A coworker once told me that the best trick for making coffee in a moka pot isn’t making coffee in a moka pot.
Of all the coffee machines, the moka pot is the device that has spent a number of years in the shadows. The reason? We associate the taste of its coffee with something strong, bitter, and sometimes even unpleasant. It’s one of those coffees that some believe you have add milk to make it drinkable. However, after putting some tips from the best baristas into practice, I’m rediscovering my Italian coffee machine.
This article isn’t going to be an ode to the moka pot. Of all the different ways of making coffee at my disposal, it’s the one I use the least because doing it “correctly” means breaking entirely with the simplicity that the Italian Alfonso Bialetti used to invent this machine in 1933. However, I think it can be helpful if you want to take your daily coffee to the next step and you happen to have this coffee maker at home.
It can also be your gateway to a new obsession with making better coffee, an obsession that can be wonderful. But let’s get down to business.
The Basics
We talk a lot about coffee makers, but one fundamental element is the raw material. It doesn’t matter if you have the best coffee maker in the world. If the coffee isn’t good, the brew won’t be good. It’s as simple as that. Although it’s a truism for many, others still buy torrefacto coffees (roasted with sugar) for their pantry. The problem is that many countries produced this coffee in the post-war period, not to keep the beans in their best condition, but to make them last longer.
It’s like a toasted caramelization that bathes the beans and makes them bitter. Drinking a torrefacto on its own, whether in espresso or in an infused form, is an act of bravery. If you like it, go ahead, but if you don’t, don’t lose faith in coffee because that’s not its flavor.
Getting better coffee is as simple as opting for specialty brands or other coffee sold in supermarkets but of much higher quality than torrefacto coffee. Illy or Lavazza are two good options without breaking the bank. Still, if you can try specialty coffee, I encourage you to do so (without going to a Geisha). And, well, freshly ground, of course.
The other half of the coffee is water, which is a real mess. After studying various sources, the conclusions are confusing. Some prefer water rich in minerals because it’s better for extracting the coffee and adds a particular flavor. However, the coffee maker may suffer because this water leaving sediments in the mechanism (in a moka pot, this isn’t so important). Others prefer water with little mineralization because it doesn’t add any taste. Anyway, it doesn’t extract all that it can from the beans.
I recommend trying tap and bottled water and deciding which one you like best. Maybe the water in your area is good, and all you need is a carbon filter.
And, well, there you have it: good water + good coffee = a good drink made in an moka pot. Without further ado, these two elements will improve the result.
Breaking the Bialetti Mold
But we can go a little further. While it’s true that the improvement in the quality of the coffee is remarkable when using the moka pot, experts have highlighted some practices in recent years. But before that, let's touch on an important question: Making coffee in an Italian coffee maker is easy, right?
In theory, all you have to do is pour water into the lower part of the device (called the cylinder), put coffee into the brewing basket, heat it up, and wait for it to come out of the top chamber (called the collector). Some say that this is all you need to make good coffee with this machine without being fussy. They’re right: If you buy a good coffee and use the moka pot, you'll have a better result than torrefacto or mediocre coffees.
Filling the brewing basket to the top is important, but don’t overfill it.
However, in the last few months, I’ve been putting some of the tips from the best barista in the world in 2007 (James Hoffman) into practice. I've also followed the advice that other coffee content creators like Morgan Eckroth have been preaching about on their channels. According to them, these are the steps to make the best coffee in a moka pot:
- Heat up the water in an electric kettle and pour it into the moka pot container.
- Fill the brewing basket to the top and distribute it well, but never apply pressure.
- Close the machine, putting the collector into place carefully, since the cylinder with the water will be very hot and you can burn yourself.
- Put it on the stove with low intensity heat.
- Keep the lid open to see what’s happening. When the coffee starts to be extracted and comes out of the moka pot's collector, turn off the stove.
- Some people put the cylinder under the tap to stop the extraction.
- And there you have it: you've made the best coffee with the Italian coffee maker. Or have you?
Well, as I said, I’ve followed these steps more than a dozen times in the last few months, and although I'm not an expert, I have my opinions. Specifically, they relate to preparing the coffee with hot water and putting the moka pot in cold water to cut the extraction. In summary, I think one is good for something, and the other isn’t. At least it doesn’t work for me.
I’ll start with the hot water thing. The theory is that by heating up the water beforehand, the coffee will have a shorter exposure time to the steam and the very hot aluminum so that it won’t boil over, and therefore, the flavor will be less bitter. The taste of the coffee prepared the Italian way is bitter because it’s a technique to obtain a “strong coffee.” So, the less time you exposes coffee to heat, the better it's supposed to taste.
This may be the case for expert palates, who can detect the bitter notes millimeter by millimeter. In my case, I doubt that I can appreciate such minute changes, but I’ve noticed some things:
- When I use this technique, the temperature of the water is always the same from the start (since tap water can sometimes be colder or hotter). As such, the extraction is more consistent in each preparation.
- It takes much less time to make the coffee (obviously) because the water is already at an ideal temperature for the pressure to do its job in extracting the coffee.
- It has... more body? I don’t know if it’s a suggestion, but shortening the extraction time makes the coffee intense without making it bitter. It’s actually delicious. It isn’t as pleasant as an espresso or as smooth as a drip coffee, but it definitely doesn’t cause an “itch” in your throat.
Now, let’s talk about what didn’t work for me: cutting off the extraction by putting the coffee maker in cold water just as the coffee was coming out. I think I did it too early the first two times I tried it, and the coffee was only half brewed. Out of about 7 ounces, I got about 3.5, so it definitely wasn’t ready.
On the following occasions, I waited long enough to extract all the coffee, but I didn’t notice any change in the taste. I added one more element to what should be a simple preparation, and for me, at least, I saw no improvement.
This is precisely the dilemma of preheating the water or cooling the coffee machine just before the end of the extraction: You kill the simplicity of a technique that has been with us for decades without many complaints. But, after my experience, it’s at least worth making coffee with hot water. In the best case, you’ll notice a change in the body of the beverage, and in the worst, you’ll shorten the brewing time.
Showing Off the Italian Way
Did you think that these two techniques have betrayed Bialetti’s concept? I have one more step that I haven't tested, and although it makes sense, I won’t use it in my Italian coffees.. It’s the paper pre-filter.
The open lid helps control the process but doesn’t make it taste better or worse.
In an espresso machine, using a pre-filter (either paper or metal) makes sense to distribute the water in the brew basket better and avoid staining everything. In a machine like the Aeropress, this paper filter is THE FILTER to avoid lumpy coffee. But a moka pot already has a metal filter. In fact, it’s a piece formed by two filters to prevent sediment from entering the upper chamber, and it usually works very well.
The experts say this filter adds a new layer of protection to prevent sediment from entering the upper chamber. Still, as I said, it’s an extra expense that I don’t consider necessary for this type of machine. Besides, it involves investing more money and time in something that certainly doesn't affect the taste. It’s true that if the Italian machine is very cheap or if you grind the coffee extremely fine, particles can get into the coffee chamber. In this case, the solution could be to change the grinder to a coarser point or, if you don’t have one, it could be interesting to use those paper filters.
If you don’t see any grains in the cup of coffee, you shouldn’t invest more money in this type of filter. It’s a way of complicating a preparation that should be extremely simple, which we’ve already complicated a little by preheating the water.
If you’ve reached this point and, like me not so long ago, were disillusioned with your moka pot, I encourage you to try preheating the water (and using real coffee if you haven’t yet taken that step). You may discover another type of coffee making that will become your favorite.
This article was written by Alejandro Alcolea and originally published in Spanish on Xataka.
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