Is There A Better Moka Pot? (Episode #4) 

There is just something so uplifting and joyful about hearing someone who's basically a coffee expert say "it's gonna do the steamy foamy thing I think".

I just feel that after the rest of the Moka Pot series, James is now just having fun. This is awesome.

Fun fact: mucca means cow in italian. The mukka is a cow print moka that you fill with milk. It's genius.

The Brikka is my 'daily driver'. Its demonic hissing has become an endearing character trait. Thank you for this series James!

James Hoffmann is like a crazy cat gentleman but his cats are all coffee brewing and grinding devices.

Delirious dad here, couldn't help but laugh at James shooshing a Moka pot like I shoosh an over-tired 7 month old.

When I was still using my Mukka I would put warmed milk in the top and it made a huge difference. Cold milk cools the coffee down way too much.

Your gentle shushing is very calming

There is a frivolity to this video that I am living for. The cheeky smiles, casual verbal teasing of an angry pot 😂. The whole Mokka series has been a delight to watch, thank you James 🤗.

James, I love your personification of the moka pot. "It's angry!", "Take you off the heat", "I wonder if it would be happier..." lol

Dear James, many thanks for all your interesting videos. As I have been using Kamira for more than 4 years, I can ensure you that you can make it much better than in this video. I've been testing several types of coffe and Lavazza Crema e Gusto give the best results in terms of cream structure and taste, you can also try the Kamira's blends with similar results. As you said, it is not very practical at first glance, but once you get used to it, it will take you just a couple of minutes to get an amazing coffee. You probably forgot to pre-heat the Kamira for few seconds on the fire, this step is necessary for 3 reasons: you ensure a quick drain of the water to the boiler, you preheat the whole machine to prevent coffee to cool down before coming out and you remove the leftover of water in the machine from the previous coffee you made. It looks like you put the full tank of water for only 1 shot of coffee. For a single shot of Kamira espresso, you need to use half tank of water The full tank is for a double shot, and if you want double shot you'll have to use the double filter holder. The more water you put, the less cream you'll get, and also the less and tasty and dense the cream will be, and it will not be much better than a Bialetti coffee. On the other hand if you put less than half tank, you'll have a nice Ristretto coffee with very little but extra intense foam, comparable to a typical Italian bar. Also, for a perfect brew you need to modulate the heating: you want to start with a medium heat, when the first droplets of coffee come out you will increase it to 75% and when the foam comes out you reduce it again 50% or lower or even you can remove the Kamira from the fire. You may want to reheat again if you see that there is still some foam coming out. Another important point it to do not press the coffee. If you press it a little bit, you will gain intensity of flavor but at the same time you'll reduce the foam yield which will be very little but super dense and intense If you used an Arabica blend, you should instead press a little bit the coffe powder with a spoon and provide a more gentle heating. If you like americano or a long coffe, do not put more water, but after your coffee shot, refill with another half tank of water and re-use the same coffe powder twice, there will be still some foam and flavor to be extracted, although much less than with the first shot. If the Kamira gets too hot between 2 coffees, cool it down under cold water as for a Bialetti. To find the perfect heating technique may take a while (few days or maybe a dozen of coffees) and it depends on the type of stove (gas, induction, electric) and the blend you are using. On my opinion it is smart to put the coffee cup on the Kamira, as the machine was designed for an italian espresso size, so a relatively low volume of coffee that can cool down if the cup is at room temperature. For this reason in every Italian bar you will find all the coffee cups placed on the hot espresso machine in order to be warm when used. But once you will have fixed your favorite conditions, it will be the best coffee you've ever had and I can ensure that it will be as creamy as you see in all the youtube videos you should give it a second try!

"They established an early coffee and hair connection, which I fully endorse." Had me nearly spit out my cooffee over my keyboard, waking my little baby boy at 05:30 in the morning because of laughing so loud. Amazing!

"It's ok to have fun." I feel like this gets forgotten sometimes. I would love to see a video on "fun" brewers. I never knew the "Bripe" existed until I saw it here. And I think the reason why you had trouble getting water into the boiler is because there was no easy way for it to displace the air. By shaking it you were in a way burping it, allowing the air inside the boiler go up the fill tube and out into the atmosphere as the water displaced it.

James is singlehandedly saving the Bialetti company with this series, sales must be astronomical rn

The old small Brikka with the weighted steel cap is absolutely great, especially with dark roast, if you find the perfect water for it. It is what really got me into coffee, trying to get as close to an espresso shot as possible with it. It soon got me to buy a good handgrinder for better flavor and more experimental freedom and for years made me enjoy the daily ritual of handgrinding the beans, meticulously measuring the water and filling the basket, for then running to the stove in excitement when i heard the hizz of the valve. Now I am in the middle of customizing my beloved La pavoni professional I dreamed of ever since I got into coffee. The brikka is now the best travel companion i can imagine.

Kamira: you basically missed a step, that is the preheating, put the water, open the valve and turn on the heater (without the filter). The water will slowly make its way in the boiler, when it's there close the valve and wait for the water to come out of the other end. Then you can put again some water in the reservoir, add the filter with the coffee and as soon as you open the valve the water will be sucked in the boiler. Close the valve again and wait for your coffee. Of course there are a lot of little tricks and variations, but I'm not an expert, I'm trying to figure out how to get the best from this little machine.

I think Brikka deserves more investigation like in previous video. Starting cold or hot water, new and old model

James reacting to the Bialetti like it was an enraged cat is comedy platinum.

Hi James, it would be interesting to hear your take on "cafecito" (cuban coffee). It seems to be a preparation method used in a lot of the Caribbean and Latin America with the Moka Pot and beaten sugar. Have you tried it before?

Really exciting to see you cover the Kamira! After using moka pots I tried this out and have now been using it as my daily driver for 3-4 years. I do a preheat/purge run before brewing that helps things like the water fill issue. There's always a bit of water left in the bottom after use so I put it straight on the heat (No added water, lever closed, no porta filter) and that bit of old water spits out into a cup, usually with some old grounds stuck in the 'group head'. After this, when filling with water and opening the lever, the water gets sucked straight in, and if any is left, running the base under the cold tap for a bit does something to the pressure to get the rest in. Then, it's exactly as you used it, foam and all! There's a fair bit of room for experientation - I treat it as having all the same variables of espresso and dialing it in is this fun unexplored territory.

Good guy James giving Bialetti almost a month of sales before explaining why you shouldn’t but from them.

Though the Mukka Express is a plebian, somewhat finicky device that requires consistent preparation, and regular maintenance, to get best results, it's my most "fun" coffee maker. My ingredients and brewing method is as follows: Coffee: I prefer Chicory coffees such as French Market, Lousianne, or Cafe du Monde because of the pronounced but pleasant bitterness that shines through the milk of the very good faux cappocino this coffee maker is capable of producing. These pre-ground, canned coffees aren't of particiularly high quality but the chicory makes the finished product quite tasty nonethelesss. One could use any medium-ground, high quality bean and add chicory to it, or not, but I haven't gotten round to that... yet. Milk: I've found good quality, whole milk (preferably organically produced, organically produced milk makes the densest foam for some reason unknown to me), works best. Water: I initially had hit or miss results with the Mukka until I discovered the amount of water used in the lower chamber is dependent on the heat source (the instructiions that came with my "Holstein" pot made no mention of this). It seemed a bit odd to me that the heat souce for the pot would make a difference in the amount of water used in the lower chamber but it does. I have an electric stove so 8 ounces of water is the correct amount; a gas stove requires slightly less water. First off, I pour the milk into the upper chamber approximately 3/8" below the fill line (the recommended amount will cause a boil over) and put the upper chamber in the refridgerator to chill. Next, I heat 8 ounces of water to just boiling in my microwave. The heated water is optional, it simply speeds up the process. Then, I fill the coffee basket to just level, ensuring there is no coffee on the edge of the basket so the pot will seal when assembled. It's OK to shake or tap the basket to distribute the coffee evenly but It's important not to pack it. I pour the hot water into the water chamber, place the filter and coffee into the chamber, and screw the milk chamber onto the lower just snugly, place the pot onto the stove, set at medium high heat, and press the cappucino button on the top of the pot. As the pot begins to heat up, it will will soon become evident if coffee was carelessly left on the edge of the coffee basket due to coffee spraying out of the joint where the two parts of the pot fit together. After the cappucino button pops up, then comes the deep rumbling sound. At that point, be fearlessly patient. After all, only one guy was killed by one of the first Moka pots exploding, none by the Mukka (thus far), so rest easy. Besides, the pot has a pop-off valve that will forcefully eject a pin to releave the pressure in the water chamber in the event it's allowed to get too hot. It goes without saying to point the valve away from yourself as the pot heats up. Helpful Hint: The trick to getting a properly heated drink is carefully listening to the pot after the cappucino button pops up. The low ominous, rumbling sound will rise in pitch and become a sort of odd whistle over the course of a few minutes. Hold fast! Fearlessly wait at least a minute or two after the whistling sound and voila! Nice and hot! The result of this bit of rigamarole, that is more difficult to describe than execute, is a tasty, faux cappucino with dense foam, abiet more coursely textured than that from a expresso machine steaming wand, that remains at the bottom of my 16 ounce, borosilicate cup. Clean and dry the milk chamber immediately after use or it will corrode. Remove the inner seal and screen at the bottom of the milk chamber and clean them once a month or so.

I'm very comforted by the fact that James speaks to inanimate objects making noises the same way I do (like small overemotional children)

Dear James, what a satisfaction watching you tinkering with Kamira! It's a very particular brewer, it has its rules! For example: before the first coffee you have to warm a little water and make it pour through the brewer to clean it from coffee residues and warm it up. The following time the brewer is hot and then the coffee is really ok. I'm so glad you kept it because it's a new Italian reality I'm proud to "endorse", this brewer is really something else and the maker has really thought it all, by being available to explain how to make Kamira work properly, they will even video call if you cannot get the proper way to operate! I have mine since a couple of weeks and it's really lovely, once you get the proper manuality to brew. It's quite particular! Cheers and forza Kamira!

James seems to have the time of his life in this one - can't stop laughing along, awesome :D

For the Mukka Pot: In short, use warm milk and cool water. My best experience with it has been to warm up the milk for 20 sec in a microwave-safe measuring cup before adding to the pot. Also, I use cold water in the boiler and warm it up to temperature because if the water is too hot at the beginning, insufficient pressure is built up to activate the steaming valve.

I have 2 moka pots and a smaller brikka and I never realised it was a slightly different pot, but it explains a lot. I thought it overflowed so much because it was smaller but you just taught me it has more pressure making it more prone to the sputtering we try to avoid in moka pots. Thank you so much your videos are always so thorough and ressourceful

I'd kind of like to see siphon/vacuum brewers on this channel. I think it would be interesting to see James go full mad-scientist with equipment that already looks the part.

Two important things about the Brikka: 1. You’re using the new version. Using the old one with the weight would be interesting. 2. You can achieve a really nice “espresso-like” cup by putting 60-70ml of water in the tank, do not overload the gasket with coffee, pour it to a small cup with the lid open, before the brikka “relaxes” - the last part of the steam coming out breaks the foam. Also the weight of the foam over itself helps with maintaining the foam in the cup.

I used to find that the mugs I've used tended to sap most of the heat from the standard Moka pot brew - at least during the colder months. For many years now I've let them sit filled with boiled water. A good hot cup won't sap the heat while I open and rinse the pot. I always do that immediately before drinking the coffee. With regard to the last appliance, without the cup being heated by resting on the base it might be very cool indeed. Very nice to be able to see how these things work and get advice from someone knowledgeable and not have to listen to a sales pitch and then find it's not what you were led to believe after you buy one. Thanks James.

I had the Mukka right after college and I LOVED it!!! I had a bad roommate who ruined it and I haven’t been able to find a new one since then but I’m so happy to see it in action here!

I can’t quite believe how much my coffee has improved with these set of videos. Hats off and a big thank you.

I own the Brikka (older, weighted cap version) and the Mukka. The Brikka was my workhorse for almost 3 years, and I loved every minute I was using it. It was simple to use, relatively light, and it produced good coffee on most days. The Mukka is essentially a Brikka that makes milk-based coffee drinks. I got the Mukka afterwards because I wanted to shorten the workflow, but it is much more difficult to get good coffee consistently out of it than with the Brikka. My best advice for the Mukka is the milk going in should NEVER be cold, because the volume of coffee being produced is simply not enough to heat that large volume of cold milk to being lukewarm even. A room-temperature pseudo-latte is just not a great drink to have in the morning..

Love the videos James! I am a huge fan! 🙂 especially when I realized that you are a world champion Barista and you are so humble about it that you almost never bring it up 😊

Having tried a few pots IMHO the Alessi 9090/6 is by far the best stove top (Moka Pot) on the market. It’s a shame that there are no thorough videos on this little gem 💎

Thanks for reviewing the Kamira. I've been using one of these since December and it's replaced both my moka pot and automatic machine. To get the water to drain easily you just need to preheat the boiler for couple of seconds (no more) on high with the valve closed, filter off and a cup below. This will purge the pipe and create a vacuum. Attached the filter with coffee and open the valve. The water will now get sucked down in an instant. If you preheat too high it's possible to get blow-back through the reservoir which makes a mess. The the portafilter, I use a finer grind than they recommend - hand grinder timemore C2 set to 10 clicks. Though you don't tamp down the coffee you should repeatedly tap the filter and top up then use the edge of the spoon to level off the portafilter. For brewing I set the induction plate to 5/10. This takes a bit longer but I find the result is worth the wait. Thanks again.

This is your absolute best video since the coffee alarm clock. It's got everything: lab coat, dropping a product, a weird commercial, an Italian impression, grocery store coffee, a product you've owned for two years without reviewing, a hair reference, a frankenpot, an ad for squarespace. Kudos to you James and your team.

I love how much mileage he's gotten out of the Moka pot, in terms of making videos. It's such a simple, elegant device, but there's so much to say about it.

It’s so wholesome seeing you enjoy the last moka pot, that pure joy from crema is soooo relatable. Just seeing crema ooze out so really something special

I'd love to see James' take on the Bellman. The twin spout Bialettis are pretty curious too. Also interested in precision Moka baskets, what a great idea!

My favorite of Jame's videos so far. Laughed out multiple times and he just seems like he's genuinely having so much fun.

His face after he said we can probably film it lid open. Perfect

Hearing James softly hush the Brikka from it's steam-induced fury in an attempt to calm it was honestly quite cute.

I'm so pleased that you've decided to do such an in-depth examination of the Moka Pot. I started drinking coffee late in life and settled eventually on the these little pots because of their ease of use and the richness of the coffee they deliver.

This series pushed me over the edge and I finally got my own coffee brewing kit! got an original style moka pot and a nice hand grinder and I'm really loving the experience of grinding and brewing my own coffee! Still dialing in my grind and how much water or milk i want in my finished brew but I'm thoroughly enjoying myself! makes waking up exciting! Cheers! 😄☕

Awww loved seeing James gently talking to the first contender, calming it down. And thank you James for all this lovely experimentation for us to enjoy

I cannot get over how lucky I am that you made this series just as I am starting to get into coffee using a moka pot. I’m about to level up to making espresso with a Flair 58 but these videos have inspired me, confirmed some things I was getting right and corrected some things I could do better with my humble moka pot. It’s so fantastic that there is a creator with the ability to take ones curiosity to the nth degree and test these things to their absolute limit and explore every avenue of a hobby. Not one of us could do this ourselves but here it is for us all to watch and learn from. Wonderful, fulfilling content.

If I’m not pouring it out into one cup, I would always stir the coffee still in the pot for the same reason I would stir an espresso. It makes all the difference as the coffee from the mokka pot creates layers of differently extracted coffee while brewing.

Seeing James having so much fun with this one had me entertained real good, I couldn't stop smiling along.

I just want to applaud you time and time again at engaging my attention. I absolutely adore coffee and after recently being on health kick, have enjoyed pure black coffee this past year or two. You have opened my eyes to all the different techniques and flavours I can unlock with some attention to detail that coffee deserves. Bravo and thank you sir.

For the Mukka Express you should pre-heat the water as well, otherwise the drink will indeed be cold. It’s against the instructions but works much better!

hello james could you please make video about cafe been molds ? and what you can do about it, its maybe not commen in your country but in other part of world its becoming worst, i had this problem dizzyness after drinking coffee and it toke me about one year to find about this mold.

I used the Bialetti 1281 Mini Express that i brought home from Italy when my espresso machine died during quarantine. I had bought it as a souvenir but it ended up saving me when I had to wait for parts twice over the course of one month. Made a decent little cup ☕

As a coffee terrorist who has the mukka as my only Moka pot and never drinks capuccino, i love it. If you brew black coffee and let the valve open, you can close it when it starts to "get angry" and the flow stops inmediatly, just as good as the "sink bath" method but way easier. Also the click-clack helps to heat the water in the lower part and then assembly it without so much hassle. Perfect machine!

Watching James shushing the moka pot as if it were a baby to calm it down is something I never expected to see in my entire lifetime

This was a great series and the final episode is my favourite. I enjoyed how James almost treated the pots like unruly children. Funny and informative.

I’m not sure what I like more about this video, how excited James is to try everything out or how much he talks to the Moka pots as if they’re beloved pets or children.

the moka is so beautiful. absolutely loved the series, James, thank you so much!

After watching your 9barista review, moka pots and their variations have been of great interest. Now, finding you’ve done an entire series is a pleasant surprise!

Interesting... that means my old "GSI Mini Outdoor Espresso Maker" is actually a moka pot. It looks kinda like a miniaturized moka pot with the Kamira style spout. It makes a great little caffeine shot for cold mornings when you're getting ready to hike through the woods.

Brikka was quite literally a thing of beauty for me often times. There were times in depression when all I would have to look forward to was a cup of Brikka and that made my day. It allowed me to start getting into the world of coffee tasting, grinding, brewing and that was all I needed to move on with my life. When I didn't have the money to buy an extensive setup for Espresso, I relied on the Brikka to get me that 1:4 lungo-esque drink that was palatable and had excellent extraction though a bevy of unbalanced cup was not a farcry from normalcy.

This is like the most fun I've seen James have in a while. What a treat.

18:39 How neat! That thing is essentially a spring lever espresso brewer with the spring removed and the boiler shrunk: I can achieve a similar result with my little Ponte Vecchio Lusso, and see similar foam from robusta-heavy blends when the spring is fully relaxed at the end of a pull!

Genuinely delightful to see James so excited about a couple of these. Would love to see more showcases of weird, fun brewers like those!

Thanks for putting in so much effort into the Moka pot and coffee. I just came across this video thanks to another coffee folk. I have been using a Moka Pot for many years and have experiment and come up with pretty much what you have found out as well. Makes me happy to know I figured it out. One thing I that I find has an over all change on the coffee is whether or not one tamps the coffee in the basket, something I have a tendency to do too much. After watching this I am going to play with my grind and how much tamping I do. Thanks for the wonderful site!

Timestamps 0:00 B-roll and music 0:20 Introduction 1:19 Brikka 7:03 Mukka 11:27 Cuor di moka 14:52 SquareSpace 15:45 SquareSpace code 15:57 Kamira 20:32 what other brewers should I have included? I've been brewing almost exclusively Moka for at least three years now, and I live close enough to the Tyrolian/Italian border that people here know all the common advice on how to brew a Moka, but this series of yours has put into light how rugged the Italian commoner likes their Moka, because while other components might vary, they all agree on one thing: never, ever wash the inside of the top part l, beyond pouring in some clean water, swirling it around and pouring out again; it's essential for the flavour 🤷 Anyways: thank you for improving my daily brew!

At the bialetti store was a brewer that split the brewed coffee into two cups; like there were two straws the coffee git out of and you could place two cups underneath. Would love to see that one in action! Great video!

Your newer version of the Brikka is definitely different from the one I have. It has more like a metal valve on top. Would be interesting to see if there is a difference between old and new. For me the silicon slit doesnt seem like an appropriate improvement over a metal valve. But who knows.

Amazing to watch. Always delightful to see James having fun coffexplaing brewers. Thanks for making my day.

We use those for Cuban coffee. Fine grain dark roast. We add little coffee to sugar and whisk it till it’s like a paste. Then add rest of coffee and mix. Will create foam that way

James Hoffman is the type of guy to waterboard his crying coffee brewer

You should definitely try the Alessi 9090 for 2 main reasons: very fancy (exhibited in MOMA NY, designed by R. Sapper) and does the best job with light roasts (by far)

I have the kamira as well and absolutely love it. I found it at a flea market in Rome, and was happy to realize there were directions on how to use it online. The air pocked thing is annoying and as others have said, putting it on the stove and heating it up for a few seconds or so makes the water get sucked into the chamber. Mine has the double shot head for it, and as others have said, there are tricks to getting the best coffee out of it. There are also ways to get less of that aerated foam and get more of a "crema" style foam. Anyway, I love how the coffee tastes and it's a conversation piece with guests.

We had a mooka! I bought it when it came out. Yours is the much improved model. Lots of fun, pretty good, well, ok enough breakfast drinks. We loved it.

I have a brikka and usually use cafe bustelo supreme (DARK DARK roast). I get enormous amounts of crema with this coffee, more than others in my brikka. So I definitely think roast level affects this. But I always leave the lid open when pouring to help the crema not get stuck on the inside top of the lid. Also, as soon as it starts spurting I pour it quick into the cup. I find it I take if off the heat and then run water on the bottom I still get too much of that bitter nastiness. Took a bit of tweaking but I've got it consistently delicious now.

Your brikka is newer version. I have (4) old version brikka with metal pressure cap, and seems like it work differently than your brikka. For brikka, I usually use cold-room temp water with good espresso blend coffee beans. It seems like that you used too much water. For my brikka (2 cups size), I usually use 80gr of water and it is far bellow the safety valve level. It would be interesting, if you can find old version brikka and review it.

I'm usually taking notes and watching with intent to take back what i learned during your videos but this one was relaxing and enjoyable to watch.

Your joy around 18:30. Pure gold! ❤️

Great video! Brikka is a lot to use, at first I was a little dissapointed with the raging foam and the weird tasting brew. After some research and experimentation, I managed to get a nice brew, and very distinct of a traditional Moka pot: -Grind coffe finer than traditional moka grind, but coarser than expresso's. -Prepare the coffee basket: put a washed aeropress filter in the base of the basket. Fill it 90-95% with coffee, then put another washed aeropress filter. -Fill the base with preheated water at 90º Celsius. -Put the basket and screw the top. It's crucial to not overtight, when you feel a slight resistance, it's time to stop. I'm not sure why, but seems to be important in the final result. -Start brewing over a low fire. It will take a while even with preheated water. -At first, a very light brew will start coming, almost insultingly low. Be patient and keep the fire low. You'll see that little by little, a quite nice crema will start to form, it's crucial to keep the fire low so you get something akin to crema, and not foam. When aprox. half of the water has been brewed, you can serve 2 really nice, intense cups of coffee, then return the brikka to the fire to continue extracting. -The rest of the brew will not taste bad, but you won't get crema, but foam. I usually drink the first half as an expresso-like cup or make an americano, and the second half of the pot can go into a latte, cocktail, or just a mid-morning pick-me up.

Un consiglio per la kamira, per far entrare l'acqua subito, ti consiglio di mettere l'acqua quando sta già da pochi secondi sul fuoco, così risucchia l'acqua. Dopo ciò fai riscaldare l'acqua, chiudi la valvola e uscirà un caffè ottimo. Parola di un italiano amante del caffè

Why would anyone not want this level of joy with every cup that the Kamira gave James? I want to see it with hot water added.

A completely delightful conclusion to a series I have really enjoyed, since my very first home coffee maker was a moka pot. Thank you.

Hi James, if you make a single shot with the brikka and take of the heat immediately after poor out the first amount of coffe you will have a good expresso shot. Also you have to do it at low to medium temp, and there is one more thing to have a decent expresso shot crema..don't leave the coffe for long time on the top part of Moka pot beacouse the aluminium make the crema to disappear for some reason! If you poor it immediately in a cup after you take of from heat the crema will persist long time! I'll make my expresso shot every morning with brikka and I like it! Hope that's useful for you!

"I'm not going to say what" he means square mile! I applaud his objectivity. Most company owners would do anything to spread their brand. Love you James.

Think I've seen every video on this channel and that is easily the most excited and happy I've ever seen James. Glad you had fun 😂

Oh my gosh, I never had so much fun watching a dude making coffee. All those boring experts cannot even reach the stirring entertainment and this honest excitement. You Sir, made my day. 😊😊😊

I've been using a Brikka for almost two years now, it's a bit of a complicated machine to be honest, surely the brew that comes out of it it's really strong, I would say about double or 1.5 as much caffeinated and concentrated as a normal moka pot, and since I like a lot strong espresso I really like it, the thing is though that it's very sensitive on the doses of water, ground coffee and temperature, some little variations result in a very different brew. I use medium heat, it will take a while, like 4-5 minutes to come out. The crema is somewhat irregular but finding the right temperature will help a lot.

I have the Brikka. Got a couple of months ago and I was so enthused about it because I was only ever brewing french press. I have a Timemore C2 hand grinder, so watched tons of videos to figure out ratio, grind size and technique. My first 6 brews were… Underwhelming to say the least. I made so many slight tweaks and voila! That one day something just worked. After a few tries, here are some things I found out: - Brew from boiled water. I’m lazy so I just boil the water in the bottom holder. Although, I would turn off the heat and leave it for a few mins to cool off ever so slightly before I start brewing. - Low temp on the stove is a must. It just tastes stronger and less hollow. I can get a really small fire so it doesn’t boil too angrily too fast. - Don’t fill the coffee or water to what is recommended for the Moka Express. Lesser somehow is better. For coffee I fill it up to just below the brim. Coffee to water ratio of 1 : 8 works best for me to get a really strong coffee to go with milk. While 1 : 13 works better as a black - Grind size matters so much. On my Timemore I did a cupping for 8, 10, and 12 clicks on my dial. I thought 12 was great. So I stuck with it in the beginning. But as I adjusted other aspects, the coffee just began to taste more hollow/empty. Then one day I decided to try 14 and it was delicious! Not saying that is the right grind size for the Timemore C2 but just saying that adjusting a mere 2 clicks of the dial made a HUGE difference for me. - My Brikka loves to whistle in the beginning. I thought it was going to explode. I worried too much, obviously. The whistling happens for half a min at the start then just stops. - Brikka comes out fierce and fast so once it starts to get hissy, I turn off the heat and let the residual heat continue to brew it until it just begins to sputter before running the base under the tap.

The previous 3 videos were for us but this one was clearly for James and I love it.

I just wanted to say I just love it when James says "Moka Pot." That is all.

The best Moka pot is the Bellman CX-25P Change my mind! I still have a bialetti tho and use it when I don't have time

crema e gusto is my go to for moka pot style coffee tbh. it's far more forgiving than my usual specialty coffee choices (probably because its designed for the 'traditional' brew method and flavour) and i prefer how a moka pot coffee tastes with the style of beans

Loved the energy and laughs in this one James! Great film.

Thank you for doing the Moka series, the last episode had me bring out my Moka pot, and I had a Natural Ethiopian coffee I was struggling to get as I wanted in the V60, it came out weak, but in the Moka pot with your recipe, it came out delicious, with good character as well. Totally awesome to have a nice brew that is between a v60 and a Espresso or Lungo in strength.

I use the kamira as a daily driver because it's the fastest stovetop brewer to use & the easiest to knock out. Kamira Airlock: At this point i'm assuming that the airlock happens because there might be a 2nd one way valve somewhere in the neck that gets pressurized. Regardless the way around it is to either fill the water reservoir after purging at the end of the brew cycle & open the valve to refill the boiler while hot or you fill the water reservoir & open the valve before putting it on the heat & watch it draw down into the boiler & close the valve. Kamira Serving size: Quirks aside the smaller serving sizes 4-6g for the single & 7-9g for the double coupled with up to a 60ml water volume make it closer to an italian espresso than other stovetops (although you can actually overfill the boiler to a total of about 90ml). Kamira Roast & Grind I've been brewing with it for about a year & find it works best with medium/dark - darkest roasts, it does extract a lot of the nuances of the beans including any skunky off flavours so decent beans are a must. I've also found that you want as fine a grind as you can & a 3d printed funnel (thingiverse) + Tamper (38mm) make the world of difference, you can get a crema style microfoam if you use a really fine grind & tamp it instead of that froth you ended up with. Works really well with dark chocolate flavoured roasts. It definitely would be worth your time to 3d print a funnel + tamper & try it again with a really fine grind. Side note: Forever made a stovetop cappuccino brewer called the "combi duo" but afaik the company either went under or they stopped making them but they have a spring loaded valve that is better than the mukka & the overall design means that the milk is actually heated while brewing so you wind up with a 60c ish cap with foam that is about halfway to being microfoam.

17:27 to get the water to go down with the Kamira you should open the valve and turn up the heat. Heating the empty boiler with the valve open will help the water flow down. Anyway, I think this happens because air gets trapped inside the boiler with nowhere to escape. The water in the tank acts as a plug. Heating the boiler builds up enough pressure to let the air escape through the water in the tank making space for it to flow down. Also, I'm a huge fan of the Kamira (being Italian myself); it brews on the "colder side" because you haven't used it as intended: you should first brew once with only water but with an empty basket, next, you fill the basket, refill water, and brew normally. Anyway I'm very happy you brought the Kamira on your channel, I was sincerely curious about your opinion. Thanks for the content

I'm having a rough start of 2022 but your videos always put a smile on my face Cheers

Watching this is the most fun I've had all week. I don't know what that says about my life but I'll stand by it

Waiting for Bellman CX-25P Espresso Maker ;D

gonna guess it doesn't drain right due to surface tension not breaking at the opening. if they had a way to break that built in it would drain better, maybe just a lil rod or a notch around the circular opening. I bet if you stick a toothpick or chopstick in there it'll drain fine, but wobbling it around will accomplish the same thing.