximum power on induction stove and I turn it off
| as soon as it starts gurgling. I know some people say you
| should put hot water in it so it doesn't cook the coffee as
| long but on induction it boils in seconds anyway.
|
| I used to have the classic aluminium one because I prefer the
| geometric shape but I switched to stainless steel when I got
| induction and it seems higher quality in general.
|
| I enjoy the ritual personally, it's my favorite way to make
| coffee.
| chongli wrote:
| _I know some people say you should put hot water in it so it
| doesn 't cook the coffee as long but on induction it boils in
| seconds anyway_
|
| I do the "Moka pot voodoo" technique [1] where you set the
| base on the stove and get it boiling first, then drop in the
| basket and screw on the lid, using a towel to protect my hand
| while holding the hot base. After that it's a matter of
| moving the entire thing on and off the heat to carefully
| regulate the water temperature so that coffee only trickles
| out with no gushing. It makes wonderful coffee!
|
| [1] https://youtu.be/u-PeYeiqPLU
| chpatrick wrote:
| I used to put boiling water in before I had induction but
| now it's so fast it's not worth the hassle of dealing with
| the hot pot.
| mplanchard wrote:
| I start with hot water from the kettle, which works well
| too
| Jarmsy wrote:
| I recently switched to induction and got an all steel Alessi
| 9090, where the top clamps on instead of screwing like most
| moka pots and am loving it.
|
| You can put it on quickly with one hand with a satisfying
| click, always perfectly sealed with no need to judge whether
| over or under tightening. I think the gasket will last longer
| too, because it doesn't get stray grounds twisted into it
| while screwing.
|
| The one handed operation also makes it much easier if you do
| want to preheat or start with hot water in the base.
| Woshiwuja wrote:
| as an italian, your method is right. water temperature doesnt
| matter, like it doesnt matter when cooking pasta
| gv83 wrote:
| Be careful about induction at max power plus a small sealed
| chamber..I do it at 4-5 and it takes like 5 mins
| chpatrick wrote:
| There's a safety valve if anything goes wrong, but it never
| even went off so far.
| BelleOfTheBall wrote:
| > Also, what beans and roast profile? Espresso? Crema? Filter?
|
| For what it's worth, and I know I'm playing right into the
| funny part here, every time I talked to people who deal with
| coffee for a living - roasters, baristas, growers, coffee shop
| owners - they all said the same thing for this - espresso. They
| said filter is wasted here as it's intended for a different
| method entirely, while crema wasn't ever mentioned.
| smcl wrote:
| We have the same process but I add a bit more coffee so that
| there's a little "mound" in the middle, heat it low&slow and
| after the coffee starts to come out I'll sometimes pour my cup
| when it's about 3/4 done[0]. But you're right everyone has
| their own little process, I guess that's the beauty of having
| something a bit more flexible than "push button, receive
| nespresso"
|
| [0] - The "tails" (to borrow distilling terminology) can be a
| little bit watery - if you do this and put it back on the hob
| for a few minutes you'll see that the rest of the coffee is
| noticeably more translucent.
| jarvist wrote:
| A key quality of life improvement for me was to realise that
| you can eject the grounds from the filter funnel by putting the
| tube to your lips and blowing gently, ejecting the coffee puck
| into the food waste / compost bin. The Moka pot then becomes an
| almost zero-cleanup way of making coffee.
|
| You need to do this after the pot has cooled enough that the
| aluminium won't burn your lips, but soon enough that the coffee
| grounds haven't continued to swell and wedge themselves in
| place.
| smcl wrote:
| Just make sure you're emptying it into a bin that doesn't
| smell too badly :D
| trumbitta2 wrote:
| I just knock twice on the side while keeping it face down,
| and it drops right into the bin even if it's still hot.
| mplanchard wrote:
| I do this too! I press my grinds down a bit with my fingers
| before brewing, and then at the end I get a nice puck out.
| dguest wrote:
| I put the tube under a weak stream of water from the sink, so
| the water pressure blows them out. Then I send the grounds
| down the drain.
| jfim wrote:
| This may cause your drains to clog though. Compost or trash
| can is better from that perspective.
| cassepipe wrote:
| Another common myth among moka machine coffe drinker is
| that ground coffee is somehow "good" for your drains. I
| believed it naively until my landlord came and unclogged
| a ground coffee-filled drain.
| dguest wrote:
| I've seen that happen, but every time there was some
| other obstruction in addition to the coffee: popsicle
| sticks, silverware, pencils, etc. Usually something too
| long to make it around the trap. Those things will
| eventually glob up with hair or worse and clog the drain
| anyway.
|
| In my experience if you wash grounds down the drain with
| plenty of water there's never any problem.
| everybodyknows wrote:
| > blowing gently, ejecting the coffee puck
|
| This works similarly well with the Flair brand espresso maker
| filter cup -- though suggested nowhere in Flair's written or
| video instructions. Too undignified an act I suppose for
| prospective customers to imagine themselves performing every
| morning in future.
| jonnycomputer wrote:
| Should try that. You definitely don't want to tap it (denting
| it will lead to a bad seal).
|
| Every morning I walk out and fling the grounds into the front
| yard.
| christkv wrote:
| I just drop it directly in the compost pile.
| pdpi wrote:
| > There should only be one way, and everyone is sure that their
| way is the correct one
|
| I'm 100% sure the way I do it is correct, and that this is the
| only correct way to do it: put water in the bottom, coffee
| grounds in the filter, close the whole thing, put it on the
| stove top, wait for it to brew.
|
| The rest is details, even if we can obviously optimise the shit
| out of those details.
| eigenket wrote:
| More interestingly the optimum for the rest of the details is
| probably quite different from person to person. It's unlikely
| we like exactly the same coffee so even if we optimise very
| aggressively we'll probably end up at different optima.
| nunez wrote:
| Water matters. Grind size matters. Compression matters if you
| want more bitterness. Temperature matters. But yeah, that's
| pretty much the method, lol.
| ascagnel_ wrote:
| Also, the timing of the temperature: I've heard of good
| results if you start heating the water before assembling
| the unit, so you don't apply as much direct pressure to the
| grinds.
| thedanbob wrote:
| When I first started brewing French press, a (somewhat coffee
| snobbish) friend of mine told me that he brews his French
| press for exactly 4 minutes and 10 seconds. He insisted the
| extra 10 seconds are very important.
|
| I just go with 4 minutes.
| selectodude wrote:
| Patience is a virtue.
| sgc wrote:
| Coffee snob + French press is a humorous mix to me. I don't
| mind using one from time to time, but the poor filtration
| and rapidly dropping brew temperature are obvious
| drawbacks, and it is certainly not a fine coffee
| experience.
| devnullbrain wrote:
| He must also plunge and pour at a consistent rate, since
| the water is still in contact with the grounds?
| the__alchemist wrote:
| This was my take on the description you're replying to as
| well. I couldn't help but think "There should only be one way
| to pour water into a glass...Some people keep the glass level
| while pouring, some tilt at a slight angle; some use a
| faucet, others a pitcher..." etc.
|
| Another comparison: the details of every other coffee brewing
| device.
| eschneider wrote:
| If you like the coffee you're getting, then it's all good. I
| mean, that's all that matters.
| derbOac wrote:
| I think what you're pointing out is often an indicator of good
| design. In terms of robustness but also the variation in
| interaction and use the design facilitates.
| jszymborski wrote:
| > Case in point: I fill water up to just touching/under the
| valve...
|
| That's precisely how I do it, and I was taught to do it this
| way by my mother as a kid, so you know at least two people who
| do it like you.
| red-iron-pine wrote:
| same here, but no mother, just Italian roommates.
|
| no higher than the valve, since it may lead to overpressure
| andrewpolidori wrote:
| I'm pretty sure that's what the instructions in the box say
| brandonmenc wrote:
| It ain't rocket science.
|
| I put water in. Sometimes I'm below the valve sometimes not.
|
| Put pre ground coffee in. Sometimes I fill it all the way.
| Sometimes I leave a little room. Whatever.
|
| Blast it with heat until it's blowing air. Donezo.
|
| I use Lavazza Crema e Gusto. It's a robusta blend so very
| forgiving because it's gonna be a little bit bitter no matter
| what. I always add some sugar so this isn't a problem.
|
| Also lol at "dialing in" a moka. Give me a break.
|
| The reason why I use a moka is because I can get a good coffee
| without fussing.
| TacticalCoder wrote:
| Yeah we all have our ways. To me it makes coffee that is too
| strong (even though I kinda obsess over how I use my moka pot).
| And I'm lazy, so although I'm a huge coffee drinker and
| although I appreciate good coffee, I don't bother anymore...
|
| I bought a full automated coffee machine. I pour grain in it
| and coffee comes out. It's way better than Nespresso capsules
| or "Senseo" etc.
|
| Pro tip for for the rich _and_ lazy people who want good
| coffee: just buy a JURA full auto coffee machine (it 's a brand
| from Switzerland) and call it a day. They're pricey but they do
| the job very well.
| paulcole wrote:
| > There should only be one way
|
| Why exactly?
| dougSF70 wrote:
| mittermayr, are you my long lost twin?
| js2 wrote:
| My technique is to use an Aeropress. :-) Faster, easier to
| clean, more variables available to control.
|
| Our Bialetti stainless Moka pot hasn't been used in years.
|
| BTW, Serious Eats thinks there's no one perfect recipe:
|
| https://www.seriouseats.com/best-moka-pots-7570691#toc-what-...
| eweise wrote:
| From what I've seen in my time in Italy, Italians pour water
| in, add pre ground beans and heat on the stove. Never seen them
| worry about the details.
| syslog wrote:
| Exactly my thoughts. The Bialetti wouldn't have been the
| success it is if you had to make a science out of it.
| jjice wrote:
| I was always ad hoc with my Moka pot. Just up to the valve with
| water and fill the basket with grounds. If I'm using a Moka
| pot, I'm okay with a range of strong flavor. Since getting an
| espresso machine, I don't use it very much anymore. These days,
| I'm mostly using a Technivorm Moccamaster in the morning and a
| Gaggia Classic Pro for espresso drinks. A v60 is a love of mine
| as well when I get some new, fresh beans.
| asimovfan wrote:
| exactly like you apparently.
|
| i have the stainless steel one and dont like that theres teflon
| in it.
| md_ wrote:
| Looking forward to someone submitting the vacuum pot/siphon
| coffee maker. ;)
| _giorgio_ wrote:
| _Don 't forget to wash the Moka._
|
| Coffee leaves oily residues that gives the coffee an acid taste.
|
| "For daily upkeep, simply rinse the Moka pot under running hot
| water."
|
| https://www.bialetti.com/it_en/inspiration/post/how-to-clean...
| globular-toast wrote:
| If it's oily then you'll need detergent too stop the build up.
| I made the mistake initially of treating my pot like a tea pot
| which is never cleaned. A clean with detergent every time you
| clean your grinder (every 1-2 bags of coffee) is probably
| enough.
| n4r9 wrote:
| I've read to never use detergent on a moka pot. But I've
| never tried it to find out! I find that simply using my
| fingers to brush it clean under warm water after each use
| seems to work just fine.
| smcl wrote:
| Yeah I just wash it with hot water. If I'm using it in the
| afternoon having made a morning coffee a few hours before,
| I'll just use my fingers. In the evening I'll clean it a
| bit more carefully, with a sponge or whatever I have.
|
| Once I was curious if I was using my moka pot "wrong" so I
| checked some videos on YouTube and some of the people had
| _immaculate_ Mokas. Like mine are clean, but these were
| near mirror-finish polished even though they 'd been used.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| Since most Moka appear to be made of aluminum, you would
| not want to put in a dishwasher (too caustic). But dish
| soap of the normal variety should not be a problem?
| n4r9 wrote:
| I don't think it's about damaging the metal, but how it
| affects the taste of subsequent brews.
| secretsatan wrote:
| I put a disassembled one in the dishwasher once, there's
| actually a bit of lubricant on the threads that a
| dishwasher will clean away and it's not the same again
| red-iron-pine wrote:
| can vouch for this, my small Moka Pot was never the same
| after my mother-in-law put it through the wash
| digitalsushi wrote:
| Perhaps you've been advised to never wash the pot out of an
| abundance of caution that you might neglect to rinse it.
| DLion wrote:
| In Italy washing the coffee pot with detergent is considered
| a sin. The "oily" that you describe gives a better taste, and
| it's something that every "nonna"(grandmother) teaches you,
| if you want to clean your coffee pot just put it under hot
| water and brush it with your fingers, that's it.
|
| Source: I'm from the south of Italy, and I have Nonnas :D
| worstestes wrote:
| Too many sins derived from Italy to keep up with
| red-iron-pine wrote:
| Pasta Water
| gattilorenz wrote:
| I'm Italian as well, and Italy's taste for coffee is... at
| least questionable. Many nonnas drink coffee made with
| beans roasted to a char, adding a generous amount of sugar
| to make it palatable. See also the similar "espresso
| culture" [1, in Italian].
|
| I've seen moka pots where the upper chamber is black with
| oily residue accumulated in years of not cleaning it to
| avoid this "sin". The resulting coffee is sour and bitter
| and generally disgusting (but again, that's what we are
| often drinking normally).
|
| Part of the idea of not cleaning it is connected to the
| material (aluminum), which makes a protective layer of
| oxide which could be damaged by scrubbing; apart from the
| fact that using regular dish soap is not the same as
| scrubbing, the oxide will reform, you would need to eat a
| moka every 3/4 year for aluminum absorbtion to be a
| problem, and the whole point falls apart when using a steel
| moka pot.
|
| I recommend trying out yourself in a double-blind test
| instead of trusting "received ideas": does the coffee after
| cleaning it taste better? worse? same?
|
| [1] https://www.gamberorosso.it/notizie/caffe-bar-
| inchiesta/
| jszymborski wrote:
| > Italy's taste for coffee is... at least questionable.
|
| I don't know how one can question taste... it's taste
| after all! It's subjective.
|
| What I'm hearing is that you don't like bitter espresso
| with sugar. This is to my taste, and yet, I'm not
| questioning yours :)
| gattilorenz wrote:
| I agree! My point being that if taste is subjective,
| defining something taste-related as "wrong" (washing the
| moka, putting pineapple on pizza, etc.) is also silly.
|
| Do as you please, eat whatever you will, if it diverges
| from tradition or received knowledge and you're happy
| about it go ahead and enjoy!
| jszymborski wrote:
| Ah, totally agree, perhaps I misread your comment. I'm
| not much for prescriptive views on food and my Italian
| family is full of 'em ;)
| nunez wrote:
| I recommend a bottle cleaning tablet. Removes oil and residue
| without leaving any perfumes from detergents behind.
| code-blooded wrote:
| Moka pot is such a wonderful little invention! If you haven't
| tried it yet, I highly recommend giving it a shot (pun intended).
|
| It produces great tasting espresso (the flavor is just a little
| different that from an espresso machine) and it's quick to clean.
| It's much cheaper and practical for home use and I can't
| comprehend why an "average" coffee drinker would need anything
| else (except perhaps AeroPress, which is equally great). Espresso
| machines have their place, but I see them as a good solution
| coffee aficionados or when you brew a lot of coffee.
| herbst wrote:
| To be a little pedantic, espresso and moka are a different
| roasts and need different grinding.
|
| Tho results are kinda similar, and in my opinion Moka is easier
| to get right (not to bitter).
| z3dd wrote:
| It's closer to cezve/ibrik than to espresso in a sense that it
| cooks coffee at 100 degrees whereas the standard temperature
| for espresso is around 93, which results in more finer flavours
| in the coffee comparing to the basically burnt one.
| globular-toast wrote:
| I own a Moka pot. It's my favourite for campsite coffee. It works
| best with Illy Moka ground coffee. Doesn't work at all with
| espresso grind.
|
| I don't particularly like the coffee that comes from it. But then
| I don't really like espresso either. I prefer filter coffee. But
| for camping it's by the most convenient option. The Aeropress
| comes close, but still requires pouring between vessels etc.
|
| The trouble is, though, I bought my Moka pot years ago and I
| don't expect I'll ever buy another. I might replace the rubber
| gasket, but that's it. Unlike pods or filter etc there's no
| consumable parts which is wonderful but in this day convenience
| via consumption is what people want. And it's a win-win for that
| businesses selling consumables.
| culebron21 wrote:
| Same story earlier:
|
| [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18627745
|
| [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24122182
|
| [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29347665
| dabeeeenster wrote:
| The second best thing about the Moka pot (after the coffee) is
| that the inventor was buried in a large one
| https://qz.com/618734/italys-coffee-pot-king-was-buried-in-t...
| shafyy wrote:
| This is amazing. Do you think they put his ashes in in the
| middle part where the coffee goes?
| kgabis wrote:
| I'm afraid to ask whether he was brewed after the ceremony.
| nunez wrote:
| This is king shit right here.
| paldepind2 wrote:
| It was the inventor's son, and not the inventor himself who was
| buried in a large moka pot. It's written in the article.
| toyg wrote:
| Not even that - it was the son of the first _seller_ of the
| pot. His father bought the invention from another guy, and he
| made it popular.
|
| _> Luigi di Ponti designed the appliance in 1933 and sold
| the patent to Renato's father Alfonso Bialetti, an aluminum
| vendor._
| TomK32 wrote:
| I highly recommend This Old Tony making his pot. Entertaining as
| well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMrlyEreba8
| Erratic6576 wrote:
| Is hot aluminium safe for drinking water?
| culebron21 wrote:
| Yes. Aluminum when cast and exposed to air immediately covers
| with thin and hard layer of aluminum oxide, which is inert and
| doesn't dissolve into water. No danger.
| casualrandomcom wrote:
| Italian television brought coffee to the lab, and the results
| where not reassuring (from minute 18 onward, only Italian, I
| am sorry)
|
| https://www.rai.it/programmi/report/inchieste/Un-
| espresso-a-...
|
| aluminum was at around 1/6 of the EU recommended maximum safe
| concentration. But you could cut this in half using the
| stainless steel moka. Apparently about half of the aluminum
| came from the coffee powder itself and half from the moka.
|
| A lot of metals from the coffee itself, apparently because of
| fertilizers and insecticides.
|
| Anyway the moka itself released around 0.3 mg per liter of
| aluminum
| gattilorenz wrote:
| Worth noting that the TV show is somewhat known for
| unreliable/biased reporting.
|
| The amount of aluminum released by the moka is tiny, and as
| the EU guidelines say ( https://health.ec.europa.eu/system/
| files/2018-03/scheer_o_00... ) "cooking in aluminium
| containers or preserving food in aluminium-containing cans
| or pots often results in statistically significant, but
| _not biologically important_ , increases in the aluminium
| content of some foods". [emphasis mine]
|
| Considering the amounts we're talking about (of aluminum
| released, and of coffee from a moka pot), it's
| fundamentally a non-problem.
| gattilorenz wrote:
| I was curious so I searched for extra context: from the
| same document, the mean diet-related intake quantities
| for aluminum in norway are 0.29 mg/kg bodyweight/week;
| this means that if you are 70 Kg, you would normally
| ingest about 20mg of aluminum a week.
|
| Assuming you drink a whole liter of "aluminum moka coffe"
| a week, you get 0.81mg extra aluminum in your diet. A
| liter is about 16 "italian cups". You would get a heart
| attack before noticing symptomps of aluminum
| intoxications...
| marcus0x62 wrote:
| This Old Tony made one on his YouTube channel several years ago:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMrlyEreba8. It's worth a watch
| if you are into machining and/or welding.
| victor9000 wrote:
| My favorite part is how the plastic handle sits an inch from the
| base yet completely melts over heat, simply brilliant.
| herbst wrote:
| My oldest pot is well over 10 years old and was in multiple
| open fires. It's magic plastic
| d--b wrote:
| The main issue is that it's actually fairly difficult to brew a
| good coffee with a Moka machine. If the stove is too hot, all the
| water will go through the coffee and then the whole thing will
| boil and spurt, and the coffee will be terrible. If the stove is
| too low, not all the water will go up and you'll end up with not
| much coffee. And you have to stay close to be sure to not screw
| it up, which is annoying cause it takes a few minutes to boil.
|
| It's also annoying to clean, and you need to cool it down before
| making a second pot. If you cool it down too fast, you'll create
| a vacuum, and you won't be able to unscrew the thing.
|
| I am not sure it works on induction stoves, and on gas stoves,
| you often have to add a little steel thing to hold the pot in
| place.
|
| It was a smart and cute little device when it was invented, but
| let's be honest, it's highly inconvenient, and it's not making a
| particularly good coffee either.
|
| To me, it's not the coffee snubs that should be shamed, it's the
| people holding on to a less-than-ideal device, just for the sake
| of nostalgia.
| bondarchuk wrote:
| Some of the best coffee I've ever had was from my moka pot. Now
| this is only 1 in a 100, but it's those few lucky brews that
| keep you coming back.
| throwaway290 wrote:
| It doesn't work on induction stoves but induction stove
| converters are sold...
| imzadi wrote:
| Bialette has a stainless steel version that does work on
| induction without the plate
| gpderetta wrote:
| > It was a smart and cute little device when it was invented,
| but let's be honest, it's highly inconvenient,
|
| It is lower maintenance than an espresso machine and cheaper to
| replace. Good if you just want an espresso-sized caffeine fix.
|
| > and it's not making a particularly good coffee either.
|
| On that I can agree :), but it is passable.
| tylershuster wrote:
| It's our camping coffee maker, and it's perfect for that. Tried
| to use it otherwise and you're right, there are much better
| devices these days.
| z3dd wrote:
| If you want an upgrade check 9barista. Same form-factor as
| bialetti but it makes an actual espresso with right
| temperature and pressure. And it even comes with an adapter
| plate for gas burner.
| CoffeeOnWrite wrote:
| I also use a moka only when camping (French press and
| espresso machine at home).
|
| Why it's great for camping: 1. Indestructible 2. Cheaply
| found at a garage sale (no worries if it gets lost in a
| pile of camping gear) 3. Takes up less volume than a French
| press 4. When camping, everything tastes better. Even "ok"
| coffee is a luxury
|
| All this to say: a $500 device is a tough sell for camping
| paxys wrote:
| All this effort and then you get coffee that tastes like ash.
| No thanks.
| oldandboring wrote:
| Came to say this.
| swalling wrote:
| The biggest knock against the Moka is that a simple pour over
| filter is far easier to use, clean, and maintain while also
| making dramatically better coffee.
|
| When it comes to both style and function, it's hard to beat a
| Chemex. Ubiquitous enough you can buy it in Whole Foods, and so
| well designed it's in the permanent collection at MoMA. If $50
| is too pricey or you don't want to use glass, you can get a
| Melitta-style drip cone for less than $10.
| jeffrallen wrote:
| I just got a fancy Delonghi automatic and I miss my Moka still.
| Sigh.
| zecg wrote:
| It's great, but if you want to do it right with most pots you
| should use pre-heated water at almost 90degC, since prolonged
| heating makes the rubber gasket smell and it marks the coffee.
| secretsatan wrote:
| One thing I heard about the problems with the company not
| mentioned in the article, the moka pots are very durable, once
| you buy one, you don't really have to replace it.
| downut wrote:
| I used one for decades until I got a high end gas stove. A few
| months of perching it on the edge and I still cooked the handle.
| So I got another Italian gem, a Rancilio Silvia. Now people talk
| about the ritual of the Moka pot but with the Rancilio there's
| another attraction for the engineer/mechanical tinker types: the
| Rancilio is built to be maintainable and so once a year (after
| 15) I end up taking it apart and replacing something. It turns
| out a lot of people do this.
| theGnuMe wrote:
| I got a chemex for xmas and I got to say it is awful.. can't make
| a decent cup with it for the life of me. Had no problems with a
| regular pour over into a pot.
| nunez wrote:
| What problems are you having? Technique shouldn't be too
| different than doing pour over, except for a coarser grind.
| theGnuMe wrote:
| Maybe that's the problem, I like a richer finer grind...
| larrywright wrote:
| Chemex needs a much coarser grind. I'd advise trying it - I
| have a half dozen methods of making coffee and the Chemex
| is consistently one of the best.
| nunez wrote:
| Yup. You need a sea salt-like grind for Chemex because of
| how thick the filter is.
| ubermonkey wrote:
| I'd check out James Hoffmann's YouTube channel -- he's the
| Alton Brown of coffee, which is a reference I hope you get.
|
| I was a Chemex user for years before I went to espresso.
| You can get GREAT coffee out of a pour-over rig, but there
| are tricks to it.
| theGnuMe wrote:
| Thanks, I watched it. I like strong coffee.. I feel like
| the chemex overextracts and is bitter and overly clean. I
| am able to make a strong pot of coffee with a pour over
| no issues and a regular paper filter.
|
| But I'll try his technique tomorrow. I probably have my
| water volume measure wrong.
| nunez wrote:
| If you want stronger coffee, use a lower water-to-coffee
| ratio. For example, the standard ratio is 16:1 water to
| coffee, i.e. ~300g water to 18.5g coffee. To make it
| stronger, add an extra gram. Grind size doesn't affect
| strength.
| nunez wrote:
| I'm Dominican-American. The Dominican Republic LOVES these
| things. Incredibly cheap, very fast and brews super strong due to
| the percolation effect. Coffee via moka pot was my first exposure
| to coffee, and I still make coffee this way occasionally. It has
| a very unique "espresso but also not" flavor that tastes really
| great with certain types of beans.
| FergusArgyll wrote:
| I thought I was the only person in the world that still uses
| this...
| bdsa wrote:
| I like to put an Aeropress filter between the coffee and the
| integrated metal filter above, I've found it makes the coffee
| much smoother.
| Gud wrote:
| I love my moka pot and I take it with me everywhere I go.
|
| I am by no means a coffee expert, but my 2 cents:
|
| A slow boil seems to work wonders on cheap coffee
| keiferski wrote:
| Staying at an AirBnb, I once had a Moka Pot explode, spraying
| boiling coffee across the room. Luckily, I was shielded by my
| laptop. That was a funny conversation to have with the host.
|
| I'm not sure what exactly caused it, probably an issue with the
| pressure...but I've stuck to my trusty French Press ever since.
| WithinReason wrote:
| There is a valve that should prevent this from happening, it's
| that hexagonal thing on the side you can see in the picture.
| keiferski wrote:
| Yeah I'm sure it's a rare occurrence, but it just turned me
| off from using Moka pots in favor of a Turkish coffee cezve
| or French press, neither of which can explode.
| red-iron-pine wrote:
| I've cracked a couple of french presses, though. Thin glass
| + cold + hot and back makes it brittle.
|
| The solution was to not use metal spoons for stirring --
| wooden or plastic chop sticks work pretty well -- but it's
| frustrating. By comparison the drip coffee machine or the
| moke pot haven't ever had a failure.
| keiferski wrote:
| I'm sure it's a crime in some countries, but I use a
| single wooden chopstick for stirring. It's the right size
| + doesn't damage the glass.
| Marsymars wrote:
| Wooden chopsticks are fantastic for stirring! I have a
| double-walled stainless steel French Press and still use
| a chopstick for stirring.
| adolph wrote:
| Change my mind: Moka pots are no different than Nespresso but
| exchange water waste for some fractions of a gram of aluminum.
| exchemist wrote:
| I was quite annoyed when I dropped my 13yo one and broke the
| handle. Then I discovered they sell replacement handles! 5
| minutes with a hammer and punch later and it should be good for
| another 13 years (or till I next drop it)
| eschneider wrote:
| Replacement seals and "performance" filters, as well. There's
| quite an aftermarket on Moka parts.
| agys wrote:
| It's time to re-share Ubi de Feo's "Moka Coffee 101".
|
| Ubi is an obsessive compulsive hacker, engineer and coffee lover
| (among many other things).
|
| Check his (reasonable) opinion on cleaning the moka!
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXCa5J7LcO0
| l3x wrote:
| I love that the guy who invented it had his ashes put into one
| when he was cremated
|
| https://qz.com/618734/italys-coffee-pot-king-was-buried-in-t...
| mcc1ane wrote:
| (2018)
| hbarka wrote:
| The writer did not credit Luigi di Ponti.
|
| https://www.seriouseats.com/moka-pot-history-coffee-maker-it...
|
| "Bialetti didn't invent the Moka. He just made it famous. A man
| named Luigi di Ponti designed the appliance in 1933 and sold the
| patent to Renato's father Alfonso Bialetti, an aluminum vendor."
| srid wrote:
| I drink 3-4 cups using an espresso machine at home, but whenever
| I travel I find that my 3-cup moka pot makes almost as good
| tasting coffee consistently. Some tips:
|
| - use a quality hand grinder; I have comandante:
| https://twitter.com/sridca/status/1743941231112273969
|
| - put the Aeropress paper filter in the moka filter so you don't
| get grinds in your coffee.
|
| - get freshly roasted beans.
| red-iron-pine wrote:
| seconding the paper filter. it perfectly fits my 3-cup pot.
|
| it slows down the process a little, I found, which means the
| pot gets hotter and burns a little. I found that pouring out
| the coffee ASAP as it comes out -- like, let it run for a few
| seconds, pour, fill again, repeat until finished -- gets a
| better product.
|
| but you don't get any particulate, and the flavor is much
| smoother. not sure if it's raising the pressure significantly
| enough to impact extraction, but wouldn't be surprised if it
| can bump it up +0.5 BAR or more.
| rindalir wrote:
| My variation is that i heat the chamber until the water boils,
| alone. Then turn off the heat, plop in the portafilter, screw on
| the top, and turn the heat on low and watch it until the coffee
| coming out turns from brown to clear-ish and starts
| "strombolating". Then put the bottom chamber under cold water to
| stop the process.
| red-iron-pine wrote:
| been seeing Moka Pots everywhere lately. lots of vids popping on
| Tik or YT. New marketing campaign?
|
| That said, I've got 3 Moka Pots, and am a fan. Have taken the
| smaller ones camping and used on a fire, they're pretty small,
| robust, and travel well.
|
| I use a modified James Hoffman approach with a cut down Aeropress
| filter inside the Moka Pot. Medium-fine grind, usually a mix of
| whatever is on sale -- "the house blend", and hot water.
| buescher wrote:
| I noticed Aldi here in the US carried an inexpensive knockoff
| late in their specials aisle last year.
| ravenstine wrote:
| A few weeks ago, I was talking to my parents about coffee
| percolators, which is what the Moka pot seems to be. My mom and
| dad have a bunch from the 1950s, which they sometimes use.
|
| The cool thing about these percolators is they have a little
| glass dome that lets you see the percolation in action.
|
| If you're unfamiliar, you can see what that looks like in this
| old Maxwell House commercial:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWEYjEQ75ZM
|
| The reason I bring this up is that I asked my parents why
| percolators fell out of favor, and apparently drip coffee makers
| became popular because they are easier to clean and don't
| recirculate the liquid and, therefore, won't burn the coffee like
| a percolator might. I find this interesting because I then asked
| them whether their percolated coffee ever tasted bad or burnt,
| and they said no - and now Moka pots have become trendy.
|
| One generation's discarded tech becomes a new generation's
| hipster product. (no insult intended!)
|
| I actually don't like coffee, but I think it'd be cool if retro
| percolators could make a comeback.
| teachrdan wrote:
| A criticism I've heard is that percolated coffee tastes bad
| _compared to coffee brewed with modern techniques_ , like drip
| coffee, French press, etc. I wonder if that's not something the
| older generation raised on it -- including my parents -- is
| conscious of, because there didn't used to be any other
| options.
|
| What I do know is that everyone from the percolator generation
| seems to have transitioned away from them despite the fact that
| those machines are indestructible. So I'm personally inclined
| to believe that, while they didn't necessarily think that
| percolators made bad coffee, they tried filter coffee (or
| whatever) once and then switched away from percolators and
| never looked back.
| epcoa wrote:
| > Moka pot seems to be.
|
| No. The Moka pot is a water reservoir under a coffee filter
| basket atop which is screwed a collecting pot. (A home drip
| coffee maker also "percolates" so it isn't useful to focus on
| how the water is moved) They don't recirculate like a
| percolator and you answered the question why they fell out of
| favor.
|
| Unsurprisingly there are already percolator hipsters. You can
| make a hobby out of anything.
| ravenstine wrote:
| Ah, sorry, I looked at a diagram of the Moka bot and it
| seemed like the same thing.
| TremendousJudge wrote:
| A percolator works differently from a moka pot:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9avjD9ugXc
|
| a moka pot only has the water go through the grounds once,
| while the percolator has the coffee go through the grounds
| again and again
| mewse-hn wrote:
| Drip coffee makers are just better than the old percolators.
| Technology Connections on youtube has a video about drip coffee
| makers which is very good (he demos an original mr. coffee
| machine which has some differences vs modern machines)
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp9H0MO-qS8
|
| He also did a vid on percolators recently which I haven't
| watched but the thumbnail suggests its an extended rant about
| how they suck
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9avjD9ugXc
| jlund-molfese wrote:
| Sadly manufacturing quality has declined since manufacturing was
| moved out of Italy[0]. Or, Amazon commingled counterfeit
| inventory--impossible to know for sure unless someone buys and
| scans another one!
|
| 0. https://www.scanofthemonth.com/scans/coffee
| sloped wrote:
| I just received a Moka Pot for Christmas. After spending a few
| weeks taking notes and adjusting the grind size and amount I am
| very happy with it. I found that the 7 setting on my Induction
| stove leads to very little bitterness.
|
| I think that the Moka pot on the induction range to be a nice
| demo of induction's benefits over gas or electric(resistant)
| ranges. Extremely accurate and reproducible heating, decently
| fast, and basically no waste heat. Instant off as well without
| needing to move the pot.
| ericpauley wrote:
| How are you heating the pot on induction if it's made of
| aluminum? Do you have a steel Moka pot?
| leipert wrote:
| The company sells induction ones:
| https://www.bialetti.com/it_en/moka-induction-rossa.html
| teachrdan wrote:
| I got a Moka Pot for Christmas, too! I used this is great video
| from James Hoffman to optimize the coffee I made with it. (for
| deliciousness)
|
| In addition to the work you've done identifying the ideal grind
| size, he explains adding boiling water to the reservoir and
| other tips to avoid bitterness in the final product.
|
| https://youtu.be/BfDLoIvb0w4?si=DfuPURs5cJ5z-Adg
| fatfox wrote:
| If you buy an off-brand Moka pot, make sure you can change the
| rubber seal. That's the only part that deteriorates over time and
| should be regularly replaced.
| litoE wrote:
| I bought my Moka pot in October of 1971 for $4.99, new. It has
| been in continuous use since then, with the only maintenance
| being the replacement of the rubber gasket. Try that with your
| Nespresso.
| notorandit wrote:
| I won't ever give my moka up. A lot of value for the bucks I
| spent. Long life span, almost zero maintenance hassles and costs.
| And good coffee too.
|
| P.S. I am southern Italian.
| p4bl0 wrote:
| If you are into coffee and/or moka pots, make sure not to miss
| the Moka Pot series by James Hoffmann:
| https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxz0FjZMVOl1Zot3qiJ-w...
|
| It is a series of four videos about the Moka Pot and, as is
| always the case with James Hoffmann, it's fascinating and
| interesting.
| christkv wrote:
| I think every home in Spain has at least one Moka Coffee Pot.
| dang wrote:
| Related:
|
| _The Humble Brilliance of Italy 's Moka Coffee Pot (2018)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29347665 - Nov 2021 (308
| comments)
|
| _The Humble Brilliance of Italy's Moka Coffee Pot (2018)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24122182 - Aug 2020 (19
| comments)
|
| Also:
|
| _We tested 11 moka pots and both of our favorites were from the
| same iconic brand_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37427325 - Sept 2023 (4
| comments)
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