After my grandparents passed away, we were cleaning their old house as the family decided to sell it. There was a box in which "trash" was supposed to go in. In there I spotted the distinctive black handle. One of my aunts had dumped the Bialetti because she thought it was missing parts, simple as it is. I rescued it, gave it the love it deserves, and 8 years later I still use it on daily basis. My grandfather bought that Bialetti on a trip to Italy in the large 60's.
Sturdy and well made. Maybe that's why they were in a bit of financial crisis a year or two from now. If you take care of it, it will outlast you. I love it. The capsule thing was a genius move. I love my Bialetti too. Have it for 5 years now. Only changed the white rubber thingy.
In Italy we always say:"If you have to buy a Moka buy a Bialetti. Bialetti lasts forever" And it's true. Thank you for your story, very very pleasant to read
The last birthday gift I had from my dyeing grandmother was $20 or so. I was extremely close to her. I chose to buy something I would own forever. It was the same Moka Express in this video. Coming from a Cuban household, these were in our homes as well. While she has been gone for many years now, I still own and cherish that Moke Express I purchased with the money she gave me that birthday. Awesome video!
As an Italian, I can confirm that EVERYBODY has at least a Moka at home, and it's common to have two or three of different sizes. Just recently coffee machines started becoming more popular, but the tradition of a good old Moka coffee lives strong in rural areas and among the elderly.
I'm from Bulgaria and my parents had 2 Moka pots - a small one for every day use and a big one when we had guests. My first coffee as a teenager was of course from a Moka pot. My grandma still drinks coffee everyday from a Moka pot
We have a 3, and 6. The 3 gets used every day, we use the 6 on the weekend when my wife and I are on the same morning schedule. I think the 3 pot makes a better cup, but maybe just in my head
I’m from Russia, but I studied in Rome and brought two Bialetti mokkas back to Moscow with me. I think I need another one, in a different size. It’s a relaxing morning ritual and it brings back memories from sunny Rome..
My dad had one when I was a young child. Because it was metal adn durable, they did not care if I played with it, taking it apat and putting it back togetehr again. It was also easy to play with since it was light. It was my moonbase and spacecraft. The whole thing was like a lunar lander with the top part able to disengage and blast off.
As many Italians, moka pot was the only way we used to brew coffee at home, when I was a child. As you may know, in Italy we use only dark roasted beans. One tip I developed to make better coffee with moka, using dark roasted beans, is to switch off the fire when the extraction is not complete yet. Particularly, I don't want the coffee that goes out when the water is mixed with air and you can hear the famous hum of the moka pot. This gives me a more balanced cup without those flavors of ash and burnt wood you have with dark roasted beans in a moka pot. I think it is related to the fact that the temperature of the water at the end of the extraction with a moka pot is a bit higher then what you want with some kind of coffee. Actually, I'm really curious if future video about moka will confirm this theory.
I do the same thing! With time i realized by doing it coffee taste less burnt, and less bitter. It nice to know someone thinks same. With moka pot it is constant fight against heat.
James already did at least one video where he recommends to hold the bottom of the moka pot under flowing water, right after you can hear the steam. So yeah, I think he will confirm your way of using the moka pot.
Wow, this is very intresting because I usually do the opposite: at the end of the brew i crack up the flame to "squeze out" all the coffe left. I've never done a side by side to compare the taste tho
That is more or less the method I was taught when I lived there, though in my case it was to turn off the heat almost as soon as the coffee starts coming out.
I recommend stopping the brewing process while the coffee coming out still look somewhat dark, because that yellowish "coffee" coming out at the end smells and taste like a cowboy used his sour socks to filter the coffee XD
Once we were staying at a friends house across the country, and on the day we were catching our flight home, we had to get up at 3am. Our hosts had said the night before, ‘feel free to make coffee, the coffee is in that cabinet’. So my bleary eyed father operating with only a couple hours sleep, opens the cabinet, finds a bag of pre-ground coffee, and grabs a moka pot which was right beside the coffee. It’s one of those ‘whole household’ 6 or 8 cup ones. Huge. He scoops the coffee into the basket, and finishes making the coffee as per usual, and puts the bag of coffee back into the cabinet. Our hosts had come downstairs at this point to say goodby, and one pored some of the freshly brewed coffee into a mug, took a sip and made a horrible face and muttered some swear word. That’s when we realized it was instant coffee that he had spooned into the moka pot…
Great Review thanks! I'd like very much to see you review the Alessi Pulcina by Michele de Luchi. Apparently specially designed to extract that special flavour! In fact Alessi has quite a few models by different architects. Thanks!!
Even if you use specialty coffee, perfectly grinded, it's a little bit complicated to get a nice result. Generally speaking, the moka gives a strong and kinda bitter-ish coffee that is not for everyone, and it requires little for mistakes to be made while brewing.
My moka pot story: I’m a Canadian who landed in Rome Italy on March 2nd 2020, with a plan to explore the country over the following 3 months. 1 week later the country was in lockdown, my flight home was cancelled, and I was alone in an apartment. I reached out to a barista back home, and he told me to check the cupboards for a moka pot - I found three. Fortunately, I also found your instructional video on how to make a great coffee with it (and have been a devoted follower ever since). As it was well over 2 months before coffee bars reopened, I was ever so grateful for the moka pot. This past spring, my lovely Roman AirBnB host sent me my very own Bialetti - for great coffee and great memories. Will be treasured for many years to come.
Growing up, the moka pot was what my parents had coffee from at the end of every dinner. At the age of 6, when my mom was off to the hospital to have my younger brother, I proudly took on the role of making my dad his evening coffee. And we had so many moka pots, different shapes and sizes. When I was 24, and finally made my first trip to Italy, I bought myself my very own pot. And use it to this day, 30 years later. It really does make a great cup of coffee.
Going to my family in Italy every summer, the smell of the moka express in the afternoon was the sign that the adults were waking up after siesta and us kids were "allowed" to make noise again. Even now, my own daughters associate the smell of the moka express with summer afternoons and vacation 🙂🇮🇹
While I was doing my PhD research in London, a postdoc researcher from Sicily joined our lab. Every day, upon returning to the lab after lunch, he would prepare a delicious moka pot over a Bunsen burner.
Circa in 2008, Bialetti and Illy collaborated to develop an improved version of the classic Moka Express. The result of this joint effort was commercialized under the name of Cuor di Moka (Heart of Moka). It presented indeed a huge series of improvements with respect to the original design, in particular, a better (silicon) handle and a refined locking system, but more interestingly, a valve-controlled brewing able to regulate the speed and to cut the last part of the extraction (usually the burned one in the traditional, Sunday lunches in Italy..). Moreover, a hiss produced with the deviated vapor pressure advised that the coffee was ready. Finally, the Moka was thicker to maintain the coffee temperature. Unfortunately, problems with the valve mechanism (I guess, I have many of them) eventually lead it out of production. In my opinion, it was really the peak of quality in a Moka brewer. Really worth the effort, and to buy one if you can find it somewhere..
Illy worked with Alessi too for the "pulcina", The one that he showed, it has been studied to stop the Flow before the last part, where the water reaches almost 100° and makes the coffee bitter.
isn't it the same one as today's Bialetti Brikka? it has a valve like you said (the previous generation was with a metal weight, the last generation is a silicon valve)
One of the biggest issues I assume for the company is that when you've bought a Moka Express you could own it for a lifetime. I remember being in a whisky distillery in Scotland and they said that the company that made the machines made such a good job with them that they ended up going bankrupt because customers never needed to upgrade their equipment. Feels the same with the Moka Express.
It's not a bug, it's a feature. It isn't enough to have one successful product in a marketplace, you're supposed to make something of quality and use the proceeds/prestige to make more high-quality things. They got a Moka Pot in the hands of just about everyone on earth, and they should be respected for that feat, but their descendants have to continue to add value if they want growth. It sounds like those who made the distillery machines knew how to make something great, but they clearly failed to invest enough of those proceeds into R&D to continue that success.
It's a double edged sword making something that's "buy-it-for-life". The world is a lot better off for it, with less wasted materials etc, but your company doesn't last long if it can't expand forever and ever
@@LashanR Most companies dont get off the ground at all, so the "buy-it-for-life" business model is still viable if it lets you get past the 5-year mark with profit. The question is whether these high-quality products can be produced at a cost that is accessible to a large range of people. If not, you won't go bankrupt due to its quality because barely anyone will have one anyways, and if so, you'll make soo much money that it'll be on you to find new avenues of profit.
I started brewing with the moka express, to end my hiatus from caffeine, the month my daughter was born. As a sleep deprived parent, I couldn't go caffeine free anymore. I cannot recall why I landed on the moka express, but the coffee it makes has kept it at the front of my brewing rotation ever since. Its a wonderful reminder for me of the early days when my daughter was just a little baby. One of my most tangible reminders that the days are long, but the years so short.
When I was a teenager in the 80’s, I went to a friend’s house after high school and he made me a cup of coffee in a Moka pot. It was the first time I can recall ENJOYING coffee rather than tolerating coffee. It is now my primary method for making hot coffee as an adult. Everyone else can become a pod person but I’ll keep brewing in a Moka pot till I die! And I also clean mine after every use.
The way you won't settle with one single awesome way of filming and editing, instead coming up with various differently awesome intros on each video blows my mind! You are awesome!
Fun fact: here in Brazil we call all Moka Express machines (regardless of the brand) a “cafeteria italiana”, which translates to “italian coffee maker”. Such an iconic machine!
As an Italian-Canadian, I remember breakfasts in my nonna’s kitchen-every day, she would make us soft-boiled eggs and toast, as well as coffee for herself with an ancient beat-up moka pot. To make sure we didn’t feel left out (since we were too young for coffee), nonna bought a special one-cup moka for the kids which she would load with “Orzo Bimbo” coffee surrogate and serve alongside her own so we could match with her at breakfast!
Damn I have that breakfast using my moka pot most mornings and it makes me very happy: the process of it, the smells, the eating. It’s a lovely thought that you would probably be transported if you walked into my kitchen of a morning. I have a good espresso machine too but for making a coffee pot to keep you going during the morning routine you can’t beat the bialetti.
I am an Italian Canadian who was the Bialetti Salesman for Eastern Canada from 2016-2020. Had a great relationship with my Bialetti contact in Italy, Cristina and we still keep in touch. As an Italian, I was very proud to be the main Canadian representative for Bialetti as it has a such a strong part of our heritage (my mom was very proud too lol). It is a very iconic global brand. Viva Italia ..
Brilliant! Can you direct me to a source for a listing of how many grams of coffee to use per Moka pot?? I have emailed Bialetti but did not hear back - but I did not have a personal email. I have been to the site and do not see such a list and I have four different sized Bialetti Moka pots. I know not to pack the grounds but exactly how much is 'recommended'?
@@bc-guy852 it really depends on personal preference and how strong you like your coffee. I like mine by filling the funnel with 3/4 of coffee. I know some people who fill the funnel right to the top and some less. I do know a more medium-fine grind is the most optimal when using a Moka pot vs a more fine grind, like with espresso. Hope that helps.
@@Bear-cp9yx Bialetti has the Moka induction. The top is aluminum and the bottom is stainless steel. Otherwise they have all stainless steel versions, that are induction compatible named Venus, Musa and the Kitty
The first time I used one of these was many years ago in my early 20s. I forgot to install the top filter, put it on the stove and left the room. A few minutes later there was a very loud BOOM and when I returned there was a single ground of coffee, every centimetre, floor to ceiling, in that very large kitchen. After that incident including many hours of cleanup, it was smooth sailing ever since. Love this design, and go back to it often. I freaked out about the aluminum, so now I own a Bialetti in stainless. It makes lovely coffee, and it provides endless opportunities to tinker with the grind, time, quantity, flame size, and water parameters. 😊
45-years ago as a starving student I found a Moka in a second hand store. Used that thing every day for years. I can't imagine how many coffee makers I've owned through the years but I've had that Moka Express for all that time. Still works too. Ended up using it when we lost power last year for 5 days. Only other coffee maker I can think of that's as iconic as the Moka Express is a French Press type coffee maker.
The Moka always comes through! Years ago I had an automatic drip coffee maker that had a timer that would brew my coffee as I woke up. One day it stopped working and I panicked trying to figure out how I was going to get my wake up juice. Even in my no-coffee-yet stupor I remembered the Moka and have never used any kind of electric coffee maker since. It's either the Moka, or a ceramic pour over, or a French press. The simplest gadgets in life are often the best!
I mean, theoretically, a Moka can stand up to daily use and last, until the sun consumes the earth. It is the very definition of “They don’t make ‘Em like that anymore”.
At university in Toronto, I lived with two Catholic priests: an Italian and an Angolan. The Italian priest, Fr. Michael, owned a stainless steel Moka Pot. The Angolan priest, Fr. Fausto, bought tins of ground illy coffee. I enjoyed the benefits of both the coffee and long conversations about faith, philosophy, science, politics, charity, anything. One day I received some Turkish coffee from a relative, and dumped it into one of Fr. Fausto’s illy tins. He inadvertently brewed a Moka Pot of my Turkish coffee-which, due to its very fine grind, clogged the filter and caused the pressure valve to violently spray hot cardamom-scented coffee everywhere in the rectory kitchen. The housekeeper, Fatima, walked in and likewise blew a gasket. It cost me an hour of cleaning for Fatima, another tin of illy coffee for Fr. Fausto, and a new $50 Bialetti from Honest Ed's for Fr. Michael to replace the ruined one (a lot of money for an 18-year old undergrad). Still, I bloody miss those days.
This was an excellent story. I lived in a monastery in Greece for a couple of years - peak coffee was Illy in a Moka pot back then. Later, in our American brother monastery, I was permitted to buy a Moka pot... we had a Swiss monk visiting who preferred it. And thus found myself in this routine: machine filter coffee with guests after liturgy; Arabic coffee afterwards with a retired Syrian priest who lived with us; and in the late afternoon, a Moka pot of Cafe Bustelo to get through Vespers.
@@stirfryjedi That’s a lovely story also! Thank you for sharing it. I’ve always found that the community, ritual, and regional elements of coffee to be profoundly spiritual and analogous to one’s relationship with the Divine.
During the start of the CV19 lockdowns, we were trying to decide what espresso machine we should buy and went down a very deep and overwhelming rabbit hole. For the interim, we decided that we'd just buy a Moka pot and a half-decent grinder while we came to a decision... Well, we ended up forgetting all about buying an espresso machine and have loved our Moka pot since day one. The Moka pot makes a delicious cup of coffee every time!!
I had a similar experience. I started with and Love my Moka but realized it doesn’t have the rich texture of an espresso machine, so I got a 9bar espresso maker. They are two completely different textures but both make excellent espresso. I think the moka was less than $20 and the actual 9bar espresso machine was almost $200. If you don’t care or are on a budget, the moka is a fantastic choice
@@NoZenith the brand is DeLonghi and yes I would recommend. I really love it and it’s been a great piece of equipment used every day, multiple times for over a year now.
I am Puertorican and every household in my family has this type of coffee maker either as their primary brewer or for emergencies. We call it a “Greca”. I didn’t even realize it was called a moka pot until very recently.
James, I'm so glad you are doing this series. I'm devoted to the Moka and, a few years ago, when I decided to really start experimenting with heat and water to get the best, balanced flavor and consistency of the coffee, I remember one early glorious morning that I had found--at least in my kitchen in Paris--the perfect, magical balance...I think it was the single most delicious caffè I ever made. I would love if this series would also include an understand of how the water (minerals, pH) can play a role in the resulting flavor--when I was using my moka in the Schwartzwald in Germany, I had so much difficulty getting a balanced flavor, evidently, because of the water, albeit being incredibly delicious water, someone told me that it didn't have the correct mineral ratios for Italian coffee. I also would love if you would give a clear how-to on properly cleaning a moka pot and what to do if one encounters one that has not been properly cleaned, has calcium deposits (or worse, mold) inside the water chamber. Traveling as often as I do, I cannot tell you how many apartments all over Europe I have stayed where I've looked at the moka pots and the insides have been just so horrific. This is why I ended up always traveling with a 1-2 tazze moka express. Keep up the amazing content!
I grew up with the classic german coffee: Roasted to death beans and a melitta filter. The only adjustments were strong or not so strong. When I moved out nearly every flat I shared with other people had a bialetti moka pot. Some were like a decoration thing, shiny polished never in user. A gift from the parents. Others were more like a trophy from a scavenger hunt or recovered from an excavation site. Then one day on a trip to hamburg I bought some specialty coffee beans and tried to make the most of it. Read about techniques to make the best possible coffee with the given equipment totally a MacGyver adventure. And what can I say: This sparked my interest for specialty coffee nearly ten years ago and I still throw some omni roasts in the moka pot from time to time
@@mynameisnotjerome1803 just don’t buy the supermarket stuff. Go to the shops where they roast the coffee themselves, then you will get good coffee in Germany too. (Or use one of the coffee start-ups)
My Nona always made coffee with one of these, her kitchen always smelled amazing. She would even make coffees for me and my sister as kids! When the pandemic began, I moved back to my parents' house and my Nona lived nearby in the same village (In England), so I got to see her more regularly and she always wanted a coffee made with the moka express when she visited. A few months into the pandemic, she contracted the virus and passed away. I make me and my dad a coffee every day since, both to keep Nona's routine alive and to create a new routine to share with my dad.
I'm so sorry for your loss Robert. Here's to hoping that you'll keep up this tradition and that you'll have many wonderful cups of moka that will bring happy memories of your grandma.
As an italian the moment of having a coffee is a social time. Everyone tends to congregate in the kitchen and drink the coffee in there and have a quick chat, sometimes we bring the coffee to people in other rooms but usually everyone go in the kitchen to drink it. The smell of coffee in the morning and after lunch is something that sticks with us forever. Sharing a cup of coffee with family or friends it is truly one of the best things in life, it gives that sense of belonging and love that everyone deserves. Lately I have been discovering even thanks to people like James other method of brewing and I have been using my Bialetti's moka less, but everytime I brew coffee with that and I smell the coffee and hear the sounds at the end of the brew it alwyas remind me of my family and my home back in Italy. Thank you James for your passion and you incredible knowledge and most of all thank you for sharing this with us.
When I moved out from home for university, the first coffeemaker I ever bought was a Bialetti and I still use it frequently. It's unparalleled in how little space it needs, how cheap it is and how easily you can move it. Also, it's just a fascinating piece of engineering for me.
We bought our Moka Express after a holiday in Italy. We did the usual thing of trying it a few times before putting it to one side to gather dust. Then Covid hit. Three of us at home during lockdown and no coffee shops open. That's when the Moka came into its own. Now we use it almost everyday and over the months each of us has refined our own technique. During the working week, Moka coffee-making time has become a well-established ritual of home office life.
I have a special place for the moka pot in my heart: My parents are very fond of the moka pot, it has been the official brewing method at our house since I was a child (in opposition to the pour over, which is the most common and traditional method in Brazil). We usually have at least three different sizes of moka pot in our home, for different occasions. As a kid, I didn't like coffee, but I enjoyed preparing the moka pot for the grown ups after lunch. We have an old manual wall grinder that came from my great grandmother's farm, if I'm not mistaken. I would finish my lunch before everybody and happily ask to make the coffee for my parents. My mother would separate the needed amount of beans for me to grind. The wall grinder is very hard for a kid to manage, but I used to enjoy the experience when I was in a good mood, probably the best part of the process (of course, when it was too heavy for me, someone older would help me). As I grew up, I was able to do all the steps by myself. It was the only method I knew for years, having only learned how to do pour overs in my adolescence.
My moka story, as an Italian, is my memory of when I was around 7 or 8 years old and extended family used to come over to my family's house. I had just learned to brew coffee in a moka pot and, even though I wasn't allowed to drink it of course, my mom would ask me to make coffee in front of the family for everyone to enjoy. It made me so proud and made me feel included in the ritual of offering coffee to guests. I guess that's the first kind of food I ever learned to make!
this was the first way I remember drinking coffee. Saturdays meant Dad would make some moka coffee with some heated sweetened condensed milk for us. I've been in the coffee industry for about 15 years, so this is where it all started for me. I still have mine and i love it. (i also scrub the heck out of it every time)
The first time I ever had coffee from a moka pot was actually from an old housemate of mine from Milan. This was about 4 years ago now. But it was the day he had moved in and I came into the kitchen to see one of those aluminium pots sitting on our hob, brewing away. Without even asking, after greeting each other, my new housemate Alessandro grabbed an extra mug and poured a coffee for me too. Almost like it was his and, as I came to understand later after befriending more Italians, an Italian's way of being hospitable and friendly. It was a very wholesome moment between two strangers, and new housemates, and it was a damn memorable cup of coffee.
My mokapot memory was from work. There was a small group that would meet up in the breakroom every afternoon and share a mokapot. The owner of the pot very much believed in the "seasoning" theory. But it was a social gathering. I was able to work my way into the group by brinking in home roasted coffee, introducing the group the bright acidic flavors of Ethiopia and Kenya, which were a long way away from their standard Illy espresso blend. While the coffee was good, it was much more about the friendships kindled over a tiny cup of coffee.
Story time! - I'm from India, but worked in Miami for a few years. My company, neighborhood, colleagues, buyers etc. were mostly all Hispanics or Latinos. In those few years, the proudest hobby I think I perfected was making a Cubano. I made it morning and evening for my colleagues and used their tips, feedback, experience and guidance to perfect it. The tool I used to make the coffee was the Moka express. Gifted to our small office from an Italian buyer. Unforgettable times. I left Miami learning spanish, new cultures, making coffee and diabetes.
Can confirm, you need to pour enough sugar in until no more can dissolve. I once made mistake of asking for a little less sweet. I was assertively corrected by several death glares, and a stern "what's the point!".
I personally love the fact that the same company "Bialetti" sells the spare parts like the handle that often, really often, goes burned because left on the stove fire for a loong period, much more than the few minutes needed to extract the coffe and enough to boil the just brewed coffe and leave behind a big big patina of burned coffe. So you end up by burning the plastic handle and with a messy messy kitchen but with few euros you can renovate your precious (really) moka pot in a matter of seconds
i regularly switch between a fully automatic coffee maker, a french press, an espresso machine, a v60, a bialetti brikka and a bialetti moka express and i definitely feel the most sophisticated when using the moka express. its just so iconic. nothing else comes close
A little bit of history for you, coffee was actually invented as a beverage by the Arabs who used it as a stimulant especially in the morning. The first type of bean to be roasted were called Arabica beans and are still used today in some shape or form. After the failed conquest of Vienna in the 16th century, when the Ottoman soldiers fled the battlefield following their defeat, they left behind many items. One of these items was a dark hot beverage which the captured soldiers called Qawwah. None of the European soldiers seemed interested in this “foreign stuff” except for the Italians. It was the Italians who were intrigued with this new hot drink. They questioned the captured soldiers on how to make this drink and this is the drink we know and love today. Qawwah became Kaffa, then Cafe and then coffee. Thanks again for another brilliant video James. ☕️
I remember as a teenager on an Italian campsite in the 80s seeing this cool guy sat in front of his tent in the morning, smoking a cigarette and reading a newspaper as his little moka pot brewed up beside him on a campstove. I remember thinking "I want that". Pretty much from then on, every coffee I ever made on camping trips involved me sitting outside my tent in the morning brewing up a moka and filling up the air with those heavenly coffee aromas. 2021 was actually the very first time I left the moka at home and took an Aeropress instead, and although the coffee still tasted great it lacked the familiar ritual of the morning moka.
A few days ago I was going back to Italy for Christmas. At the airport, I saw a small group of Italian tourists. One of them had in the side pocket of the backpack, where everyone would put a water bottle, a moka. What an amazing moment 😂
The moka pot is what my nonna used to make for all of the men before work (dad, uncles, brother, cousins and even friends sometimes) and she’d say “buon lavoro”. This is what got me into espresso at a very high level. I’ve carried on the tradition my own way.
The Moka Pot was the start of my journey into understanding and appreciating coffee more. My wife and I were on vacation in Italy 10+ years ago and were served coffee in a Moka Pot, and I had to do research to figure out how it worked and how to use it. Needless to say when we got back to the U.S. it was the first thing I ordered. Years later it's still regularly used and part of our many coffee making gadgets.
I'm ashamed to admit that, during a beautiful but hot three-week stay in Florence in 2017, I never asked anyone how to use the two little Moka pots I found in the kitchen. I have one now though, and the ritual of making coffee in the Bialetti brings those mornings right back. What a wonderful country Italy is ☕
Also I can't wait for the revisited ultimate Moka Express technique. I've had used (and tweaked...) the one from the ChefSteps video ever since I came across it. Sadly, brew results still vary very much no matter how much control I have over the different brewing aspects (water quality, grind size, stove temperature) so I would love to have an updated glance on the technique and see where I can improve on my side. Thank you again :)
As my mom only enjoys milk coffee, I often brew her latte through a Bialetti Brikka, just to keep her from drinking instant coffee ☕😅 I hope the future episode of this series can include Brikka!
I *only* drink (iced) lattes, so I brew coffee in my Moka (induction) for 6 "cups", add a liter of milk, and put it in the frigde :-) that way I have a batch ready to pour whenever I want :-)
The best thing i did to my brikka was use a wrench to remove square nut and weight, transforming it into a traditional moka pot. It is much richer and flavorful than anything I got from the brikka with the weight on
I have begun a new "vagabond" phase of my life, carrying only what fits in my suitcase and backpack. Three of those items are: coffee beans, Hario hand-grinder and my Bialetti.
The issue with aluminum and cookery is directly related to people stirring aluminum pots and pans with steel spoons, and scraping minute particles of the softer aluminum with the harder steel utensil. Otherwise, just by heating the aluminum, the amount of potential molecules seeping into the food, or drink (in this case, the mocha pot), is quite irrelevant. Nevertheless, I steer clear of aluminum in the kitchen...
The famous 1930’s childrens author Arthur Ransome suffered terribly from stomach pain, when he stopped using aluminium pans etc the pain went away. I have a stainless steel pot and it’s great!
I’ve never seen the Moka pot until I visited Italy, where I lived there for three months playing opera in a small town in the Dolomites. The opera orchestra arranged apartments for the musicians in cooperation with locals there, and the man who owned the apartment I stayed in was eager to show me around the apartment. When we got to the kitchen, he enthusiastically pointed to the mocha pot and showed me how to make coffee with it. I went on over the next three months to make coffee only in the mocha pot enjoying the drink on the balcony of my Italian apartment. When I returned to the United States, I immediate searched for one and bought it. Every time I use it, I’m transported back to Italy and back to the sweet memories that made me love the ritual of making coffee.
This moka pot started my love of coffee and perhaps is the reason I've been a barista for 10 years. My dad is from sicily and I've been brought up with coffee from a young age. After every meal I'd always see this on the dinner table. The smell of the coffee from this started my (healthy ish) addiction. My dad told me a fun fact that the cartoon logo holds up his finger to say Un Caffè which is basically 1 coffee, when customers drink coffee in Italy they would only need to lift a finger and say that word and the barista would know what to do. The Bialetti Brikka is what I use and is fantastic it's that little bit closer to espresso and can produce a tasty crema.
Finally meeting my Italian relatives in Rome in 2019 for two weeks; every cup of coffee they made was in a Moka pot. It was an amazing trip and needless to say I brought my own Moka pot home. I only brew with it after dinners, as we did after every meal in Rome.
make "crema" with the Bialetti Moka: put 5-6 teaspoon of sugar in a cup, as soon as you see the first coffee (ESSENTIAL) coming up, put a few drops in the cup and start beating the sugar with a teaspoon until it becomes creamy light brown... then, just use it instead of sugar in your coffee, and you'll have a moka that looks like an espresso...
As an Ethiopian, the moka pot is a staple for every diaspora home (in Seattle at least). We've adopted it so fully that we kinda did with the moka pot what we did with nearly every other Italian thing: we pretend it's not Italian lol. I literally didnt know that it was called a "moka pot" until I found this channel because we just use the same word for it as we would for a traditional Ethiopian coffee maker (jebena). My uncle and aunt drink coffee 3 times a day nearly every day so during a time when I was living with them, my cousin and I were in charge of making the coffee every day after dinner with the moka pot.
oh im so excited for this because i have one myself! edit: my story about the moka express is that i stumbled across one right around the time that i found this channel. it was hidden up in a cupboard abandoned by a previous tenant of my apartment. i cleaned it up, watched your original technique video, and brewed coffee so delicious i was blown away. i basically exclusively make coffee with it these days!
These pots got me in to the whole world of specialized coffee! Could you also test out the Bialetti Brikka pot? I have one that is fascinating to me! It is a three pot, and I got some surprisingly good results by using less grounds in it---10:1 ratio! Thank you for covering this special brewer!
I visited an older sicilian lady regularly, and knowing my love of coffee she always asked me if i wanted italian coffee. She would make a bialetti every time for me with small cups and a sweet biscuit. Such a treat and she loved to do it.
This is humanity's best coffee maker ever, full stop. End of story. I was introduced to it in the late 1990s while visiting relatives in Pisa, and as soon as I could get my hands on one when I got back to the US I got one. I still have it and use it to this day. I also love the fact that Renato Bialetti's ashes were interred in one of these! The look on the priest's face is kind of like "are we really doing this?" Yes, Fr, you are, get on with it! I might have to update my post-death instructions to my family :)
Whoah! Fun fact, I'm from Argentina. The rich part of my family used to have both the Moka Express and the Turkish pot. The poor side of my family always drank mate.
Can confirm, it's everywhere in Greece too. But we call it "bríki", not "Turkish coffee pot" or "Greek coffee pot". Ironically, we stole their Turkish coffee and call it Greek coffee, however :P
@@ornessarhithfaeron3576 yeah we call it Rakwa/Rakweh in Arabic. Some people also call it Arabic coffee. I think it's the same with baklava where everyone argues who invented it :D
Great that you're paying attention to the moka pot! When I was in Bergamo and visiting a specialty coffee bar, I got talking about how difficult it is to make great coffee with a moka pot with the barista and he showed me that IMS makes precision filters also for express! He advised me to also put an ice cube or 2 in the top chamber. I expect it is to cool down the metal as not to burn the coffee on the way up, as well as to dilute the flavor somewhat. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Some of my finest coffee moments are when the moka pot was pulled out near midnight. Most of the other guests have gone home, but no one remaining wants the night to end. We click on the stovetop and stand around as someone whisks a cafe cubano to keep the good conversation going.
That was also my introduction to the Bialetti Moka Pot. I managed to find a 2 cup Moka Express in orange about a decade ago which is a great colour to wake up to!
My parents came to the us in 1969 from Italy, they worked hard and my dad worked night and day to provide for us. my mom and dad were inseparable and old traditions were big in my family growing up as a kid. If my dad was coming home late my mom would have food ready for him, she would put a flat plate over the bowl of pasta to keep it warm. The Bialetti coffee was big in my house and again traditional things like that are still big in my parents house now. My dad turned 85 yesterday congrats dad!!! The one thing I remember and brings me back to my child hood the sound the spoon makes when stirring the cup. I would be in bed my parents up at 430 and I can remember my bedroom and hear the spoon stirring the cup!!! Im 50 ys old and even today I bring my self back to my childhood with the power of the spoon memory!! I enjoy your videos very much thanks!!!
In my line of work, you become a caffeine junkie rather quickly. Started using a moka pot last year to give my addiction a little sense of romance. And it's so unique to look at and puts off such a wonderful smell, it got my lady hooked on the stuff too. And she made a face at every form of coffee up until then. The moka pot is a vital member of our family now.
I bought my wife a Bialetti Moka Express for a birthday almost 10 years ago and it has been our daily driver ever since. It also travels really well when we're camping etc. and is an iconic TANK of a brewer.
It is actually my only way to brew coffee at home. As an italian "pourist", i love it. I swap the gas hobs to induction hobs and I took an adaptor from Bialetti that still alllows to brew with aluminium moka. No soap to wash, never, just water. The older the better. @James there is a new moka stile coming, it's called Kamira. Should you try it and make a review for us 😉.
My parents had a drip coffee maker but an old great auntie hat one of these and I fell in love with it the first time I tastet it’s coffee. Since she passed away I took care of her bialetti collection and honer it till this very day 😊
When I went away to University in 1980, I brought the following kitchen items with me: a terribly dangerous old electric hot plate, a restaurant grade aluminum saucepan, a toaster oven, a wooden bowl, a pair of chopsticks, a knife, a cutting board, a coffee mug, and a Mokka Express. With those utensils, I had everything I needed to cook and eat my meals, and perhaps most importantly for a college student, make coffee. That Mokka Express was sold at a yard sale in 1995, and I was Mokka-less, until my eldest child brought one home for me from a trip to Italy, thereby proving that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and I could rest easily, knowing I had succeeded as a parent.
My Bialetti story starts in, of all places, semi rural Derbyshire. I had just moved to Chesterfield in around 2002, and visited the locally famous Northern Tea & Coffe Merchants. I was in search of loose leaf tea, and while I was talking to the guy who runs it, I spotted, what I now know is an electric Bialetti Moka pot. I have always loved coffee but not come across one of these before, always having used a Cafetiere. So I bought it, and at £40 it was the most expensive thing I owned besides my car. I took it home, used it once and managed to break it. I went back to the shop only to be told that the very obvious orange 'Reset' button needed to be pressed every time it was used. Fortunatley we both saw the funny side of it. Fast forward 20 years and I still have it. Infact it's sat on my worktop now. It has been used continuously through 6 jobs, 5 kids, 4 houses, 2 wives, and 1 pandemic! In fact I'm going to use it to make my take out coffe when I leave tonight, and forsake my traditional Aeropress brewer. Thanks for the video James and I can't wait for the next installment. PS - Here's a piccy of the device in question: photos.app.goo.gl/AqxzK6dis5DN2aL69
My my. Madly good lighting and camera techniques. Just picked up an Alessi la conica “Caffettiera espresso” last week at 50% discount. Now I want a Bialetti.
Madly Goodlighting dashed down the stairs to meet his lover at their usual spot - the corner lamp post. Upon his rushed, yet excited arrival, an unexpected surprise was awaiting him... (I couldn't help myself! It just sounds like the perfect name for a character in a cheesy romance novel! Something akin to Holly GoLightly! And I don't even read romance novels! So I don't know what comes next. But I just couldn't help myself...) Anyone who wants to add a paragraph or two - PLEASE DO! Let's all add to it & create a story of some kind... What DOES await Madly Goodlighting? Or Is Madly actually a female - with Madly being a nickname to Madeline... ? Sooooo many options!
...an unexpected surprise was awaiting his arrival. His eyes traveled from her beautiful face, down her neck, and finally he saw it. In her hands she was holding what looked like an old, metal container, with an iconic cartoon drawn on the side. He had no idea what it was. There was no electrical cord he could see. He wondered what strange device she had found this time. When he was done surveying her newest find, his eyes met hers once again. They were twinkling with delight! And he instantly knew he was in for a treat! Whatever it was, whatever she had in mind, her little adventures always added a bit of spice to their encounters. He was like putty in her hands, he knew it, and so did she. No words were spoken as the two of them began walking back up the steep flight of stairs to his tiny apartment...
I would love a video on the Brikka as well! I bought and got very meh coffee and then removed the silicone gasket to effectively make it into a Moka pot, as recommended by the Wired Gourmet here = ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LN_JOOgbpc0.html @jameshoffman please do a video on the Brikka as well!
@@Kalimerakis I've got very nice coffee too, quite sweet caramel taste, and delicious citric notes, but it's kinda trciky and got awful acidic cups too, lot of experimentation...
It was just some months ago, that I got to know about Bialetti. I started to read about it and the more I learned, the more I fell in love with this thing. I do believe, without exaggeration, that Bialetti moka pot, besides F4 Phantom II, transistors, and etc, is one of the best engineering masterpieces that I have ever seen! I am proud to have one at home now. And I am not even a coffee drinker!
Don't scrub your moka. The baked on resin, called seasoning seals off, reduces any aluminum oxide from migrating into your brew. Rinse out only....same with the rest of the components.... Cheers
A Bialetti brought me into coffee at the age of 34. It is simple, cheap, makes great Mokka and last but not least, it is indestructible. You can use it at home or on a camping trip and put in the ember of your campfire. That said, you need a Pot made of stainless steel for your induction cooker. And I think the reason for Bialettis Problems is that the Pots last so long. If you take care of it, it will outlast you.
My grandparents were both from Sicily we have been drinking out of moka pots for decades. When I moved on from my parents I started purchasing mokas. We currently have 5 sizes and my wife uses one of them when I don't make her espresso. I rarely use a moka any longer because I drink espresso predominantly, but I have introduced MANY others who do not want the expense of a good espresso machine but want a cup of deep, rich coffee. No one that I have ever introduced to the moka have anything bad to say about the taste of their coffee, most have been using their mokas for decades more. I tend to like the stainless steel versions better than the aluminum but that is personal. Thanx as always James.
I got really into coffe because of your channel and the moka pot video convinced me to get one. Ive used it almost every single day for the last two years and got my roommate very into coffe via this coffee maker. In a very homely manner, you changed my life and the life of others around me, and I think that's neat
When I was married, we didn't have a coffee machine, for being the only coffee drinker in the house. The first thing I bought when we split up, was a moka pot. It was my first purchase as a "free" man, because after over a year of unhappyness, I wanted to enjoy something good. and I still enjoy my coffee every day.
I love how us Italians wrote all out stories down here. Yes coffee really unite US probably and the moka Is a must have in every house. We have 3 of different sizes (2 Bialetti) and use them every day as a morning routine ritual.
I'd like to know what coffees people are using in their Moka pots. Fresh roasted or canned? Arabica or a Robusta blend? And what is the most popular in Italy? Is it really Lavazza?
The Moka pot is a part of my childhood. Growing up as a first generation Italian American near Los Angeles, I soon began to realize my household was not typical. I thought everyone had a moka pot and that is where coffee came from. Other than my own family, I did not know other Italian households, I felt very isolated and an outsider. It wasn't until I was in 11th grade I found out there were other brewing methods but at that time I was not into coffee. Fast forward to today, in my forties I have come full circle and use a moka pot almost every day. Working from home has made it much easier to explore different brewing methods and come to realize I love the taste, the tradition and the connection to my family heritage of the moka pot. My sister is into coffee as well and maybe this will helps us bond and grow closer.
I remember my grandma would use the initial coffee coming out from the moka and adding it to sugar in a cup, stirring it vigorously and creating a crema. Adding this created a velvety cream in the cup. This small tradition is still used in our family today
Growing up, my Italian grandmother made a Moka pot very morning. Half for my grandfather first thing, and the rest she kept for herself for a mid morning Cafe Latte. As kids, we were allowed a little bit of wine with our dinner but were never allowed strong coffee until we were 16. Every time I make one now, the smell and sound triggers that fond childhood memory.
My father always said thay no matter how shitty life is, we deserve a good coffee. And he always made one with a moka pot, because he didn't like all that watered down filter coffees.
So excited for this series! I grew up in a moka pot family and still to this day the moka pot is my ride or die. Sure, I use a V60 now for the most part, but there’s something so satisfying about brewing with a moka pot that I use it even to this day. When I first got into specialty coffee, I had a hard time explaining it all to my parents. They didn’t understand or really even care about things like roast profiles, grind size, varietals, etc., but using a moka pot to brew specialty coffee for them has helped me bridge that gap in knowledge / interest and I feel like I can actually talk about coffee with them. It’s really cool how one little device can bring people together like that. Plus, these things are indestructible! I mean, I’ve used the same moka pot for years and it has outlasted every other coffee appliance I’ve ever owned - with no repairs or replacements necessary. It produces no other waste. If climate change and sustainability are the biggest problems facing the specialty coffee industry, then I can’t think of a better brewing method to pave the way forward. Plus, aluminum is one of the most easily recycled materials in the world. So, arguably, you wouldn’t even have to throw this thing in the trash if it ever were to break! What an incredible thing.
Not globally iconic, but the South Indian Filter and the Vietnamese Phinn (and possible other brewers I am unaware of) are a type of coffee brewers that are particularly popular. The form isn't the same, but they seem to do the same thing in effect - a mix of percolation and immersion to yield a relatively stronger metal filtered coffee to be generally mixed with milk and/or sweeteners (owing to perhaps the use of Robusta over Arabica?)
The phinn is definitely very different in how is brews coffee as it's essentially a type of pourover, but I certainly see the similarity! Both hugely iconic alumium brewers with massive cultural significance and prevalence to the countries where they are from. Interestingly, I find the phinn to be an excellent vessel for making tea (specifically English breakfast) as it gives just enough steeping time for a strong cup without having to worry about going over. You need the right tea for it to work (it has to be ground much finer than normal leaves) but when it does the results are superb and in my opinion much better than a teapot.
They aren't celebrated ( Moka pot/Indian Filter ) because the scope is quite limited. With south indian filter you can only use dark roasted coffee. Because a dark roasted coffee does not need much pressure while extraction. With the moka-pot it's just the opposite, you get a burnt and a smoky flavour if you use dark roasted coffee because it runs the water at 100°C each time and you can't do nothing about it.
Before the moka the most used way of brewing coffee in Italian homes was the Napoletana coffee maker (which nowadays some people confuse with a moka pot) - surely people didn't go to the bar instead of making coffee at home with the Bialetti. It's sad that Napoletanas are almost disappeared nowadays.
The go-to coffee brewer in our house. Using a Moka pot is, in my humble opinion, Coffee’s version of the Japanese tea ceremony - worth the effort and the wait just to watch that gorgeous black liquid ooze from the little tower and pool into the pouring pot. The smell of freshly ground and moka brewed coffee wafting through the house on a lazy Sunday morning is what it’s all about. We use it for the coffee shot in our cappuccino and for Americano. Cheap, reliable and a joy to use.
Funnily enough, I was just thinking the same. I'm just about to use a moka pot for the first time today. I found using the Aeropress a bit of a Zen experience too, as I brew with it as James describes in his Aeropress video.
7:30 this wonderful, fun looking moka pot was designed by Michele De Luccchi, considered by many people as the most brilliant product designer alive today. He designed funky products like this moka pot, but "serious" products as well like the beautiful and timeless Tolomeo table lamp.
I can't remember where I got my first moka pot or when I first started using it but just looking at it makes me happy! Cleaning my moka pot is the only domestic chore I relish as I lovingly rinse it out and dry it, put it together to sit on my stove to await another day. It deserves its iconic status at MOMA :)
When we go on vacation, the one item we always bring, is a Bialetti. The coffee we consume is then sourced locally - we are in europe - , and prepared in the Bialetti. You can learn much about a country by drinking their coffee.
Very happy that you're taking another look at the Moka pot, this is my favourite brewing method so can't wait to see what you come up with! Any chance you can also take a look at the bialetti brikka as well,?
That`s the only "once-in-a-lifetime"- machine I got to know. And - having an eye on that coffee to fill in - a great taste is the result of it`s technical process. That`s why there probably exist more of them than the sum of italian inhabitants - even if you add all those Italians spread all over the world.
My wife and I bought a moka pot a few years ago to brew coffee at home in a simple way, and found James' RU-vid channel because we searched for videos on how to use this coffee brewer in the best way possible! We've been subscribers ever since. 😎
I have a favourite local roastery i go to for most of my coffee.. I once bought this really interesting but weird coffee which had a really strong "rummy" note to it and I (having had a few bad experiences with alcohol) couldn't drink it. It was just too much.. I started experimenting and made a Moka pot americano according to your recipe and i loved it! Thanks for the inspiration James!
