#1: dont grind your coffee too fine! #2: dont pack the grounds down! #3: dont go past medium heat! #4: leaving it on the burner too long! #5: not cleaning your moka pot!
@@patrickallard2520 Inox makes a much better cup off coffee too. I live in Italy and most sold are aluminum. Terrible!!!! I won't even drink out of it. I have my grandparents vintage Vev Vigano and it makes a huge difference. Or I use my inox or Le Creuset french press.
It just saves time. If you think about it, it makes sense to do so , because starting out with cold water will add nothing to the flavour. You're just making yourself wait longer.
@@robhulson I have an electric kettle it really does save on boil time vs the open flame on the stove in a cold perk, you can use the electric kettle to heat up your mugs as well so the coffee doesn't immediately go cold when you pour it, its really was a game changer to my coffee game.
I never experienced a bad tasting coffee from my moka pot and i dont put hot water before it brews. I just put regular temperature water and let it boil on the stove
Your coffee is probably fine, maybe even best, sometimes if you skin the cat from the other end it's better. But in this vase you're actually more closely following the manufactures instructions instead of getting cocky
Number one advice from me.....keep the burner at low to medium. All the other tips, you can mess up on. I never pre-boil. Never cool down. Just keep the burner down. And remove after it starts steaming. Don't worry about being perfect. All this obsession with the perfect cup....I've been brewing coffee for decades. Most important tip is to enjoy.
@@loodog555 I just preheated it to try your theory, no difference. Actually it looks like it's watered down, at first I thought it was just a feeling, but it seems that preheating removes some flavor.
@@switchstatement568 No wonder I've never heard of preheating water for moka. Because indeed it sounds like extra useless step and extra appliances that just fill the kitchen space for no reason. Either way, I'm gonna try this preheating methodology tomorrow morning.
@@OG_ALviK I agree with you, I am making a coffee not a full meal so there's no need to clutter the kitchen with another pan, but I have to say it does some difference, the result for me is basically a watery coffee with less flavour, please let me know your results after you try, another opinion would be good since it seems that a lot of people would debate over it.
Hi Italian, thanks for your contribution. The two suggestions you you give are on the list of parameters are very which I discuss in my follow up video: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html I am also very much aware that I am doing this completely wrong from the Italian point of view, again, discussed in my follow up video.
Thank you for sharing, I can't stand what passes the average American acceptable standards of "coffee" i.e anything pre ground, instant, burned, old, or worst of all a combination of all; paying 3$ for 4 hour old perpetual sludge from a 30 year old bunn coffee pot found in every chain establishment because the waitress/cashier/clerk isn't paid anywhere near enough to maintain the equipment let alone brew fresh coffee on the reg so they just top it off with water occasionally so its always a burnt, cigarette, watery combination, - you know who you are. Stay coffee snobby indeed.
I've watched dozens of Bialetti Moka pots and this one is excellent. I appreciate the in-depth look at the history of the Moka pot and its inventor, too. Thank you!
Nah, the dutch way: fine ground, pack it down add some more, keep it on till it starts spitting, never clean the heat sterilises it for you. The bitterness is the good morning turkey-slap in the face im looking for.
Damn straight. It's ESPRESSO, so it's going to be bitter! I don't know what all these people are expecting from espresso coffee. If they don't like the bitterness, then they SHOULDN'T DRINK ESPRESSO!
I was literally taught by an actual Italian (not an Italian-American) from Verona-- to do it all wrong! 20 years ago, when I was living in Germany as an exchange student, Alberto moved in with me... we became great friends, one of the few roommates I still talk to today... but oh boy, did he ever steer me wrong about using the Moka pot. Even now I associate the smell of burnt coffee with that residence room in Germany...! Through trial and error and research, I realized the proper way to use the Moka pot-- exactly as you described in this video. Your mention of aluminum is quite interesting... lots of industrialists from Northern Italy around Verona where he was from... I remember he had a box full of promotional beanies from his friend's father's aluminum factory... I still have that aluminum factory beanie sitting in my closet.
Hey, glad to have another person onboard with defying the peremptory authority of Italian grandmothers! If you're interested in the aluminum aspect of the moka pot, here's a video about whether your moka pot will give you aluminum poisoning: ruclips.net/video/qV3Us0KkIMo/видео.html
@@loodog555 I will certainly check out that video, thank you! I am sure you must be aware of Adam Ragusea, who also goes quite a long ways in debunking some of the Orthodox wisdom of Italian grandmas, haha. I am not of Italian heritage at all, but I grew up in an Italian-Canadian neighborhood in Toronto called _Corso Italia._
Another good tip is to NEVER tap or bang the funnel when emptying the grounds, as it can distort the shape of the funnel and cause the pot to not seal properly. A lot of people think the sealing gasket is bad or they have a defective pressure valve when they get steam leaks, which may be the case, but it could also be the funnel is distorted.
@@loodog555 I've also just recently realized that it is better to have your coffee grounds filled about 1mm BELOW the rim of the funnel. This is because the top strainer protrudes below the gasket and can 'move' the grounds while the top is being screwed on, this can cause the grounds to get caught in the seal or the thread.
@@susan8282 the funnel where the coffee goes? Turn it upside down, make sure the long funnel thing is not hot. Blow into it and 90% of the coffee grounds will fall out.
@@creation_nono Believe me, I know what the message is from the 40 (less witty) comments before you. Unfortunately, RUclips doesn’t let you just upload a new video to replace an old one, so we’re all stuck with it. I have made improvements on my newer videos.
This is all legit information. Once I started preparing my moka pot the way it's described in this video, the difference has been night and day compared with my years of wrong brewing method.
Awesome! Glad to be a help! That’s a pretty good yelp review! For even more tips, there’s my follow up video linked above and there’s this awesome video if you search “moka pot voodoo”, he’s also got some nice tips to try out.
Hey, good question! Simply removing it will not stop the brewing. Once it starts going, even removing the heat won't stop it. As for pouring it right away, I guess you could try, but my concerns would be that you're not going to pour it out fast enough and also, you might not want all of it in your cup at once, if it's a larger capacity device. But hey, don't take my word for it. Give it a try and let me know how the results work out!
Sorry its not directly directed to you but a general remark cos i see other people do this too. To me its just inefficient. For smaller moka, pour to your cup. For bigger moka, pour into serving pot.
Mistake#4 was the one I learned most recently. When the coffee is coming out, after a while there will be a "surge" that is more pale and watery. That's the time to take it off the heat. I always used to keep it on until all the water had filtered through.
not a mistake, also not a problem, it depends on time coffee starts burning (Giving off sour flavors) 3.5 minutes after it has started brewing (got in contact with hot water), as long as that water doesn't come 3.5 minutes after the brew started there's no problem on waiting for it to finish. but if you left the grinds on the fire for a long time is possible that it has already burnt
Pale and watery means you didnt fill the Grounds pan up and flatten it.... ignore this videos "dont pack it" advice ,you have to pack it if you like strong espresso... which ,to be fair,is what a Mocha pot is for
@@Gianfranco_69 this is wrong and dangereous, mocha pot is not designed to withstand pressure as a espresso machine, that's not what mocha pot is designed for.
@@miguelarturopalomaresruiz oh....i dont 'tamp it down' like an espresso machine,just fill and flatten it...they are fool proof,they never explode (they have a valve) unless you make a rookie error and put grounds in the bottom and coffee in the top...which i have seen someone do
amazing video, thank you! should you take the Moka pot off the stove AS SOON as you seen the bubbling begin or after its about half full? there should be enough vapor pressure once its start bubbling to push all the water through correct? thank you again
Hey thanks for the praise! Great question! What matters is the *color* of the coffee produced; don’t get hung up on what quantity of coffee made. Once you’re getting pale bubbly stuff, you’ve run out of accessible water and are now brewing with superheated steam (very bad for flavor!). I explain the physics of this here: ruclips.net/video/2jLdGi7kjzk/видео.html
this and your advice about sour coffee in comments really helped me out. this mornings brew is the best this far, and i honestly cant wait for tomorrows brew... cheers 🌴☕
@@zorawarsingh9373 yes, but i honestly feel like everyone just has to experiment and see what works best for their moka, their coffee grounds, their stovetop etc...and don't get too frustrated! i'm finally happy with my brew in the morning starting with room temperature water, grinding beans to a little coarser than fine, heat at medium. simple. i don't run my moka under cold water like in some videos. starting with boiling water kept giving me sour coffee. i stopped stressing, and started to just do what felt right, and yay delicious, rich moka pot brew!
I and all my Italian ancestors have NEVER filled a Moka pot with boiled water nor have they ever removed it from the hob half way to run it under cold water. We have never had horrible tasting coffee. The only thing that is worth doing here is cleaning your Moka pot properly including under the filter plate.
Haha, someone told me that I would be pissing off a lot of Italians! If you watch my follow up video, I do mention that my advice is contrary to “authentic Italian” method: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
I used to start with cold water, but a few days ago I read that it should be hot, so I tried freshly boiled water, and the result was much better, smoother and tastier. I also tried grinding less fine, and that also improved the result. And yes, taking it off the stove when frothing helped too. So I agree with your recommendations, wish I’d discovered this years ago. Tomorrow I receive a new burr hand grinder, having always used a blade coffee mill. Apparently the burr grinder will make a big difference, as the grounds will be a more uniform size.
Indeed: ruclips.net/video/dgM-_nPPKgw/видео.html& burr grinders are necessity! I'm told you get much better quality for your dollar with a manual grinder, but I'm laaazy. You need that morning coffee to have the energy to operate a manual grinder, but you need ground coffee to get that morning coffee soooo,,,
@@loodog555 I’ve ordered a manual grinder, but I cannot fault your logic. Looks like I’ll need an ekectric grinder too so I can wake up enough to use the manual one. Oh shoot.
I have drifted more in a direction of turning down the heat to low once coffee starts sputtering. This does result in a more oozy and smoother coffee flow as you suggest. Anything to reduce the brewing temperature is a good thing!
@@loodog555 yes thats how i do it. i have a glass electric stove, so i turn it off as soon as coffee starts coming out, and the residual heat of the coil is just enough to finish the brew. overall, everyone has to experiment for themselves until they find the right procedure.
Just 1 big mistake: it is designed to make strong coffee. In Europe we call "american coffee" something like a coffee with double the water. Coffee should be bitter, if it is real coffee. Otherwise drink tea or cocoa.
I know that Yemen was crucial in the early days of coffee culture (and of course the moka pot was named after it) but I was under the impression that the first coffee was discovered in Ethiopia.
Heating the coffee grounds makes it taste burnt/stale/bad . If you start with cold water, you burn your grounds even before the water can go through it, resulting in bitter, burnt aftertaste. Starting with hot water is better because you don't have to heat the water up to temperature so your grounds arent sitting in a hot furnace without any liquid.
From what i've heard, starting with cold water can cause the coffee to burn and come out bitter as it's over the open flame longer. Starting with hot water means less time over the flame.
Honestly, I haven't found preheating the water makes much a difference compared to more important tweaks like using an AeroPress filter, coarser grind, or removing from the heat at the right time, but probably you should preheat because the physics models show you'll extract at too low a temperature otherwise: ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html
My 2 biggest problems with them is everyone tells you how much water to use, but no one ever mentions the amount of coffee to use, and second, it just takes way too long to get the coffee volcano going, even when you start with boiling water, like unreasonably long. You can brew 2-3 coffees in the same amount of time with literally any other brewing method.
I've found moka pot is as fast as any brewing method except AeroPress and certain much faster than a French Press, especially using the 8-minute James Hoffman technique: ruclips.net/video/13GGreDHowQ/видео.html
Between 1g of coffe per 16 mL of water (stronger) - 1g of coffee per 24 mL of water (lighter). That's the values you could use as base but there are no rules, give a try and see how it pleases you.
I brewed my first cup today.. from start of heating to finish, it took 3 minutes in a 2cup Pot. And it was very cheap. My electric kettle takes longer than that just to boil water.. and another 10 minutes to brew tea…. ….such that I’m thinking of getting a separate Moka Pot just for tea.. If you know a faster way to make espresso or tea, other than instant, teabags or microwave.. I’m all ears.
This is non-sense. No Italian Grandmother does any of this. Just turn off the heat when it starts gurgling. To clean it, just rinse it out with water and wipe the polished surfaces and the gasket with a sponge. Do not use soap. Period. Do not clean out the reservoir. Reverse the gasket at about five years. The most important thing is to not put it together wet. let it air dry completely. If you put it together wet you will get mold in the reservoir and this is what creates bad flavors. One more thing. The color of the roast you, and what kind of beans the coffee is made from has more to do with the flavor than anything else. You have to experiment a bit to find out what you like, and it also depends on what your are going to do with the coffee: drink straight, make an Americano, or a milk drink.
Hey, thanks for the comment! If there's any constant in the universe, it's Italians coming to this channel and telling me that "how grandma did it 80 years ago is the only correct way" 😁. As I posted in my follow-up video, I don't care so much whether my method is the "authentic Italian" way so much as whether it produces good flavor coffee: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html If your goal is to reproduce the results you get from that method, sure, keep doing it exactly the same for the rest of your life, but there have been fabulous advances in the science of coffee since those days if you have an interest in reducing the bitterness and astringency that moka pots have become known for. For example, there are physics papers out there that definitely show preheating your moka pot water helps with extraction, even though your Italian grandmother would never do this: ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html On the topic of cleaning and drying, I endorse your advice on letting things dry completely to prevent mold, but your advice of "don't clean the bottom chamber" seems contradicted by your advice to clean off all the surfaces so I'm a bit confused. With regard to your comment that beans matter more, my latest video addresses this fact: that raw ingredients - water and coffee - matter more than the brewing process: ruclips.net/video/5khcZkEHG0Q/видео.html& Good luck!
@@loodog555 You don't clean out the bottom chamber because that surface is porous and not polished like the other surfaces. Some of the coffee oils get down there and season the surface just like a cast iron frying pan gets seasoned by fat oils. If you clean out the reservoir with soap you will remove the seasoning. Do your scientific papers explain all that? Your comment about "over-extraction" is misplaced. Extraction is a continuum and how much extraction you do depends on what flavor you want. With the Moka pot you can end the extraction anytime you want- prematurely, or let all the steam through the grounds-it is a matter of choice and taste, not "science".
@@tedolphbundler724 Hey, thanks for your reply. Not just the bottom, but indeed all the aluminum surfaces are porous, which I agree is an important thing to consider and it's the main reason you never want to put your moka pot in the dishwasher. By "overextraction", what I mean is "more than 22%", which sensory panels have shown is where the bitter and astringent (drying) flavors start to come out, whereas sweetness generally requires you to get to at least 18%: sca.coffee/sca-news/25/issue-13/towards-a-new-brewing-chart So again, we're making assumptions about people liking sweet flavors and disliking bitter flavors. The specific balance of those flavors that you've gotten used to might be different than what this process is designed to maximize. Again, that's fine. There's no rule that says "You're not allowed to prefer the flavor of 24% extracted coffee"; it's just not what general brewing advice in third wave coffee is geared to produce. So, in that context, my tips are oriented towards reducing overextracting and minimizing bitter while maximizing flavor. Good luck!
@@loodog555 So, who decided that 22% is some magic number? Not Italian grandmother's. If you are going to make an Americano with 1/3 coffee, 1/3 water and 1/3 milk you need the coffee to have some "punch". Extract away! If you are going to drink it straight in a demitas cup that is a different story. The point is, there is no "science" here at all.
I do everything wrong and I like my results. I use cold distilled water, electric plate on high, I use fine ground espresso roast coffee, and I pack the coffee in and slightly mound over the puck. This makes an extremely strong cup of coffee and I don't find it too bitter. I don't use sugar, only cold heavy whipped cream. I live at over 1 mile high so the water never reaches 212°F so it doesn't over heat the coffee. Anyway, that's how I do it.
Yeah, the more I research into Moka pot, there larger the number of expert opinions I find saying different things. I posted a link above to a video that completely contradicts much of my advice. At the end of the day, these are just ideas to play with and should come down to what *your* experimentation yields with your taste preferences. Don't take my word as gospel, for sure!
Plot twist: I like sugar in my coffee so I add it to the Bialletti with the ground coffee and brew it in. I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but I seem to need less sugar when I brew it in.
Interesting! My prior roommate was Dominican and told me DR style was to put some sweetened condensed milk in the bottom chamber instead of water.... well, I just wound up clogging the connecting tube! Would NOT recommend. Solution to your query: do a blinded trial - make it both with a tsp of sugar during brewing and after brewing and have someone present the two cups to you. See if you can tell the difference. Expectations contribute A LOT to the experience.
Italian here. You made two mistakes. 1) You don't have to put hot, boiling water in it, but cold tap water and put the pot on the smallest flame possible. 2) You have to put way more coffee in it (without pressing it with the spoon), it has to look like an hill/mountain and it will be compressed a bit when you tighten the pot.
It is also fundamental to stir the coffee with a teaspoon after you remove the pot from above the flame since at the beginning the coffee that rise is denser and more bitter while at the end it's more watery.
Hello there, my Italian friend. Thanks for bringing up these issues, as it lets me clarify a few more misconceptions: 1) You absolutely can use cold water and I've experimented around with both, but it does not affect the taste of the coffee, simply because the vapor does not start to dampen the beans until boiling anyway. However, since using an electric kettle is both more energy efficient (insideenergy.org/2016/02/23/boiling-water-ieq/) and faster, I just jump straight to it. 2) I would specifically advise *against* stuffing the filter in the manner you suggest. I've have experimented around with it a bit and I have found (a) it prevents an airtight seal with the gasket and (b) causes loose grounds to become embedded in that gasket. The result is that you do get a stronger cup of coffee, but you sacrifice brewing pressure. I've even found it makes less coffee! 3) Regarding your post below about stirring with a teaspoon, I agree.
loodog555 I forgot to mention that to preserve the airtight seal and the pressure you simply have to tighten the pot so strongly that veins in your head start to pop :) Tip: if you all found out the coffee is getting stuck, like only 40% or less has risen up, just put the base of the pot under cold water ( you’ll feel some vibrations) being careful not to spill the coffee inside, and put it again on the flame. After few seconds the all of the coffee will magically rise.
@@g3rzin Hey Gerardo, happy to follow up! Of course, our expression here in America is "Your mileage may vary". Moka Pot is all about getting the best coffee that works for you and it seems everyone has a different favorite cup. However, for the sake of the collective coffee knowledge of humanity, I'd like to debug this a little bit and figure out why your results and mine have turned out so differently using the same technique. I definitely tighten the top to the point of the tolerance of the aluminum threads, which is pretty tight. The issue is that all the pressure in the world won't create a proper seal with the rubber gasket if there are obstructions to that seal in the form of the grounds (which is what happens when I have tried your "mountain" technique). A nice seal will happen without all that much pressure so long as the rim of the filter can mate smoothly to the gasket. So this leads me to my theorizing about what you're doing differently. My pot takes about 300ml of water and the filter holds about 20-25 g of coffee, depending on how coarse the grinds are. This is intentional design, as it creates a water:coffee ratio of about 15:1. My theory is that your overfilling is only an extra gram or so and the result is that you can still get a seal out of it. Can you be a bit more specific about how much "mountain" you're adding?
Ha! I do agree with you a bit. I prefer a brewing method with more control and consistently good results like a siphon, but sometimes I like the challenge of a moka.
I TOLD MY MOM NOT TO PUT IT ON HIGH HEAT AND NOT TO LEAVE IT ON THE BURNER. NO WONDER WHEN I MAKE MY COFFEE IN ONE OF THESE IT TASTES SO MUCH BETTER AND DOESN'T STINK UP THE DAMN HOUSE.
Yeah, I've been doing a lot of researching the scientific papers about this and it seems the biggest most ruinous mistake is the leaving the moka pot on after bubbling. You are sending superheated vapor right through your grinds, which extracts them way too much. I'm in the process of making videos that explain these papers, but if you want to give a read yourself, this is my source: www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~phyexp/uploads/Moka/article2.pdf
I am Italian, I am a chemist, i brew my coffee with moka three times a day since i was a teenage. And I guarantee, this video is wrong in so many ways I can't even explain
Thanks for your input! My intent was not so much to piss off half of Italy, but rather to give people some basic guidelines if they want to know what they can play around with! Please check my follow up video for more discussion if you would like to get into the details: m.ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html If you are a chemist, you might be interested in the physics paper by Warren King where they model the process numerically and show, among other things, that coffee initially extracts before any water is even boiling.
Also, maybe as an Italian chemist you can comment on why Italians don’t care about the bitterness that comes with 2,4-decadienal, 4-ethylguiacol, and 2,4-nonadienal. I guess they’re just used to it?
I like the fact that you use the stirrer from an Aeropress to smooth out the coffee! LOL Nice touch. All good advice. Thanks. I have at least 40 mokka pots, but only drink espresso. Cheers.
Hey you guys, thanks for all your comments! Before you launch the 200th comment at me about whether to preheat the water, check out my latest installment which addresses this specific question: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html. Before you launch the 2000th comment about how much to fill up the coffee basket: ruclips.net/video/bCSn2CXWZOE/видео.html Here's a paper claiming on the basis of physics and a 93C temperature extraction that you want to preheat your water to 70C: www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~phyexp/uploads/Moka/article1.pdf. So consider that too. There are subtle interactions between how much the initial air in the chamber expands and starting temperature of the water. I know, many of you are Italian and unhappy with what I've done to your brewer, like I’m coming along and telling you your culture is wrong! No worries, my friends. I mention this in the update as well. People bring up how much coffee to pack, what beans to use, it's all in that update and I welcome you so we can continue the conversation and CENTRALLY IMPORTANT TASK of making the world a better coffee place. Also, THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD! Sorry. I'm already making adjustments on my new videos and trying to be more considerate of how obtrusive some people can find it. All in all, don't take my word for it! Try it out on your own. MY best technique doesn't have to be the same as YOUR best technique, but wouldn't it be great if we collaborated and came up with the best principles for how to experiment with our beloved little Moka pots?
93°C? In my Aeropress, I usually use water around 185°F/85°C going as low as 180°F/82° or as high a 190°F/88°C, depending on the beans. Anything above 190°F/88°C (measured with a digital thermometer just before pouring into the beans) always tastes burnt/bitter to me.
@@CapnSlipp The proper context on that number was that it was in an article in Scientific American written by Ernesto Illy who was discussing espresso extraction. Your numbers are curious, as I do my AeroPress at 195F/91C and I'm pretty happy. Maybe I'll try a lower temp. next time and see what it does.
Washing with soap is what they mean you dont need to do. Even Bialetti on their box says environmentally friendly as you just need to rinse off the oils under a hot tap and then dry off with a tea towel. That takes care of all the cleaning meeded. Best stored in pieces completely dry.
Hi thanks for the comment! Bialetti themselves specifies occasional washing with lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda: www.bialetti.com/it_en/inspiration/post/how-to-clean-the-coffee-pot-at-home-natural-and-effective-remedies
i'm italian and i'm dead inside watching this! You have to put cold water and create a little grinded coffe mountain inside the funnel than close it tight and wait for the magic happen! ah and minimum heat, high heat mean burnt coffee!
Oh yes, people told me I would be angering the Italians! I have made a follow up video that talks a bit about this being not the Italian way to do it: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html Welcome your feedback!
@@loodog555 oh don't worry! i'm not angry with you! XD i know you like mud water instead of moka coffee!! :D but i know also that they are different and can both be a good hot beverage...
Thanks, this is great. An Italian lady once told me to just rinse the expresso maker, not wash. In any case, how would you wash it? Dishwasher certainly not! By hand with or without dishwashing liquid? Many thanks.
Hi and thanks for the comment and your excellent questions! People say don't push it in the dishwasher and..... they're right. I've tested it myself. The problem is that the dishwasher works too well and cleans off the protective layer of aluminum oxide that prevents the aluminum from reacting too much with your coffee and leaching into it: ruclips.net/video/qV3Us0KkIMo/видео.html The manufactured says "hand wash with mild detergent" and I'd say this advice is well heeded. Yes, most of the time I just use some hot water and a brush. Also, one thing I'd get a bit overly semantic on is calling it an espresso maker. Some people refer to these machines as "stove-top espresso machines" (including one physics paper: prokofe.ru/files/public/1545073434_16273_FT107421_the_physics_of_a_stove-top_espresso_machine_warren_d_king_king2008.pdf) but strictly speaking, it's not making anything like espresso but something like an espresso-drip coffee hybrid.
@@loodog555 Semantic R Us! When I wrote this last night, I actually had to think what to call it. Some just say 'the Bialetti', which is a little non-inclusive if your [insert name here] is of a different brand. The thing is, we call this beauty 'la cafetera' (Spanish for 'the coffee maker'), which suits 'her' perfectly! Where I live, 'mocca' (double C) refers to a (Starsbucks-style) drink with coffee, milk and chocolate (not my cup of tea!), so 'moka' is out of the books for us. Greetings.
I gave up on these they always taste like ass. I did a course grind, non packed down, though I did fill the entire thing and rake off the excess, making sure to move my butter knife ONLY horizontally. I put in the boiling water, set the burner extremely low, and by the time the Moka pot was like 3/4 full (well before the clear water or bubbles came out), I started pouring it into my coffee mug. Still very bitter. These days I drink instant coffee bc it’s so much more convenient, faster, less cleanup, and it even tastes better too 🤦
Hey Henry, I wish youtube were better designed for mobile so that you'd already see the link to my follow-up video, which gets a bit more into the details: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html Unfortunately, the youtube set up for mobile makes it a lot easier to type a comment than to see what's posted already. Anyway, check out the video I just posted. It's got a few more tips to try out, in case your coffee still sucks. Also, I'm finishing up a video about a suggestion I heard about: putting an AeroPress filter *inside* your moka pot. Spoiler: it makes a difference!
Also, there is a much longer video that spends a bit more time discussing some of the science theory (like the fact that water boils at higher temp when it's under pressure) and contests my claim that you need to remove the Pot as soon as it's bubbly. Their claim is that ambient temperature water will... I don't know... they're not exactly clear... spend more time in contact with the grounds. I don't see how the steam is going to spend any time in contact with the grounds before boiling creates the vapor pressure.... Anyway, watch if you'd like a bit more food for thought ruclips.net/video/aikEi9xHt2A/видео.html.
Turns out that Moka pots are a bit trickier to pinpoint then I thought 😅. Moka pot and none of its parts aren't in my eyes a sealed system. While true that partial pressures between each of the three chambers at any time will probably vary, it is not sealed and the pressure is fairly free to equalise, as the only resistance is the coffee bed itself. Therefore based on the drawing, you can see the system works not exactly due to Pascal's principle as it is more complicated than that. The first part is largely based on vapor pressure difference. Water evaporates at pretty much all temperatures, temperature only changes the rate at which it does so. So does the surface area of the faze interface. The drawing shows, that the tube of the basket is a much smaller area, compared to the rest. Temperature being close to same in the chamber, it is expected that there will be less vapor in the tube than around it, less vapor = lower pressure, causing water to be sucked through the tube until equilibrium, which we keep shifting by heating it. This effect doesn't necessarily happen only at boiling temperature, it can happen sooner (haven't tested nor calculated the lowest temperature though.) Than the coffee chamber starts to fill and extract the coffee. It can be tricky here to pinpoint the ideal heat to use, as extraction is a function of both time and temperature. Temperature increases both the extraction and the evaporation rate in the bottom chamber, increasing the speed at which the water is forced up into the coffee, eventually out of the coffee into the final chamber, and therefore decreasing the time of extraction per molecule of water. I expect there to be a steep extraction curve though. The water that enters first is at a relatively low temperature and stays a long time, as it needs to fill the chamber before being forced out. It also at this stage doesn't get heated further. The water coming after it gets progressively hotter and hotter, as it is necessary for it to be so, so that the pressure equilibrium is not reached. After the water fully fills the coffee chamber, it has nowhere to go but up. The hotter the water going into the coffee, the shorter the contact time, purely based on small pressure gradients between the three chambers. (Higher heat, more water sucked faster, works even between the coffee chamber and the top of the pot). Now, the reason you can produce wastly differently tasting cups is that extractions are a mess 😁. You would expect that there is no difference between short, hot extraction and a long cold one. If you ever had a cold brew, you know that isn't true. Some chemicals are not extractable (think of soluble but for liquids) at lower temperatures. In the case of coffee, these compounds are the harsher bitter ones (tanins mostly) and the acidic ones. That corresponds to their testing, where the coffee spends a fairly long time extracting at 60 degrees and progressively shorter times at the higher temperatures. This is aided by them using high heat to heat the cold water, causing a longer 'lag faze' and a quick 'log faze' of extraction. If you use already (close to) boiling water, you will force the water to fill the coffee chamber a lot quicker as the pressure difference between the two chamber will rise quicker, causing shorter extraction time at a higher temperature, but your extraction has very short 'lag faze' and the same 'log faze' afterwards, extracting overall more of the bitter, and less of the lower temp sweeter rounder compounds. That assumes the use high heat too, though. Your result is better, because you put it over medium heat. That will lengthen the lag faze and make the log faze not as steep, extraction will be likely less bitter and more sweet. In regards to them not plunging it into cold water, it is just the matter of reaching equilibrium to stop the process. You are putting constant medium heat into it, starting at a water close to a boil. You will reach a point where this system becomes incapable of keeping up the heat necessary for the equilibrium to not be reached(as the amount of water in the chamber decreases), and the water will stop flowing. At that point, you will likely superheat this water, which you don't want as that temperature will likely cause unwanted compounds extracting. So you stop and force equilibrium earlier, by rapidly decreasing temperatures( likely reversing pressure gradient, btw, causing some watery coffee to be sucked back into the heating chamber). They on the other start high heat, but as they see the flowing coffee, they immediately decrease to low, causing the equilibrium to be reached more slowly and naturally, without the need of cooling the chamber down.(therefore results may vary in between electric stoves with higher temperature lag, over gas stoves) Long post, should've wrote an email 😂
@@MultiBamb00cha Yeah, I agree with most of what you said as it is mostly in line with King's paper www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~phyexp/uploads/Moka/article1.pdf. "Your result is better, because you put it over medium heat. That will lengthen the lag faze " I'm not sure this is the case. Medium heat will mean it takes more time to get sufficient water to boil to have the vapor pressure needed to start the brewing, but I'm figuring the only thing that changes the brewing temperature is the ratio of the temperature of the fully heated air to the starting temperature of the air, since that alone dictates what the partial pressure of the air is going to be, and therefore how much water vapor needs to be produced, and therefore what the water temperature will when brewing. Medium get gets you to that temp more slowly, but it's still the same temp, by my figuring anyway. On a side note: I'm curious about your consistent spelling of the word "faze"
@@loodog555 Sorry, not a native speaker, I use the word 'faze' in a couple different instances, and it is used in a similar way I'd use it in my native language. Also what I meant by your result being better because of the use of medium heat, what I was comparing is a scenario where already boiling water from the kettle is being used, and I am suggesting that in that case, medium heat should yield better results, as opposed to high heat, if like I said you are using boiling water. You will likely get enough of a pressure differential fast enough even on a medium heat in this case, plus reaching higher pressure, though unlikely due to the systems inability to really get pressurised much, may lead to increase of the boiling temperature of the water, causing it to superheat a bit, and making the extraction go more bitter. The way I address partial pressure was also not the way you are thinking, and I should have cleared that up. I used the wrong term there. I was talking more about a likely pressure gradient in the Moka pot, from highest likely being in the bottom water chamber, second in the ground coffee chamber, and lowest (atmospheric) in the upper chamber. The air, although it can affect the process, is much less important in the chamber than water. Air is not highly heat conductive, nor does it have a high heat capacity, and there is comparatively much smaller amount of molecules of it in there. Understand that water in the chamber doesn't have to be boiling evaporate, aka increase pressure, aka start the process. It is just much faster when it is boiling. There are reasons it is never said to brew Moka at a low heat and temperatures reached. It is impractical due to time required, and it is also practically impossible to monitor the actual temperature inside. It will likely also taste bad, as we are looking for a sweet spot of temperature/time of our extraction, and this might yield poorly extracted coffee.
@@MultiBamb00cha You didn't make an important consideration: gases expand as the temperature rises. This is the reason why the water put in the boiler rises towards the extraction chamber and continues until it reaches the bric. Inside the boiler, you must not only consider the presence of liquid water but of a gaseous atmosphere of air saturated with water vapor which, when heated, expands, pushing liquid water (not compressible) upwards, at temperatures around 90~95 ° C, through the funnel of the coffee recipient.
@@antc.4457 yeah, that's why the whole mechanism works, pressure is increased by evaporation, gases have larger volume than liquids, creating higher pressure. What I was saying that the amount of molecules of air is not as significant overall, as water molecules, later steam molecules vastly outnumber it, until a lot of water is pushed into the coffee and out of the bottom chamber
In Italy we usually make a little pile when putting the coffee powder on the filter, just like a little mountain, even one centimeter above the level of the filter, it doesn't matter if the coffe powder is spilled, fuck it you can clean it afterwards. And here's the way on how to make the coffee creamy just like we take it in the morning at a bar (the equivalent of a café): ruclips.net/video/lyLSmpLwj2Y/видео.html The video shows 5 spoons of sugar but you can also have less, 3 if you want.
Sour coffee = underbrewed. You'll want combination of finer grind size and/or longer brew time. Leave the pot on the stove a bit longer and grind your beans more finely and you'll be good to go!
I found give the final coffee a stir before pouring it into my coffee mug gives a more consistent flavour. Otherwise the second mug gets a stronger taste.
"You're probably gonna need an oven mitt..." Damn right y' 'ar'. And with that oven mitt on, you're gonna find it extremely difficult to tighten the mechanism the required amount. USE ITALIAN MINERAL WATER "naturale" and good coffee and it's not as complicated as this fella makes it out to be.
Never had a problem myself with the oven mitt but you do what you need to! As for water, I do discuss about best water to brew with in another video: ruclips.net/video/V-zqiitKUYg/видео.html
Hello! Thank you for this review! I'm wondering if you or anyone knows: If I get a 300ml pot, I assume that if I fill the chamber with coffee I'm making what's essentially a coffee with 3-shot intensity? (I've only really had cafe espresso - flatwhites and lattes, coz that's all anyone sells around here. No percolator or plungers.) Will the coffee chamber cope with being filled only a half/third? Must the water chamber be filled to the valve, or can I run the whole thing at less-than-full for both grounds and water on a lower burn?
Although I'm late in seeing this video, I just wanted to say yes, you can half fill (in your case 150ml) the water chamber. You'll get a stronger brew by doing this.
I think this is the very video I’ve been looking for. Thank you! My moka pot coffee every time spitters and taste absolutely awful, it doesn’t do that smooth rising like in this video and others and I am so heartbroken.
Start with medium heat, then immediately reduce to minimum heat once you start seeing coffee. The result is that it will come out slow and smooth and less burnt.
Many of the comments from Italians seem to be coming from this place, “it’s supposed to taste bitter and overly extracted! Why would you try to drink coffee if you don’t like its flavor?!” In the end, everyone has their own freedom to make coffee as they like it. I am only encouraging people to experience the difference before they make that call.
I came to this video for Moka pot tips and stayed for the music! What a lovely, spirited rendition of this Grieg nocturne - one of the most enjoyable I can remember ever hearing. Bravo from one pianist to another!
@@loodog555 I guess my opinion won’t be completely representative then, but this subscriber for one would gladly enjoy more music! Or perhaps you’ll share a video of just your playing for us all to enjoy while we sip an improved cup of Moka! ☕️👍
do you know why you should use boiling water to start with? i always use cold water and set the stove to low-mid and it brews (very) slowly and it's really nice every time
I preheat the water to conserve energy and to save myself time. On the merits on whether you *should* for better coffee, I'll refer you to my follow-up video, where I discuss this at length: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
@@loodog555 thanks, watching it now. i will try pre-heating the water tomorrow, makes sense that heating the water also heats the coffee and adds extra bitterness. i really enjoy bitter taste though, so that's why i didn't even notice anything wrong with the method i used (cold water)
I personally go for water and a little scrub. I can personally confirm that you never want to put one in the dishwasher: ruclips.net/video/qV3Us0KkIMo/видео.html
Judging by how the pot nearly slipped when the top is being screwed on, I would not want to do that when the bottom is filled with boiling water (even with an oven mitt)! Boiling the water first is using two tools and two steps when you could do it in one anyway. I still enjoyed the video along with the researched intro, and going to try the quick rinsing cool-off trick you showed : ) Thanks for sharing!
Now the question that was confusing me regarding similar tutorials - if I pour coffee out of the pot immediately after taking the pot off the stove - is there still any point in cooling the pot under cold water right before pouring?
Hi, this has been asked before below and the answer is "yes". The coffee will continue to brew from the stream pressure after heat is removed, even as you're pouring, since you're not going to get all the coffee out in the next 2 seconds. This may even cause the coffee to brew *more*, since the steam isn't pushing against gravity anymore. Applying cold water stops the brewing process. My prediction would be that your coffee would still be overbrewed, but don't take my word for it! Try it out and see what happens!
I don't see how it would be physically possible for the coffee to overbrew if that isn't cooled: mostly because the already brewed coffee is in a sepparate chamber (the top reservoir that you pour it into your cup from) to the coffee grounds (still trapped in the basket by the mesh screen inside the moka pot). The only reason I can see for cooling the base is to make clean-up easier by filling the empty top reservoir with water and using vacuum pressure to suck water back through the basket and forcing the grounds to pack back into to it, so that the grounds all come out as a puck when you tap the basket out into a bin.
@@dj1NM3 thanks for this comment. Great question! The coffee does become separate once it has brewed through. You are right about that. The issue is not that any little drops of coffee overbrew, but that the grinds themselves continue to be extracted past the desired point. Imagine one little grain of coffee. If 20% of it has already dissolved from the water, then hitting it with any more water will result in getting the undesirable bitter pieces. I’m not quite sure I follow you about applying cold water for easier cleaning. By the time you are starting to clean your moka pot, I am sure the base is far too cold to get a significant vacuum effect. Cooling the base for me is about stopping the over brewing.
@T B Hi T B. Thanks for your comment, but there a few things to clarify: 1) The idea that a moka pot doesn't brew until the water is boiling is a very common one, but it surprisingly turns out to not be true! ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html. 2) The idea that coffee overbrews because it's being heated belies a misconception about how coffee extraction works. I think the terminology of "overbrewing" is misleading you here. Unlike baking or cooking, the process of chemical change is not brought about by heating. Brewing doesn't happen because the water is cooking the grinds or because the coffee is being heated; extraction happens as the water comes into contact with coffee grinds and the grinds partially dissolve into the passing water. So, while many people believe a moka pot can't overextract because each drop of water only passes through once, the truth is that you can easily overextract a given granule of coffee because you've run too much water past it, dissolving the coffee past the magical 22% mark and then you start getting past those sweet sugars and into the bitter stalky fibers of the plant. This is why any pourover recipe has a recommended ratio (usually around 16.67:1) so that you don't try to keep extracting out of beans that are already spent. The reason you stop the brewing when you hit air bubbles is that the beans are not only optimally extracted by then, but instead of sending water through the grinds, you're now sending water mixed with superheated 120C steam, which dissolves A LOT more of the beans than you want for good flavor. Navarini et al. demonstrate this in their 2009 paper, which I explain here: ruclips.net/video/2jLdGi7kjzk/видео.html
Normal misconceptions when brewing coffee on Moka pot (but also applies to other methods) misconception #1 : water needs to boil to build pressure WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG waters evaporates even before it starts boiling, so pressure starts even below boiling temperature, misconception#2 : you need water vapor to build pressure, ALSO WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG, air pressure can also push the water up in your moka pot, so having a lot of air will increase pressure faster than a pot filled with air Misconception #3 you need to brew your coffee at high because of....reasons wroooooooooooooooooooooong you only need your water to reach your desired temperature(between 195 and 205), then you need to adjust your flame to keep water at that temperature during the brew misconception #4 you need to put the whole moka pot when you put it into the flames WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG You can heat your water and once your water reaches the required temperature you can add the grind holder and close the pot (of course you need something to hold the pot without burning yourself) Misconception #5 you need boiling water to brew your coffee right, WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG best temperature to brew coffee is between 195 and 205, a little below boiling
Hey, thanks for your comments. Indeed, water does not need to boil for the milk about to brew. I explore the physics of mocha pots and what temperature did you use in the base in my series of videos here: m.ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html Of course, if you check out the 2008 paper by Warren King that I explain in the video above, you will indeed see that a combination of the vapor pressure plus the expanding air is what causes the pot to brew!
@@loodog555 amazing videos and the best part is how it's backed up by a real scientist article ! first time I see someone talking science out of the art of brewing coffee and not just following the craftiness of trial and error. (probably that's why you get all the hate from Italians) well trial and error can be good ways to explore different results, but without knowing what brought you that result is like trying to hit a nail in the dark, sometimes you hit the sweet spot, some times you don't.
Thank you! I come from a Hispanic family and they are religious with Moka pots. I’ve told them that boiling the water is crucial and that good coffee should come from good beans, fresh grinned, not too fine unlike bustelo. 🥴. People would be happier if they can properly brew from a moka pot. Cheers!
Trust me.....Italians dont even use electric kettles much...i have never in my Pitiful life seen BOILED water used?? And not packing the coffee in the filter section?..... vergogna!!
Well, you've raised the Greatest Hits list of objections people always post, so I've made a general follow-up video: ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html 1. You actually *should* preheat the water! Here's why: ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html (Exceptions for very dark roast: ruclips.net/video/NQrRzTzU_Yk/видео.html) 2. As for the question of how much to pack the basket, here's what I found: ruclips.net/video/bCSn2CXWZOE/видео.html
@@loodog555 its ll good... i know Italians who raise hell when i attempt to "clean" Mochas ,they said "it ruins the taste" ,they like them all black outside and patina stained inside
Tip n 2: if you pack down the coffe or if you put to much in it, the moka will stop the brewing process in the middle of it. Remove the moka from the heat source and cool a little bit the bottom under runnig water. Put the moka back on the heat and whait
Cool, man. I honestly have no gauge for how often to replace the gasket, though I do take it out every once in a while to do a more thorough cleaning. I am a bit puzzled by your calling it plastic, though. I think you mean rubber.
Sharing a few tips here: I've never seen anyone boiling the water before putting it into the moka... the rest of the video is quite right, but you didn't put enough coffee, you should fill it up evenly and add a little bit more at the top. After that you have to close it tight and boil the coffee at low flame, if you do this you don't have to put the moka in cold water because the coffee will rise slower. At this point it's very common to stir the coffee inside the moka for a little bit. In certain parts of Italy, like Naples, they add some sugar during this step. Anyway, mokas need to be cleaned, you should never leave it dirty (mostly for hygiene, bleah) but you NEVER, EVER wash the interior with dish soap. Don't, just don't. Another tip is that "LA MOKA SI DEVE FARE", this means that the more you make coffee with a moka, the better it will taste, so it always tastes bad the first few times you make coffee with a brand new moka. Don't give up, it gets better! Source: italian addicted to moka coffee, fatto come si deve però, che sennò fa schifo, viene slavato e fa proprio cagare Ciao!
Hi Matt, thanks for your contribution. I personally don’t like to ever add milk or sugar, but of course people can do what they wills. Thank you for your contribution of cultural context! If you wanted to know why I preheat the water, there’s a much more thorough discussion in my follow-up video, which was mentioned in the description and stickied to the top, but I’ll post it again here anyway: m.ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
@@loodog555 thanks man, I also watched the other video now :) I would like to clarify that my comment is about the traditional italian way to make coffee, and I don't think boiling the water before is wrong, it's just... different! Anyway it's always nice seeing passion for an important part of my country's culture such as the true italian coffee
@@mattmactire3961 What I’m learning from comments is that Italians just seem to not care about reducing the bitterness associated with 2,4-decadienal, 4-ethylguiacol, and 2,4-nonadienal. Which is fine, you can brew it however you prefer it, of course. It just means you’re not so oriented towards Third Wave coffee ideas with regard to the under extraction/over extraction model.
Boiling the water so that the coffee doesn't heat up with the water on the flame, getting too hot, which can cause bitterness. Cooling it down so the last bitter part of the extraction can't manage to get into the upper chamber. Just to make sure.
I love mine. As soon as it gets noisy in the Brewing process I take it off the heat. Also I've had great results using cafe bustelo which is espresso ground coffee. So for every rule there is an exception to this.
I think there are probably many 'combinations' of rules, or recipes that lead to a good cup of moka pot coffee. I have found that it's basically impossible to get a good cup of coffee from bad beans, though.
You have to use the best coffee which is from Ethiopia. In Ethiopia there is the Harrenna Forest and located near the eastern boundry of this forest there is Mt. Batu. On the south slope of Mt. Batu, the soil conditions have a high concentrations of minerals that give the local coffee a special flavor which is deeply rich and robust yet, not bitter. About 1 kilometer south-east of the Mt. Batu, there is a very small village and there the local growers harvest the best coffee in the world.
There is no such thing as best coffee. Regions all over the world can produce high quality coffee. You must buy high quality fresh coffee if you want good coffee out
Thanks for the great video. just to recap: 1) no need to grind the coffee too fine / leave it on coarse 2) no need to press the coffee / so water can penetrate easily 3) temperature better on medium and not too high 4) don't let coffee to overbrew, remove it before the last bubbly part starts to come out 5) clean the pot right after The truth is I was using cold water, so great tip on the warm / hot water in advance. I still find it challenging to clean the tank after I left it few times with the water in. I used dishsoap, I used vinegar and even the metal-wire to rub it. Ay tips would appreciated.
Im having a small Bialetti (2cups) so im cleaning it after every brew and having fresh brew every time. I used to have a bigger one(5-6 cups) and no matter what it left coffee stains because the coffee was sitting in there for two days. Now if u have a bigger moka just buy some contanier cup and pour out the fresh coffee there and A, immidiately wash the moka or B, rinse and fill the moka up with water until clean water is in there then worry about washing it properly later. The bottom and the filter part isnt really matter. Also once in a while replace the rubber ring in it. Take a picture of a fresh one the you can compare it to it how burned it gets after time.
Don't clean it with soap! Only use hot water to clean the moka pot. Be careful about the water tank, there is a protective layer that goes away if you clean it with soap. Put the flame to the minimum possible, and as soon as you hear bubbling remove it! Before serving use a little spoon to mix the coffee inside the moka pot, it is more dense at the bottom and more "watery" (?) at the top. Putting the hot moka under cold water can damage it, only do this if your coffee does not go up (usually this means that the filter is clogged) Sorry for my english, i'm italian
to clean it, you can try to use citric acid, it is sood in small packages for backing or for peackels (at least in my country). You need to put couple of packages into bigger pot, boil it an put moka pot inside. This is the same method as winegar, but without bad smell, so you can put any amount there
@@mr.priman The Bialetti Moka is made of aluminum, and aluminum does not pair well with acids ... This is only if you want to ruin the coffee maker or want to find unwanted aluminum salts in your coffee. Instead, it might be possible with the stainless steel coffee pot.
I'm Italian, I've done 93849393 coffees in my whole life and I've never preboiled water, you simply add tap water to the level. Eventually, pour your coffee in a small coffee cup, not a mug.
Wow, never preheated the water? Sounds like you're due to give it a try to find out if there's any difference! Maybe you'll like it better and this will change your life!
Just to be Technical,...I was told this unit makes ESPRESSO. You are saying COFFEE. Which one does this make? Traditional Coffee or Espresso? Thank You.
Hey, great question! I would say it *technically* makes a strong brew of coffee, as true espresso comes out of an espresso machine at 9 bars of pressure, while a moka pot only reaches typically less than 2 bars (and a highly variable pressure that is!) Wikipedia, for instance, talks about how moka pots are sometimes called "stovetop espresso machines" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso_machine) 'As such, their characterization as "espresso" machines is at times contentious, but due to their use of pressure and steam for brewing, comparable to all espresso prior to the 1948 Gaggia, they are accepted within broader uses of the term, but distinguished from standard modern espresso machines.' On more of a "feels like" definition, I'd say a moka pot makes neither coffee nor espresso, but something that's a bit of a mix of both.
Definitely don’t go too coarse either. I made a video about grinders that could be a helpful instruction on this: ruclips.net/video/dgM-_nPPKgw/видео.html
Great video. What setting on the de’longhi do you have your grinder set to for Moka pot? Thanks! What coffee grinder should I buy to make moka pot with?
Hi Gregory! Thanks! My grinder has settings from 1 up to 18 (larger numbers being more coarse). I find I get results that I like by setting the grinder to "7", which is basically just pas, the range the machine has labeled as "espresso", so coarser than espresso. Your extraction time is pretty short so the grind needs to be pretty fine. The problem is most people go too far with this and get overbitter coffee. Good luck!
I really need to buy a gasket for my mocha pot which I've been avoiding for years. I guess this is a sign that its time lol. PS: We have the same coffee mug! :D
One of the good things about them is that the spare parts are still available, in particular the rubber rings. I recently resurrected an old one that needed a new ring, which hadn’t been cleaned properly over the years.
Often my mother forgets the Bialetti Moka on the fire. A disaster happens ; -)) ... the handle melts. So I take apart all the pieces, rub it with the 3M scotch brite sponge and water abrasive paper 1000-1500 etc. then I go to buy all the spare parts. The most complex to change is the handle, you have to hammer the fixing pin with a nail, it is inserted by pressure. To clean the limescale, vinegar must be put in the boiler and left for a few hours. Greeting from Italy
#1: dont grind your coffee too fine!
#2: dont pack the grounds down!
#3: dont go past medium heat!
#4: leaving it on the burner too long!
#5: not cleaning your moka pot!
bonus tip : slightly open the lid while pouring to add some of the crema
I'm not sure an aluminium pot is healthy, better use a inox one.
@@patrickallard2520 Inox makes a much better cup off coffee too. I live in Italy and most sold are aluminum. Terrible!!!! I won't even drink out of it. I have my grandparents vintage Vev Vigano and it makes a huge difference. Or I use my inox or Le Creuset french press.
@@patrickallard2520 I have a stainless steel Bialetti, they are available, I much prefer it, I won't use aluminium.
@@lisa6371 Bialetti make a stainless steel moka pot too, I have one.
I've never heard of boiling the water BEFORE putting it in the moka pot.
Me either!
To boil it faster and to avoid sizzling the coffee grounds, you don't want them to taste bitter.
It just saves time. If you think about it, it makes sense to do so , because starting out with cold water will add nothing to the flavour. You're just making yourself wait longer.
@@Oatmeal_Mann yeah, but, doesn’t boiling some water first take time? 🧐
@@robhulson I have an electric kettle it really does save on boil time vs the open flame on the stove in a cold perk, you can use the electric kettle to heat up your mugs as well so the coffee doesn't immediately go cold when you pour it, its really was a game changer to my coffee game.
i never tasted my moka pot, the coffee comes out of it tastes good tho
I deem this joke properly brewed.
@@loodog555 my moka pot tastes of alluminum 😂
@@samuele5931 lol
I never experienced a bad tasting coffee from my moka pot and i dont put hot water before it brews. I just put regular temperature water and let it boil on the stove
@@vanessac0382 it never boils
I just got a moke pot for Christmas... youtube knows this somehow. Although I have no privacy whatsoever, atleast I have good coffee now.
Hope the video helps you on the path to good coffee!
😔✌️
I don’t have one and I got recommended
@@lainedauncey8578 I just thought of it in my mind, and then seconds later--
*Pop*
I put cold water in mine and wait until i can’t hear the bubbling and never had a bad coffee
You do you. You're making coffee to please your taste buds, not anyone elses 😊
Mmmm im sorry to inform you every cup of coffee youve had tastes terrible
@@joeshapiro8365 😂
Thats how i make mine but have i been wrong ?!,
Your coffee is probably fine, maybe even best, sometimes if you skin the cat from the other end it's better. But in this vase you're actually more closely following the manufactures instructions instead of getting cocky
Number one advice from me.....keep the burner at low to medium. All the other tips, you can mess up on. I never pre-boil. Never cool down. Just keep the burner down. And remove after it starts steaming. Don't worry about being perfect. All this obsession with the perfect cup....I've been brewing coffee for decades. Most important tip is to enjoy.
100% agree. I use cold (or room temperature) water and use the lowest gas setting. Takes longer but comes out perfect every time.
More discussion on preheating water:ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
@@loodog555 I just preheated it to try your theory, no difference.
Actually it looks like it's watered down, at first I thought it was just a feeling, but it seems that preheating removes some flavor.
@@switchstatement568 No wonder I've never heard of preheating water for moka. Because indeed it sounds like extra useless step and extra appliances that just fill the kitchen space for no reason.
Either way, I'm gonna try this preheating methodology tomorrow morning.
@@OG_ALviK I agree with you, I am making a coffee not a full meal so there's no need to clutter the kitchen with another pan, but I have to say it does some difference, the result for me is basically a watery coffee with less flavour, please let me know your results after you try, another opinion would be good since it seems that a lot of people would debate over it.
I don’t drink coffee
And I’ve never heard of a Moka pot
Thank you sleep deprivation
I honestly didn't think this video would be remotely interesting to anyone who wasn't into coffee. How did you get here?
@@loodog555 youtube recommendations are weird as fuck
An italian died somewhere in the world
I enjoy French Press coffee the most it is Rich and sweet
@@loodog555 honestly my mans, I have no idea, but I like it
I don't even drink coffee. I'm just fascinated with the alternative coffee pot aesthetic.
Edit: I now have a french press and a Moka pot
The art deco design of these things is iconic.
in Italy whatever you people use is literally alien.
Yeah i enjoy the process every time and I like watching it erupt like a little volcano lol
@@nikolaisedov2295 facts
moka is better in taest or french press?
Use low heat and put A LOT of coffe without packing it out, thrust me, I’m Italian
Hi Italian, thanks for your contribution. The two suggestions you you give are on the list of parameters are very which I discuss in my follow up video: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
I am also very much aware that I am doing this completely wrong from the Italian point of view, again, discussed in my follow up video.
Also, I will not take you up on your offer to thrust you!
@@loodog555 I’ll watch the video, maybe I’ll change mi mind! 😂
Italian. French. South American. Cuban.
I will not thrust you.
Thank you for sharing, I can't stand what passes the average American acceptable standards of "coffee" i.e anything pre ground, instant, burned, old, or worst of all a combination of all; paying 3$ for 4 hour old perpetual sludge from a 30 year old bunn coffee pot found in every chain establishment because the waitress/cashier/clerk isn't paid anywhere near enough to maintain the equipment let alone brew fresh coffee on the reg so they just top it off with water occasionally so its always a burnt, cigarette, watery combination, - you know who you are.
Stay coffee snobby indeed.
Ha, you are literally the first person out of like 200 comments to appreciate my little tagline! Thanks, amigo. I hear ya for sure!
This read like a manifesto and I'm a convert
The first time I tried coffee in Paris my mind was blown-“It can taste good?!”
I've watched dozens of Bialetti Moka pots and this one is excellent. I appreciate the in-depth look at the history of the Moka pot and its inventor, too. Thank you!
Thanks, Bill!
Thank you...
#6. Don't use background music that is so loud in your video 😂 or an otherwise great video gets ruined.
Lol 😂
Nah, the dutch way: fine ground, pack it down add some more, keep it on till it starts spitting, never clean the heat sterilises it for you.
The bitterness is the good morning turkey-slap in the face im looking for.
Damn straight. It's ESPRESSO, so it's going to be bitter! I don't know what all these people are expecting from espresso coffee. If they don't like the bitterness, then they SHOULDN'T DRINK ESPRESSO!
@T B Its a joke, i learned ro drink coffee to meet deadlines while studying engineering. I agree propper coffee is better haha
I was literally taught by an actual Italian (not an Italian-American) from Verona-- to do it all wrong! 20 years ago, when I was living in Germany as an exchange student, Alberto moved in with me... we became great friends, one of the few roommates I still talk to today... but oh boy, did he ever steer me wrong about using the Moka pot. Even now I associate the smell of burnt coffee with that residence room in Germany...! Through trial and error and research, I realized the proper way to use the Moka pot-- exactly as you described in this video.
Your mention of aluminum is quite interesting... lots of industrialists from Northern Italy around Verona where he was from... I remember he had a box full of promotional beanies from his friend's father's aluminum factory... I still have that aluminum factory beanie sitting in my closet.
Hey, glad to have another person onboard with defying the peremptory authority of Italian grandmothers!
If you're interested in the aluminum aspect of the moka pot, here's a video about whether your moka pot will give you aluminum poisoning:
ruclips.net/video/qV3Us0KkIMo/видео.html
@@loodog555 I will certainly check out that video, thank you!
I am sure you must be aware of Adam Ragusea, who also goes quite a long ways in debunking some of the Orthodox wisdom of Italian grandmas, haha.
I am not of Italian heritage at all,
but I grew up in an Italian-Canadian neighborhood in Toronto called _Corso Italia._
Another good tip is to NEVER tap or bang the funnel when emptying the grounds, as it can distort the shape of the funnel and cause the pot to not seal properly. A lot of people think the sealing gasket is bad or they have a defective pressure valve when they get steam leaks, which may be the case, but it could also be the funnel is distorted.
I have not personally had this problem, but your mileage may vary! Certainly, aluminum in a thin layer is more malleable than most people realize!
@@loodog555 I've also just recently realized that it is better to have your coffee grounds filled about 1mm BELOW the rim of the funnel. This is because the top strainer protrudes below the gasket and can 'move' the grounds while the top is being screwed on, this can cause the grounds to get caught in the seal or the thread.
How do you empty it?
@@susan8282 the funnel where the coffee goes? Turn it upside down, make sure the long funnel thing is not hot. Blow into it and 90% of the coffee grounds will fall out.
Legend has it, that behind this piano concert there is a guy ina distance talking something about the coffe.
Of all the comments annoyed with me for my mixing of sound levels, this is by far my favorite.
@@loodog555 :) its a polite way of saying just eliminate the music. Less is more.
@@creation_nono Believe me, I know what the message is from the 40 (less witty) comments before you. Unfortunately, RUclips doesn’t let you just upload a new video to replace an old one, so we’re all stuck with it. I have made improvements on my newer videos.
This is all legit information. Once I started preparing my moka pot the way it's described in this video, the difference has been night and day compared with my years of wrong brewing method.
Awesome! Glad to be a help! That’s a pretty good yelp review! For even more tips, there’s my follow up video linked above and there’s this awesome video if you search “moka pot voodoo”, he’s also got some nice tips to try out.
I dont understand why u need to cool the chamber. Just pour it out immediately. That should stop the cooking.
Hey, good question! Simply removing it will not stop the brewing. Once it starts going, even removing the heat won't stop it. As for pouring it right away, I guess you could try, but my concerns would be that you're not going to pour it out fast enough and also, you might not want all of it in your cup at once, if it's a larger capacity device. But hey, don't take my word for it. Give it a try and let me know how the results work out!
Sorry its not directly directed to you but a general remark cos i see other people do this too. To me its just inefficient. For smaller moka, pour to your cup. For bigger moka, pour into serving pot.
Mistake#4 was the one I learned most recently. When the coffee is coming out, after a while there will be a "surge" that is more pale and watery. That's the time to take it off the heat. I always used to keep it on until all the water had filtered through.
not a mistake, also not a problem, it depends on time
coffee starts burning (Giving off sour flavors) 3.5 minutes after it has started brewing (got in contact with hot water), as long as that water doesn't come 3.5 minutes after the brew started there's no problem on waiting for it to finish.
but if you left the grinds on the fire for a long time is possible that it has already burnt
Pale and watery means you didnt fill the Grounds pan up and flatten it.... ignore this videos "dont pack it" advice ,you have to pack it if you like strong espresso... which ,to be fair,is what a Mocha pot is for
Great tips. Thanks gents
@@Gianfranco_69 this is wrong and dangereous, mocha pot is not designed to withstand pressure as a espresso machine, that's not what mocha pot is designed for.
@@miguelarturopalomaresruiz oh....i dont 'tamp it down' like an espresso machine,just fill and flatten it...they are fool proof,they never explode (they have a valve) unless you make a rookie error and put grounds in the bottom and coffee in the top...which i have seen someone do
6# stir before serving to mix up tje very strong coffee with the weaker coffee in the end.
I can not imagine living a life where I don't clean the Moka Pot 💀
Talk to the Italians!
amazing video, thank you! should you take the Moka pot off the stove AS SOON as you seen the bubbling begin or after its about half full? there should be enough vapor pressure once its start bubbling to push all the water through correct? thank you again
Hey thanks for the praise! Great question! What matters is the *color* of the coffee produced; don’t get hung up on what quantity of coffee made. Once you’re getting pale bubbly stuff, you’ve run out of accessible water and are now brewing with superheated steam (very bad for flavor!).
I explain the physics of this here: ruclips.net/video/2jLdGi7kjzk/видео.html
@@loodog555 thank you and cheers
this and your advice about sour coffee in comments really helped me out. this mornings brew is the best this far, and i honestly cant wait for tomorrows brew... cheers 🌴☕
Awesome! I'm glad all the COVID-era research I put into brewing is making the world a better coffee place!
I'm only here to listen to Eddie Grieg.
I've been doing it all wrong all these months! THANK YOU!!!! can't wait to actually enjoy my coffee.
is your moka pot coffee tasting better now
Awesome to hear!
@@zorawarsingh9373 yes, but i honestly feel like everyone just has to experiment and see what works best for their moka, their coffee grounds, their stovetop etc...and don't get too frustrated! i'm finally happy with my brew in the morning starting with room temperature water, grinding beans to a little coarser than fine, heat at medium. simple. i don't run my moka under cold water like in some videos. starting with boiling water kept giving me sour coffee. i stopped stressing, and started to just do what felt right, and yay delicious, rich moka pot brew!
Please use cold water, that is the best way to get the best tasting coffee ever. Always use cold water. Good Luck,,
I am a first year teacher, and brewing coffee is quickly becoming an art and hobby for me haha. Shalom!
I and all my Italian ancestors have NEVER filled a Moka pot with boiled water nor have they ever removed it from the hob half way to run it under cold water.
We have never had horrible tasting coffee.
The only thing that is worth doing here is cleaning your Moka pot properly including under the filter plate.
Haha, someone told me that I would be pissing off a lot of Italians! If you watch my follow up video, I do mention that my advice is contrary to “authentic Italian” method: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
Great to learn some italian tradition from you. however, I don't see why things have to be italian tradition to be worth doing?
I used to start with cold water, but a few days ago I read that it should be hot, so I tried freshly boiled water, and the result was much better, smoother and tastier. I also tried grinding less fine, and that also improved the result. And yes, taking it off the stove when frothing helped too. So I agree with your recommendations, wish I’d discovered this years ago. Tomorrow I receive a new burr hand grinder, having always used a blade coffee mill. Apparently the burr grinder will make a big difference, as the grounds will be a more uniform size.
Indeed: ruclips.net/video/dgM-_nPPKgw/видео.html& burr grinders are necessity!
I'm told you get much better quality for your dollar with a manual grinder, but I'm laaazy. You need that morning coffee to have the energy to operate a manual grinder, but you need ground coffee to get that morning coffee soooo,,,
@@loodog555 I’ve ordered a manual grinder, but I cannot fault your logic. Looks like I’ll need an ekectric grinder too so I can wake up enough to use the manual one. Oh shoot.
the coffee should not gurgle/explode/bubble. it needs to ooze out slowly with just a bit of steam at the very end.
I have drifted more in a direction of turning down the heat to low once coffee starts sputtering. This does result in a more oozy and smoother coffee flow as you suggest. Anything to reduce the brewing temperature is a good thing!
@@loodog555 yes thats how i do it. i have a glass electric stove, so i turn it off as soon as coffee starts coming out, and the residual heat of the coil is just enough to finish the brew.
overall, everyone has to experiment for themselves until they find the right procedure.
Great video, straight to the point. But, it would have been better without the loud, distracting music.
Yes, just wanted to write exactly the same. Music too loud and distracting.
Oh finally one talk abotu yemen and coffee history.. 🌸 ❤
I love that your channel is just about coffee. Such good explanations and curiosities, thanks so much!
Just 1 big mistake: it is designed to make strong coffee. In Europe we call "american coffee" something like a coffee with double the water. Coffee should be bitter, if it is real coffee. Otherwise drink tea or cocoa.
Why your moka pot tastes bad: ...why are you tasting the moka pot? Just drink the coffee.
So that’s what I’ve been doing wrong! 😂
Really cool... thanks Taxi Driver's DeNiro...
Are you talkin' to me?
أصول بداية وجودة القهوة اكتشفها العرب قديما وكان مصدرها من اليمن
بعد ذالك اتجهت الى أنحاء العالم منها البرازيل وأمريكا وأوروبا
I know that Yemen was crucial in the early days of coffee culture (and of course the moka pot was named after it) but I was under the impression that the first coffee was discovered in Ethiopia.
You're like Ross from FRIENDS
Start educating whenever a topic comes up.
After watching this video I should be on the show you're doing.😅
What's the purpose of boiling in advance? I always just start with cold water and let it sit on low-medium heat within the moka pot.
Heating the coffee grounds makes it taste burnt/stale/bad . If you start with cold water, you burn your grounds even before the water can go through it, resulting in bitter, burnt aftertaste.
Starting with hot water is better because you don't have to heat the water up to temperature so your grounds arent sitting in a hot furnace without any liquid.
From what i've heard, starting with cold water can cause the coffee to burn and come out bitter as it's over the open flame longer. Starting with hot water means less time over the flame.
See above.
Honestly, I haven't found preheating the water makes much a difference compared to more important tweaks like using an AeroPress filter, coarser grind, or removing from the heat at the right time, but probably you should preheat because the physics models show you'll extract at too low a temperature otherwise: ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html
I like the idea that some dumbass saw a washing machine and thought "fuck that looks delicious".
It's tide pods before tide.
My 2 biggest problems with them is everyone tells you how much water to use, but no one ever mentions the amount of coffee to use, and second, it just takes way too long to get the coffee volcano going, even when you start with boiling water, like unreasonably long. You can brew 2-3 coffees in the same amount of time with literally any other brewing method.
I've found moka pot is as fast as any brewing method except AeroPress and certain much faster than a French Press, especially using the 8-minute James Hoffman technique: ruclips.net/video/13GGreDHowQ/видео.html
Between 1g of coffe per 16 mL of water (stronger) - 1g of coffee per 24 mL of water (lighter).
That's the values you could use as base but there are no rules, give a try and see how it pleases you.
i measured how much grams of water fit in the base until the valve. divide that by roughly 10-11 and use that much grams of coffee.
I brewed my first cup today.. from start of heating to finish, it took 3 minutes in a 2cup Pot. And it was very cheap.
My electric kettle takes longer than that just to boil water.. and another 10 minutes to brew tea….
….such that I’m thinking of getting a separate Moka Pot just for tea..
If you know a faster way to make espresso or tea, other than instant, teabags or microwave.. I’m all ears.
This is non-sense. No Italian Grandmother does any of this. Just turn off the heat when it starts gurgling. To clean it, just rinse it out with water and wipe the polished surfaces and the gasket with a sponge. Do not use soap. Period. Do not clean out the reservoir. Reverse the gasket at about five years. The most important thing is to not put it together wet. let it air dry completely. If you put it together wet you will get mold in the reservoir and this is what creates bad flavors. One more thing. The color of the roast you, and what kind of beans the coffee is made from has more to do with the flavor than anything else. You have to experiment a bit to find out what you like, and it also depends on what your are going to do with the coffee: drink straight, make an Americano, or a milk drink.
Hey, thanks for the comment!
If there's any constant in the universe, it's Italians coming to this channel and telling me that "how grandma did it 80 years ago is the only correct way" 😁. As I posted in my follow-up video, I don't care so much whether my method is the "authentic Italian" way so much as whether it produces good flavor coffee: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
If your goal is to reproduce the results you get from that method, sure, keep doing it exactly the same for the rest of your life, but there have been fabulous advances in the science of coffee since those days if you have an interest in reducing the bitterness and astringency that moka pots have become known for. For example, there are physics papers out there that definitely show preheating your moka pot water helps with extraction, even though your Italian grandmother would never do this: ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html
On the topic of cleaning and drying, I endorse your advice on letting things dry completely to prevent mold, but your advice of "don't clean the bottom chamber" seems contradicted by your advice to clean off all the surfaces so I'm a bit confused.
With regard to your comment that beans matter more, my latest video addresses this fact: that raw ingredients - water and coffee - matter more than the brewing process:
ruclips.net/video/5khcZkEHG0Q/видео.html&
Good luck!
@@loodog555 You don't clean out the bottom chamber because that surface is porous and not polished like the other surfaces. Some of the coffee oils get down there and season the surface just like a cast iron frying pan gets seasoned by fat oils. If you clean out the reservoir with soap you will remove the seasoning. Do your scientific papers explain all that?
Your comment about "over-extraction" is misplaced. Extraction is a continuum and how much extraction you do depends on what flavor you want. With the Moka pot you can end the extraction anytime you want- prematurely, or let all the steam through the grounds-it is a matter of choice and taste, not "science".
@@tedolphbundler724 Hey, thanks for your reply. Not just the bottom, but indeed all the aluminum surfaces are porous, which I agree is an important thing to consider and it's the main reason you never want to put your moka pot in the dishwasher.
By "overextraction", what I mean is "more than 22%", which sensory panels have shown is where the bitter and astringent (drying) flavors start to come out, whereas sweetness generally requires you to get to at least 18%: sca.coffee/sca-news/25/issue-13/towards-a-new-brewing-chart
So again, we're making assumptions about people liking sweet flavors and disliking bitter flavors. The specific balance of those flavors that you've gotten used to might be different than what this process is designed to maximize. Again, that's fine. There's no rule that says "You're not allowed to prefer the flavor of 24% extracted coffee"; it's just not what general brewing advice in third wave coffee is geared to produce. So, in that context, my tips are oriented towards reducing overextracting and minimizing bitter while maximizing flavor. Good luck!
@@loodog555 So, who decided that 22% is some magic number? Not Italian grandmother's. If you are going to make an Americano with 1/3 coffee, 1/3 water and 1/3 milk you need the coffee to have some "punch". Extract away! If you are going to drink it straight in a demitas cup that is a different story. The point is, there is no "science" here at all.
I love how the intro is precisely the story that probably brings 95% of the people to the video.
i love bitter coffee sometimes, the taste lingers the whole day, sometimes well into the night.
I do everything wrong and I like my results. I use cold distilled water, electric plate on high, I use fine ground espresso roast coffee, and I pack the coffee in and slightly mound over the puck. This makes an extremely strong cup of coffee and I don't find it too bitter. I don't use sugar, only cold heavy whipped cream.
I live at over 1 mile high so the water never reaches 212°F so it doesn't over heat the coffee.
Anyway, that's how I do it.
Yeah, the more I research into Moka pot, there larger the number of expert opinions I find saying different things. I posted a link above to a video that completely contradicts much of my advice. At the end of the day, these are just ideas to play with and should come down to what *your* experimentation yields with your taste preferences. Don't take my word as gospel, for sure!
If it tastes good, it's not wrong. )
Plot twist:
I like sugar in my coffee so I add it to the Bialletti with the ground coffee and brew it in.
I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but I seem to need less sugar when I brew it in.
Interesting! My prior roommate was Dominican and told me DR style was to put some sweetened condensed milk in the bottom chamber instead of water.... well, I just wound up clogging the connecting tube! Would NOT recommend.
Solution to your query: do a blinded trial - make it both with a tsp of sugar during brewing and after brewing and have someone present the two cups to you. See if you can tell the difference. Expectations contribute A LOT to the experience.
Italian here. You made two mistakes. 1) You don't have to put hot, boiling water in it, but cold tap water and put the pot on the smallest flame possible. 2) You have to put way more coffee in it (without pressing it with the spoon), it has to look like an hill/mountain and it will be compressed a bit when you tighten the pot.
It is also fundamental to stir the coffee with a teaspoon after you remove the pot from above the flame since at the beginning the coffee that rise is denser and more bitter while at the end it's more watery.
Hello there, my Italian friend. Thanks for bringing up these issues, as it lets me clarify a few more misconceptions:
1) You absolutely can use cold water and I've experimented around with both, but it does not affect the taste of the coffee, simply because the vapor does not start to dampen the beans until boiling anyway. However, since using an electric kettle is both more energy efficient (insideenergy.org/2016/02/23/boiling-water-ieq/) and faster, I just jump straight to it.
2) I would specifically advise *against* stuffing the filter in the manner you suggest. I've have experimented around with it a bit and I have found (a) it prevents an airtight seal with the gasket and (b) causes loose grounds to become embedded in that gasket. The result is that you do get a stronger cup of coffee, but you sacrifice brewing pressure. I've even found it makes less coffee!
3) Regarding your post below about stirring with a teaspoon, I agree.
loodog555 I forgot to mention that to preserve the airtight seal and the pressure you simply have to tighten the pot so strongly that veins in your head start to pop :)
Tip: if you all found out the coffee is getting stuck, like only 40% or less has risen up, just put the base of the pot under cold water ( you’ll feel some vibrations) being careful not to spill the coffee inside, and put it again on the flame. After few seconds the all of the coffee will magically rise.
@@g3rzin Hey Gerardo, happy to follow up! Of course, our expression here in America is "Your mileage may vary". Moka Pot is all about getting the best coffee that works for you and it seems everyone has a different favorite cup. However, for the sake of the collective coffee knowledge of humanity, I'd like to debug this a little bit and figure out why your results and mine have turned out so differently using the same technique.
I definitely tighten the top to the point of the tolerance of the aluminum threads, which is pretty tight. The issue is that all the pressure in the world won't create a proper seal with the rubber gasket if there are obstructions to that seal in the form of the grounds (which is what happens when I have tried your "mountain" technique). A nice seal will happen without all that much pressure so long as the rim of the filter can mate smoothly to the gasket. So this leads me to my theorizing about what you're doing differently.
My pot takes about 300ml of water and the filter holds about 20-25 g of coffee, depending on how coarse the grinds are. This is intentional design, as it creates a water:coffee ratio of about 15:1. My theory is that your overfilling is only an extra gram or so and the result is that you can still get a seal out of it.
Can you be a bit more specific about how much "mountain" you're adding?
@@loodog555 I think it's more than a gram :)
Here's all the process: imgur.com/a/HLyVA42
Why would you use one of those to begin with? It would work better on the shelf looking pretty.
One can use it for great coffee, wash and dry it then put it on the shelf to look pretty.
Ha! I do agree with you a bit. I prefer a brewing method with more control and consistently good results like a siphon, but sometimes I like the challenge of a moka.
Tip n 3 : used grinded coffe is good for degrease nasty pots and pans 😉
Very true!
I TOLD MY MOM NOT TO PUT IT ON HIGH HEAT AND NOT TO LEAVE IT ON THE BURNER. NO WONDER WHEN I MAKE MY COFFEE IN ONE OF THESE IT TASTES SO MUCH BETTER AND DOESN'T STINK UP THE DAMN HOUSE.
Yeah, I've been doing a lot of researching the scientific papers about this and it seems the biggest most ruinous mistake is the leaving the moka pot on after bubbling. You are sending superheated vapor right through your grinds, which extracts them way too much. I'm in the process of making videos that explain these papers, but if you want to give a read yourself, this is my source: www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~phyexp/uploads/Moka/article2.pdf
I am Italian, I am a chemist, i brew my coffee with moka three times a day since i was a teenage. And I guarantee, this video is wrong in so many ways I can't even explain
Thanks for your input! My intent was not so much to piss off half of Italy, but rather to give people some basic guidelines if they want to know what they can play around with! Please check my follow up video for more discussion if you would like to get into the details: m.ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
If you are a chemist, you might be interested in the physics paper by Warren King where they model the process numerically and show, among other things, that coffee initially extracts before any water is even boiling.
Also, maybe as an Italian chemist you can comment on why Italians don’t care about the bitterness that comes with 2,4-decadienal, 4-ethylguiacol, and 2,4-nonadienal. I guess they’re just used to it?
my coffee tastes normal
I like the fact that you use the stirrer from an Aeropress to smooth out the coffee! LOL Nice touch. All good advice. Thanks. I have at least 40 mokka pots, but only drink espresso. Cheers.
The more diligent will notice the little touches!
Good tips on moka. Not sure though how well coffee brewing goes with Grieg...at least you were creative in your choice of performer. :-)
Ha! Appreciate it!
Hey you guys, thanks for all your comments! Before you launch the 200th comment at me about whether to preheat the water, check out my latest installment which addresses this specific question: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html.
Before you launch the 2000th comment about how much to fill up the coffee basket: ruclips.net/video/bCSn2CXWZOE/видео.html
Here's a paper claiming on the basis of physics and a 93C temperature extraction that you want to preheat your water to 70C: www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~phyexp/uploads/Moka/article1.pdf. So consider that too. There are subtle interactions between how much the initial air in the chamber expands and starting temperature of the water.
I know, many of you are Italian and unhappy with what I've done to your brewer, like I’m coming along and telling you your culture is wrong! No worries, my friends. I mention this in the update as well. People bring up how much coffee to pack, what beans to use, it's all in that update and I welcome you so we can continue the conversation and CENTRALLY IMPORTANT TASK of making the world a better coffee place.
Also, THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD! Sorry. I'm already making adjustments on my new videos and trying to be more considerate of how obtrusive some people can find it.
All in all, don't take my word for it! Try it out on your own. MY best technique doesn't have to be the same as YOUR best technique, but wouldn't it be great if we collaborated and came up with the best principles for how to experiment with our beloved little Moka pots?
93°C? In my Aeropress, I usually use water around 185°F/85°C going as low as 180°F/82° or as high a 190°F/88°C, depending on the beans. Anything above 190°F/88°C (measured with a digital thermometer just before pouring into the beans) always tastes burnt/bitter to me.
@@CapnSlipp The proper context on that number was that it was in an article in Scientific American written by Ernesto Illy who was discussing espresso extraction.
Your numbers are curious, as I do my AeroPress at 195F/91C and I'm pretty happy. Maybe I'll try a lower temp. next time and see what it does.
I thought maybe the taste was from the pot being aluminum and was looking to buy a stainless steel one. Also please do a percolator video. Thanks!
Man I used that exact brand of stovetop expresso for years.
Washing with soap is what they mean you dont need to do. Even Bialetti on their box says environmentally friendly as you just need to rinse off the oils under a hot tap and then dry off with a tea towel. That takes care of all the cleaning meeded. Best stored in pieces completely dry.
Hi thanks for the comment! Bialetti themselves specifies occasional washing with lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda:
www.bialetti.com/it_en/inspiration/post/how-to-clean-the-coffee-pot-at-home-natural-and-effective-remedies
i'm italian and i'm dead inside watching this!
You have to put cold water and create a little grinded coffe mountain inside the funnel than close it tight and wait for the magic happen! ah and minimum heat, high heat mean burnt coffee!
Snap! I’m Spanish and my granny would slap me silly if I put hot water also if I wash the pot with detergent
Oh yes, people told me I would be angering the Italians! I have made a follow up video that talks a bit about this being not the Italian way to do it: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html Welcome your feedback!
@@loodog555 we don't need the italians anymore, they lost the war of coffee.
Long live the city roast and the 3rd wave !
🤣
@@loodog555 oh don't worry! i'm not angry with you! XD i know you like mud water instead of moka coffee!! :D but i know also that they are different and can both be a good hot beverage...
@@jousis_ i hope you are not talking abou 3rd pandemic wave, nothing to laugh about that....
Thanks, this is great. An Italian lady once told me to just rinse the expresso maker, not wash. In any case, how would you wash it? Dishwasher certainly not! By hand with or without dishwashing liquid? Many thanks.
Hi and thanks for the comment and your excellent questions!
People say don't push it in the dishwasher and..... they're right. I've tested it myself. The problem is that the dishwasher works too well and cleans off the protective layer of aluminum oxide that prevents the aluminum from reacting too much with your coffee and leaching into it:
ruclips.net/video/qV3Us0KkIMo/видео.html
The manufactured says "hand wash with mild detergent" and I'd say this advice is well heeded. Yes, most of the time I just use some hot water and a brush.
Also, one thing I'd get a bit overly semantic on is calling it an espresso maker. Some people refer to these machines as "stove-top espresso machines" (including one physics paper: prokofe.ru/files/public/1545073434_16273_FT107421_the_physics_of_a_stove-top_espresso_machine_warren_d_king_king2008.pdf) but strictly speaking, it's not making anything like espresso but something like an espresso-drip coffee hybrid.
@@loodog555 Semantic R Us! When I wrote this last night, I actually had to think what to call it. Some just say 'the Bialetti', which is a little non-inclusive if your [insert name here] is of a different brand. The thing is, we call this beauty 'la cafetera' (Spanish for 'the coffee maker'), which suits 'her' perfectly! Where I live, 'mocca' (double C) refers to a (Starsbucks-style) drink with coffee, milk and chocolate (not my cup of tea!), so 'moka' is out of the books for us. Greetings.
Cold water, highest heat and it works fine for me
It it tastes good, it is good!
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 it's the least bitter I get, when heat is at its highest
I gave up on these they always taste like ass. I did a course grind, non packed down, though I did fill the entire thing and rake off the excess, making sure to move my butter knife ONLY horizontally. I put in the boiling water, set the burner extremely low, and by the time the Moka pot was like 3/4 full (well before the clear water or bubbles came out), I started pouring it into my coffee mug. Still very bitter. These days I drink instant coffee bc it’s so much more convenient, faster, less cleanup, and it even tastes better too 🤦
Hey Henry, I wish youtube were better designed for mobile so that you'd already see the link to my follow-up video, which gets a bit more into the details: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html Unfortunately, the youtube set up for mobile makes it a lot easier to type a comment than to see what's posted already. Anyway, check out the video I just posted. It's got a few more tips to try out, in case your coffee still sucks.
Also, I'm finishing up a video about a suggestion I heard about: putting an AeroPress filter *inside* your moka pot. Spoiler: it makes a difference!
Also, there is a much longer video that spends a bit more time discussing some of the science theory (like the fact that water boils at higher temp when it's under pressure) and contests my claim that you need to remove the Pot as soon as it's bubbly. Their claim is that ambient temperature water will... I don't know... they're not exactly clear... spend more time in contact with the grounds. I don't see how the steam is going to spend any time in contact with the grounds before boiling creates the vapor pressure....
Anyway, watch if you'd like a bit more food for thought ruclips.net/video/aikEi9xHt2A/видео.html.
Turns out that Moka pots are a bit trickier to pinpoint then I thought 😅. Moka pot and none of its parts aren't in my eyes a sealed system. While true that partial pressures between each of the three chambers at any time will probably vary, it is not sealed and the pressure is fairly free to equalise, as the only resistance is the coffee bed itself.
Therefore based on the drawing, you can see the system works not exactly due to Pascal's principle as it is more complicated than that. The first part is largely based on vapor pressure difference. Water evaporates at pretty much all temperatures, temperature only changes the rate at which it does so. So does the surface area of the faze interface. The drawing shows, that the tube of the basket is a much smaller area, compared to the rest. Temperature being close to same in the chamber, it is expected that there will be less vapor in the tube than around it, less vapor = lower pressure, causing water to be sucked through the tube until equilibrium, which we keep shifting by heating it.
This effect doesn't necessarily happen only at boiling temperature, it can happen sooner (haven't tested nor calculated the lowest temperature though.)
Than the coffee chamber starts to fill and extract the coffee. It can be tricky here to pinpoint the ideal heat to use, as extraction is a function of both time and temperature. Temperature increases both the extraction and the evaporation rate in the bottom chamber, increasing the speed at which the water is forced up into the coffee, eventually out of the coffee into the final chamber, and therefore decreasing the time of extraction per molecule of water. I expect there to be a steep extraction curve though. The water that enters first is at a relatively low temperature and stays a long time, as it needs to fill the chamber before being forced out. It also at this stage doesn't get heated further. The water coming after it gets progressively hotter and hotter, as it is necessary for it to be so, so that the pressure equilibrium is not reached. After the water fully fills the coffee chamber, it has nowhere to go but up. The hotter the water going into the coffee, the shorter the contact time, purely based on small pressure gradients between the three chambers. (Higher heat, more water sucked faster, works even between the coffee chamber and the top of the pot).
Now, the reason you can produce wastly differently tasting cups is that extractions are a mess 😁. You would expect that there is no difference between short, hot extraction and a long cold one. If you ever had a cold brew, you know that isn't true. Some chemicals are not extractable (think of soluble but for liquids) at lower temperatures. In the case of coffee, these compounds are the harsher bitter ones (tanins mostly) and the acidic ones.
That corresponds to their testing, where the coffee spends a fairly long time extracting at 60 degrees and progressively shorter times at the higher temperatures. This is aided by them using high heat to heat the cold water, causing a longer 'lag faze' and a quick 'log faze' of extraction.
If you use already (close to) boiling water, you will force the water to fill the coffee chamber a lot quicker as the pressure difference between the two chamber will rise quicker, causing shorter extraction time at a higher temperature, but your extraction has very short 'lag faze' and the same 'log faze' afterwards, extracting overall more of the bitter, and less of the lower temp sweeter rounder compounds.
That assumes the use high heat too, though. Your result is better, because you put it over medium heat. That will lengthen the lag faze and make the log faze not as steep, extraction will be likely less bitter and more sweet.
In regards to them not plunging it into cold water, it is just the matter of reaching equilibrium to stop the process. You are putting constant medium heat into it, starting at a water close to a boil. You will reach a point where this system becomes incapable of keeping up the heat necessary for the equilibrium to not be reached(as the amount of water in the chamber decreases), and the water will stop flowing. At that point, you will likely superheat this water, which you don't want as that temperature will likely cause unwanted compounds extracting. So you stop and force equilibrium earlier, by rapidly decreasing temperatures( likely reversing pressure gradient, btw, causing some watery coffee to be sucked back into the heating chamber).
They on the other start high heat, but as they see the flowing coffee, they immediately decrease to low, causing the equilibrium to be reached more slowly and naturally, without the need of cooling the chamber down.(therefore results may vary in between electric stoves with higher temperature lag, over gas stoves)
Long post, should've wrote an email 😂
@@MultiBamb00cha Yeah, I agree with most of what you said as it is mostly in line with King's paper www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~phyexp/uploads/Moka/article1.pdf.
"Your result is better, because you put it over medium heat. That will lengthen the lag faze "
I'm not sure this is the case. Medium heat will mean it takes more time to get sufficient water to boil to have the vapor pressure needed to start the brewing, but I'm figuring the only thing that changes the brewing temperature is the ratio of the temperature of the fully heated air to the starting temperature of the air, since that alone dictates what the partial pressure of the air is going to be, and therefore how much water vapor needs to be produced, and therefore what the water temperature will when brewing. Medium get gets you to that temp more slowly, but it's still the same temp, by my figuring anyway.
On a side note: I'm curious about your consistent spelling of the word "faze"
@@loodog555 Sorry, not a native speaker, I use the word 'faze' in a couple different instances, and it is used in a similar way I'd use it in my native language.
Also what I meant by your result being better because of the use of medium heat, what I was comparing is a scenario where already boiling water from the kettle is being used, and I am suggesting that in that case, medium heat should yield better results, as opposed to high heat, if like I said you are using boiling water.
You will likely get enough of a pressure differential fast enough even on a medium heat in this case, plus reaching higher pressure, though unlikely due to the systems inability to really get pressurised much, may lead to increase of the boiling temperature of the water, causing it to superheat a bit, and making the extraction go more bitter.
The way I address partial pressure was also not the way you are thinking, and I should have cleared that up. I used the wrong term there. I was talking more about a likely pressure gradient in the Moka pot, from highest likely being in the bottom water chamber, second in the ground coffee chamber, and lowest (atmospheric) in the upper chamber.
The air, although it can affect the process, is much less important in the chamber than water. Air is not highly heat conductive, nor does it have a high heat capacity, and there is comparatively much smaller amount of molecules of it in there.
Understand that water in the chamber doesn't have to be boiling evaporate, aka increase pressure, aka start the process. It is just much faster when it is boiling.
There are reasons it is never said to brew Moka at a low heat and temperatures reached. It is impractical due to time required, and it is also practically impossible to monitor the actual temperature inside. It will likely also taste bad, as we are looking for a sweet spot of temperature/time of our extraction, and this might yield poorly extracted coffee.
@@MultiBamb00cha You didn't make an important consideration: gases expand as the temperature rises. This is the reason why the water put in the boiler rises towards the extraction chamber and continues until it reaches the bric.
Inside the boiler, you must not only consider the presence of liquid water but of a gaseous atmosphere of air saturated with water vapor which, when heated, expands, pushing liquid water (not compressible) upwards, at temperatures around 90~95 ° C, through the funnel of the coffee recipient.
@@antc.4457 yeah, that's why the whole mechanism works, pressure is increased by evaporation, gases have larger volume than liquids, creating higher pressure. What I was saying that the amount of molecules of air is not as significant overall, as water molecules, later steam molecules vastly outnumber it, until a lot of water is pushed into the coffee and out of the bottom chamber
In Italy we usually make a little pile when putting the coffee powder on the filter, just like a little mountain, even one centimeter above the level of the filter, it doesn't matter if the coffe powder is spilled, fuck it you can clean it afterwards.
And here's the way on how to make the coffee creamy just like we take it in the morning at a bar (the equivalent of a café): ruclips.net/video/lyLSmpLwj2Y/видео.html
The video shows 5 spoons of sugar but you can also have less, 3 if you want.
Ah yes, it is the traditional Italian method of making a little mountain and yet....ruclips.net/video/bCSn2CXWZOE/видео.html
I'm getting wayy too sour coffee? Am I grinding too fine? Too coarse?
Sour coffee = underbrewed. You'll want combination of finer grind size and/or longer brew time. Leave the pot on the stove a bit longer and grind your beans more finely and you'll be good to go!
Very bad mistake not mentioned: no free space should be left, because water wil create channels in coffee. Extraction would not be uniform
Well actually….ruclips.net/video/bCSn2CXWZOE/видео.html
I found give the final coffee a stir before pouring it into my coffee mug gives a more consistent flavour. Otherwise the second mug gets a stronger taste.
"You're probably gonna need an oven mitt..." Damn right y' 'ar'. And with that oven mitt on, you're gonna find it extremely difficult to tighten the mechanism the required amount. USE ITALIAN MINERAL WATER "naturale" and good coffee and it's not as complicated as this fella makes it out to be.
Never had a problem myself with the oven mitt but you do what you need to! As for water, I do discuss about best water to brew with in another video: ruclips.net/video/V-zqiitKUYg/видео.html
Hello! Thank you for this review! I'm wondering if you or anyone knows: If I get a 300ml pot, I assume that if I fill the chamber with coffee I'm making what's essentially a coffee with 3-shot intensity? (I've only really had cafe espresso - flatwhites and lattes, coz that's all anyone sells around here. No percolator or plungers.) Will the coffee chamber cope with being filled only a half/third? Must the water chamber be filled to the valve, or can I run the whole thing at less-than-full for both grounds and water on a lower burn?
Although I'm late in seeing this video, I just wanted to say yes, you can half fill (in your case 150ml) the water chamber. You'll get a stronger brew by doing this.
Good video. But 1 minus: the music is too quiet. Please, make it louder. We don't want to hear your voice.
Of all the comments annoyed for music volume, this might be my favorite.
I think this is the very video I’ve been looking for. Thank you! My moka pot coffee every time spitters and taste absolutely awful, it doesn’t do that smooth rising like in this video and others and I am so heartbroken.
Start with medium heat, then immediately reduce to minimum heat once you start seeing coffee. The result is that it will come out slow and smooth and less burnt.
So I did it the shit way... it also took a little to get used to, but now I really enjoy my shit coffee so I'm not sure about changing that lol
Many of the comments from Italians seem to be coming from this place, “it’s supposed to taste bitter and overly extracted! Why would you try to drink coffee if you don’t like its flavor?!” In the end, everyone has their own freedom to make coffee as they like it. I am only encouraging people to experience the difference before they make that call.
I came to this video for Moka pot tips and stayed for the music! What a lovely, spirited rendition of this Grieg nocturne - one of the most enjoyable I can remember ever hearing. Bravo from one pianist to another!
Aw thanks, man! All my other commenters seem to hate it!
@@loodog555 I guess my opinion won’t be completely representative then, but this subscriber for one would gladly enjoy more music! Or perhaps you’ll share a video of just your playing for us all to enjoy while we sip an improved cup of Moka! ☕️👍
Add this pianist to the count. In fact I searched the channel for a video of the nocturne and was sorely disappointed.
do you know why you should use boiling water to start with? i always use cold water and set the stove to low-mid and it brews (very) slowly and it's really nice every time
I preheat the water to conserve energy and to save myself time. On the merits on whether you *should* for better coffee, I'll refer you to my follow-up video, where I discuss this at length: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
@@loodog555 thanks, watching it now. i will try pre-heating the water tomorrow, makes sense that heating the water also heats the coffee and adds extra bitterness. i really enjoy bitter taste though, so that's why i didn't even notice anything wrong with the method i used (cold water)
If your method tastes good, don't change it.
You've changed my life and my coffee. Thank you!
That's what I want to hear! Awesome that this had value to you! More to consider here: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
I just wipe it with a paper towel adn never use soap. I live don a farm in italy and they would yell at me if I tried lol
I personally go for water and a little scrub. I can personally confirm that you never want to put one in the dishwasher: ruclips.net/video/qV3Us0KkIMo/видео.html
Judging by how the pot nearly slipped when the top is being screwed on, I would not want to do that when the bottom is filled with boiling water (even with an oven mitt)! Boiling the water first is using two tools and two steps when you could do it in one anyway. I still enjoyed the video along with the researched intro, and going to try the quick rinsing cool-off trick you showed : ) Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comment. I do mention safety as a concern in my follow-up video: ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
Technically, you can also boil the water directly in the reservoir, before placing the grounded coffee and attaching the top.
i always fill the sieve completely with powder, tap it lightly so that the powder is distributed and smooth it out. this is how you avoid channeling.
Fancy seeing you here 😅
I've never gotten channeling, though I've researched about whether you need to completely fill the basket: ruclips.net/video/bCSn2CXWZOE/видео.html
@@loodog555 Thank you!
Now the question that was confusing me regarding similar tutorials - if I pour coffee out of the pot immediately after taking the pot off the stove - is there still any point in cooling the pot under cold water right before pouring?
If you want to clean it out as soon as possible which is ideal, then yes.
Hi, this has been asked before below and the answer is "yes". The coffee will continue to brew from the stream pressure after heat is removed, even as you're pouring, since you're not going to get all the coffee out in the next 2 seconds. This may even cause the coffee to brew *more*, since the steam isn't pushing against gravity anymore. Applying cold water stops the brewing process. My prediction would be that your coffee would still be overbrewed, but don't take my word for it! Try it out and see what happens!
I don't see how it would be physically possible for the coffee to overbrew if that isn't cooled: mostly because the already brewed coffee is in a sepparate chamber (the top reservoir that you pour it into your cup from) to the coffee grounds (still trapped in the basket by the mesh screen inside the moka pot).
The only reason I can see for cooling the base is to make clean-up easier by filling the empty top reservoir with water and using vacuum pressure to suck water back through the basket and forcing the grounds to pack back into to it, so that the grounds all come out as a puck when you tap the basket out into a bin.
@@dj1NM3 thanks for this comment. Great question! The coffee does become separate once it has brewed through. You are right about that. The issue is not that any little drops of coffee overbrew, but that the grinds themselves continue to be extracted past the desired point. Imagine one little grain of coffee. If 20% of it has already dissolved from the water, then hitting it with any more water will result in getting the undesirable bitter pieces.
I’m not quite sure I follow you about applying cold water for easier cleaning. By the time you are starting to clean your moka pot, I am sure the base is far too cold to get a significant vacuum effect. Cooling the base for me is about stopping the over brewing.
@T B Hi T B. Thanks for your comment, but there a few things to clarify:
1) The idea that a moka pot doesn't brew until the water is boiling is a very common one, but it surprisingly turns out to not be true! ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html.
2) The idea that coffee overbrews because it's being heated belies a misconception about how coffee extraction works. I think the terminology of "overbrewing" is misleading you here.
Unlike baking or cooking, the process of chemical change is not brought about by heating. Brewing doesn't happen because the water is cooking the grinds or because the coffee is being heated; extraction happens as the water comes into contact with coffee grinds and the grinds partially dissolve into the passing water. So, while many people believe a moka pot can't overextract because each drop of water only passes through once, the truth is that you can easily overextract a given granule of coffee because you've run too much water past it, dissolving the coffee past the magical 22% mark and then you start getting past those sweet sugars and into the bitter stalky fibers of the plant. This is why any pourover recipe has a recommended ratio (usually around 16.67:1) so that you don't try to keep extracting out of beans that are already spent.
The reason you stop the brewing when you hit air bubbles is that the beans are not only optimally extracted by then, but instead of sending water through the grinds, you're now sending water mixed with superheated 120C steam, which dissolves A LOT more of the beans than you want for good flavor. Navarini et al. demonstrate this in their 2009 paper, which I explain here: ruclips.net/video/2jLdGi7kjzk/видео.html
Normal misconceptions when brewing coffee on Moka pot (but also applies to other methods)
misconception #1 : water needs to boil to build pressure WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
waters evaporates even before it starts boiling, so pressure starts even below boiling temperature,
misconception#2 : you need water vapor to build pressure, ALSO WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG,
air pressure can also push the water up in your moka pot, so having a lot of air will increase pressure faster than a pot filled with air
Misconception #3 you need to brew your coffee at high because of....reasons wroooooooooooooooooooooong
you only need your water to reach your desired temperature(between 195 and 205), then you need to adjust your flame to keep water at that temperature during the brew
misconception #4 you need to put the whole moka pot when you put it into the flames WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
You can heat your water and once your water reaches the required temperature you can add the grind holder and close the pot (of course you need something to hold the pot without burning yourself)
Misconception #5 you need boiling water to brew your coffee right, WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
best temperature to brew coffee is between 195 and 205, a little below boiling
Hey, thanks for your comments. Indeed, water does not need to boil for the milk about to brew. I explore the physics of mocha pots and what temperature did you use in the base in my series of videos here: m.ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html
Of course, if you check out the 2008 paper by Warren King that I explain in the video above, you will indeed see that a combination of the vapor pressure plus the expanding air is what causes the pot to brew!
@@loodog555
amazing videos and the best part is how it's backed up by a real scientist article !
first time I see someone talking science out of the art of brewing coffee and not just following the craftiness of trial and error. (probably that's why you get all the hate from Italians)
well trial and error can be good ways to explore different results, but without knowing what brought you that result is like trying to hit a nail in the dark, sometimes you hit the sweet spot, some times you don't.
Thank you! I come from a Hispanic family and they are religious with Moka pots. I’ve told them that boiling the water is crucial and that good coffee should come from good beans, fresh grinned, not too fine unlike bustelo. 🥴. People would be happier if they can properly brew from a moka pot. Cheers!
coffee is a beverage. tea is an infusion. Never boil a beverage - always boil an infusion. (and never use aluminium!) PS - I did 21 years in catering
Trust me.....Italians dont even use electric kettles much...i have never in my Pitiful life seen BOILED water used?? And not packing the coffee in the filter section?..... vergogna!!
Well, you've raised the Greatest Hits list of objections people always post, so I've made a general follow-up video:
ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html
1. You actually *should* preheat the water! Here's why: ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html
(Exceptions for very dark roast: ruclips.net/video/NQrRzTzU_Yk/видео.html)
2. As for the question of how much to pack the basket, here's what I found: ruclips.net/video/bCSn2CXWZOE/видео.html
@@loodog555 its ll good... i know Italians who raise hell when i attempt to "clean" Mochas ,they said "it ruins the taste" ,they like them all black outside and patina stained inside
This was very concise and informative :) thank you
Tip n 2: if you pack down the coffe or if you put to much in it, the moka will stop the brewing process in the middle of it. Remove the moka from the heat source and cool a little bit the bottom under runnig water. Put the moka back on the heat and whait
Thanks for sharing. I’ve never heard of this.
Italian little secrets 😉
W.O.W. I had no idea you could get those results from a Moka pot! you have forever changed my morning routine...
Man, that is awesome to hear!
Change the gasket every 6 months or at least every year. That plastic holds on nasty smell and taste.
Cool, man. I honestly have no gauge for how often to replace the gasket, though I do take it out every once in a while to do a more thorough cleaning. I am a bit puzzled by your calling it plastic, though. I think you mean rubber.
Sharing a few tips here:
I've never seen anyone boiling the water before putting it into the moka... the rest of the video is quite right, but you didn't put enough coffee, you should fill it up evenly and add a little bit more at the top. After that you have to close it tight and boil the coffee at low flame, if you do this you don't have to put the moka in cold water because the coffee will rise slower.
At this point it's very common to stir the coffee inside the moka for a little bit. In certain parts of Italy, like Naples, they add some sugar during this step.
Anyway, mokas need to be cleaned, you should never leave it dirty (mostly for hygiene, bleah) but you NEVER, EVER wash the interior with dish soap. Don't, just don't.
Another tip is that "LA MOKA SI DEVE FARE", this means that the more you make coffee with a moka, the better it will taste, so it always tastes bad the first few times you make coffee with a brand new moka. Don't give up, it gets better!
Source: italian addicted to moka coffee, fatto come si deve però, che sennò fa schifo, viene slavato e fa proprio cagare
Ciao!
Hi Matt, thanks for your contribution. I personally don’t like to ever add milk or sugar, but of course people can do what they wills. Thank you for your contribution of cultural context!
If you wanted to know why I preheat the water, there’s a much more thorough discussion in my follow-up video, which was mentioned in the description and stickied to the top, but I’ll post it again here anyway: m.ruclips.net/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/видео.html
@@loodog555 thanks man, I also watched the other video now :) I would like to clarify that my comment is about the traditional italian way to make coffee, and I don't think boiling the water before is wrong, it's just... different! Anyway it's always nice seeing passion for an important part of my country's culture such as the true italian coffee
@@mattmactire3961 What I’m learning from comments is that Italians just seem to not care about reducing the bitterness associated with 2,4-decadienal, 4-ethylguiacol, and 2,4-nonadienal. Which is fine, you can brew it however you prefer it, of course. It just means you’re not so oriented towards Third Wave coffee ideas with regard to the under extraction/over extraction model.
Why to use preheated water: ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html
Interesting, I'll try it. Two things though : 1. Why boil your water first ? 2. Why cool your chamber after if your pouring it into cups right away ?
Boiling the water so that the coffee doesn't heat up with the water on the flame, getting too hot, which can cause bitterness. Cooling it down so the last bitter part of the extraction can't manage to get into the upper chamber. Just to make sure.
@@yungt6668 Makes lots of sense mate, thanks for the reply !
Preheat the water so that extraction doesn't take place at too low a temperature: ruclips.net/video/O14BIH-9KTA/видео.html
I love mine. As soon as it gets noisy in the Brewing process I take it off the heat. Also I've had great results using cafe bustelo which is espresso ground coffee. So for every rule there is an exception to this.
I think there are probably many 'combinations' of rules, or recipes that lead to a good cup of moka pot coffee. I have found that it's basically impossible to get a good cup of coffee from bad beans, though.
Bustelo si
You have to use the best coffee which is from Ethiopia. In Ethiopia there is the Harrenna Forest and located near the eastern boundry of this forest there is Mt. Batu. On the south slope of Mt. Batu, the soil conditions have a high concentrations of minerals that give the local coffee a special flavor which is deeply rich and robust yet, not bitter. About 1 kilometer south-east of the Mt. Batu, there is a very small village and there the local growers harvest the best coffee in the world.
There is no such thing as best coffee. Regions all over the world can produce high quality coffee. You must buy high quality fresh coffee if you want good coffee out
@@Adam-vx6to Yes Adam there is something called The Best Coffee in the Universe. It is coffee that brings a smile to your sleepy face.
Thanks for the great video. just to recap:
1) no need to grind the coffee too fine / leave it on coarse
2) no need to press the coffee / so water can penetrate easily
3) temperature better on medium and not too high
4) don't let coffee to overbrew, remove it before the last bubbly part starts to come out
5) clean the pot right after
The truth is I was using cold water, so great tip on the warm / hot water in advance.
I still find it challenging to clean the tank after I left it few times with the water in. I used dishsoap, I used vinegar and even the metal-wire to rub it. Ay tips would appreciated.
Im having a small Bialetti (2cups) so im cleaning it after every brew and having fresh brew every time. I used to have a bigger one(5-6 cups) and no matter what it left coffee stains because the coffee was sitting in there for two days.
Now if u have a bigger moka just buy some contanier cup and pour out the fresh coffee there and A, immidiately wash the moka or B, rinse and fill the moka up with water until clean water is in there then worry about washing it properly later. The bottom and the filter part isnt really matter.
Also once in a while replace the rubber ring in it. Take a picture of a fresh one the you can compare it to it how burned it gets after time.
Don't clean it with soap! Only use hot water to clean the moka pot. Be careful about the water tank, there is a protective layer that goes away if you clean it with soap.
Put the flame to the minimum possible, and as soon as you hear bubbling remove it! Before serving use a little spoon to mix the coffee inside the moka pot, it is more dense at the bottom and more "watery" (?) at the top.
Putting the hot moka under cold water can damage it, only do this if your coffee does not go up (usually this means that the filter is clogged)
Sorry for my english, i'm italian
to clean it, you can try to use citric acid, it is sood in small packages for backing or for peackels (at least in my country). You need to put couple of packages into bigger pot, boil it an put moka pot inside. This is the same method as winegar, but without bad smell, so you can put any amount there
@@mr.priman The Bialetti Moka is made of aluminum, and aluminum does not pair well with acids ...
This is only if you want to ruin the coffee maker or want to find unwanted aluminum salts in your coffee.
Instead, it might be possible with the stainless steel coffee pot.
@@antc.4457 yes, good point, i didn’t think about that :)
I see you have a stir stick from an Aeropress. Just use the Aeropress for better coffee.
The aeropress definitely makes it easier to get consistent quality results.
Great video. One more thing I noticed improves the final taste is to give your coffee a stir after you pour it into the cup.
Sure, get it nice and even! Thanks for the tip!
I'm Italian, I've done 93849393 coffees in my whole life and I've never preboiled water, you simply add tap water to the level. Eventually, pour your coffee in a small coffee cup, not a mug.
Wow, never preheated the water? Sounds like you're due to give it a try to find out if there's any difference! Maybe you'll like it better and this will change your life!
Great video and well edited down to the pertinent info. Thanks, finally a video that gets right to the point!
Just to be Technical,...I was told this unit makes ESPRESSO. You are saying COFFEE. Which one does this make? Traditional Coffee or Espresso? Thank You.
Hey, great question! I would say it *technically* makes a strong brew of coffee, as true espresso comes out of an espresso machine at 9 bars of pressure, while a moka pot only reaches typically less than 2 bars (and a highly variable pressure that is!)
Wikipedia, for instance, talks about how moka pots are sometimes called "stovetop espresso machines" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso_machine)
'As such, their characterization as "espresso" machines is at times contentious, but due to their use of pressure and steam for brewing, comparable to all espresso prior to the 1948 Gaggia, they are accepted within broader uses of the term, but distinguished from standard modern espresso machines.'
On more of a "feels like" definition, I'd say a moka pot makes neither coffee nor espresso, but something that's a bit of a mix of both.
@@loodog555 I don't think I could have gotten a Better more well said answer than that. Thank You so Much.
@@DarthBaezaNo prob! Glad to help!
I saw the advice about a coarser grind before in another video but the coffee just tasted weak when I tried it 🤷
Definitely don’t go too coarse either. I made a video about grinders that could be a helpful instruction on this: ruclips.net/video/dgM-_nPPKgw/видео.html
Great video. What setting on the de’longhi do you have your grinder set to for Moka pot? Thanks!
What coffee grinder should I buy to make moka pot with?
Hi Gregory! Thanks! My grinder has settings from 1 up to 18 (larger numbers being more coarse). I find I get results that I like by setting the grinder to "7", which is basically just pas, the range the machine has labeled as "espresso", so coarser than espresso. Your extraction time is pretty short so the grind needs to be pretty fine. The problem is most people go too far with this and get overbitter coffee. Good luck!
@@loodog555 thanks for the reply. I appreciate it!
I really need to buy a gasket for my mocha pot which I've been avoiding for years. I guess this is a sign that its time lol.
PS: We have the same coffee mug! :D
Thank you so much for the tips, you helped a lot
No problem! Thanks for commenting!
One of the good things about them is that the spare parts are still available, in particular the rubber rings. I recently resurrected an old one that needed a new ring, which hadn’t been cleaned properly over the years.
Often my mother forgets the Bialetti Moka on the fire. A disaster happens ; -)) ... the handle melts. So I take apart all the pieces, rub it with the 3M scotch brite sponge and water abrasive paper 1000-1500 etc. then I go to buy all the spare parts. The most complex to change is the handle, you have to hammer the fixing pin with a nail, it is inserted by pressure. To clean the limescale, vinegar must be put in the boiler and left for a few hours. Greeting from Italy
Aargh - frantic loud piano overkill