- Joined
- Monday September 15, 2014
- Location
- Sheffield
The Moka Pot is the only brewing method I'd yet to try so I decided to give it a go. I received my Bialetti 4 cup Moka Express a couple of days ago. Love it. Initially it was pretty frustrating getting anything drinkable out of it until I realised I was grinding too fine. This had two effects, firstly the finer grinds meant the basket accepted too much coffee (25g) and of course you always fill the basket in a moka pot, secondly the fine grind created far too much pressure. These two together created quite a disgusting drink! So I ground coarser (22 on my Rocky) and the basket was now full with 20g of coffee.
Brew time came down to a total of just under 6 minutes (starting with cold water) and it tastes great black, strong but not too bitter. Great with milk too and I never have milk with coffee but I've become addicted to frothing up a little milk and plonking it on top of my Moka brews.
The 4 cup doesn't seem to be very common. I think it's only available in Europe and Bialetti don't even list it on their web site. Not that it matters really, but I couldn't really find any owner reports of the 4 cup model for any guidance. I use our smallest hob on full and turn it to the lowest setting once coffee starts coming through, then I take it off the heat when the coffee has reached the point of the V on the spout. There's enough residual heat left to carry on the extraction a little longer. I never get any hissing or hot steam coming up afterwards using this method. It's all very gentle and relaxing! Some of the videos I've watched it's like a volcano erupting and I thought that can't be good. Most of the written brew guides thankfully shared my opinion so I must be doing something right for once! I pretty much followed this excellent Moka Pot guide by RoamingBarista.
It really is quite a different coffee drinking experience and I like that. All in all it's a very addictive way to make coffee. It doesn't quite have the drama of my syphon but it's close. The clean up is certainly easier than a syphon brew. It probably doesn't have the subtle flavours that a pour over with a V60 and Gino/Kalita Wave can produce but I don't think Moka coffee is about subtlety. It has a character all of its own. The only thing I'm not impressed with is the paint is already wearing off the Bialetti man and the writing. Rub a finger nail over the paint and it completely comes off! Oh well no big deal. The quality of parts seem excellent.
Taken before I coarsened the grind. Too fine here.
Brew time came down to a total of just under 6 minutes (starting with cold water) and it tastes great black, strong but not too bitter. Great with milk too and I never have milk with coffee but I've become addicted to frothing up a little milk and plonking it on top of my Moka brews.
The 4 cup doesn't seem to be very common. I think it's only available in Europe and Bialetti don't even list it on their web site. Not that it matters really, but I couldn't really find any owner reports of the 4 cup model for any guidance. I use our smallest hob on full and turn it to the lowest setting once coffee starts coming through, then I take it off the heat when the coffee has reached the point of the V on the spout. There's enough residual heat left to carry on the extraction a little longer. I never get any hissing or hot steam coming up afterwards using this method. It's all very gentle and relaxing! Some of the videos I've watched it's like a volcano erupting and I thought that can't be good. Most of the written brew guides thankfully shared my opinion so I must be doing something right for once! I pretty much followed this excellent Moka Pot guide by RoamingBarista.
It really is quite a different coffee drinking experience and I like that. All in all it's a very addictive way to make coffee. It doesn't quite have the drama of my syphon but it's close. The clean up is certainly easier than a syphon brew. It probably doesn't have the subtle flavours that a pour over with a V60 and Gino/Kalita Wave can produce but I don't think Moka coffee is about subtlety. It has a character all of its own. The only thing I'm not impressed with is the paint is already wearing off the Bialetti man and the writing. Rub a finger nail over the paint and it completely comes off! Oh well no big deal. The quality of parts seem excellent.
Taken before I coarsened the grind. Too fine here.