Jean-Louis Morize is not precisely the inventor of that principle, he just revisited the invention of Jean-Baptiste-Louis-Marie Sené, another french tinsmith from Paris who presented his invention 4 years earlier (in 1815, take a closer look at Ascenseur pour l’expresso, episode 3).
@@aebisdecunterthere is this tradition in France to name you kid after their grandparents, specially in nobility and bourgeoisie but also in common people. I have my first name then the first names of my two grandfathers.
Satisfying, is a dull word to describe such an epic transition- but as they don’t yet have a word for this level of perfection, I suppose it will suffice.
This is the little coffee pot my mom would take out when serving "demitasse," as she called it. She would buy imported Italian coffee for it. This was only served with company, after the table was cleared and the talk would come out. Oddly, it was in Italian restaurants, when after dinner we would have "espresso." My father would show mw how to gently drop my sugar cube in to the cup and rub a bit of lemon rind on the rim. And then he’d let me have a sip from his little glass of anisette. I’m in my 60s now, and my father is long gone, but this episode brought back so many fond memories of good food and aromas and my father teaching me how to enjoy a lovely espresso. Good memories. Thank you.
I am 61 and my mom would wake up at 5am and start the peculator on the stove along with bacon and eggs for my dad who worked outside in all kinds of weather starting at 6am. The smell of the coffee and food still to this day bring warm memories.
Pouring anisette into coffee is a tradition of Marche region, especially of the city Ascoli Piceno, where it is still served in the historical Caffé Meletti
As an italian, your love and knowledge of italian culture (and cinema here) is so nice to watch :) Also that scene in Questi Fantasmi is one of the most loved by any italian actor and especially in Naples, if you want to show off as an actor you do that scene!
I have a version of this coffee maker that passed down from my grandparents to my mother and she in turn gave it to me. The pot is dented and worn and has a family history. I enjoy making a cup or 2 in it.
I’m right there with you! Until today I’ve never met anyone who knew what this machine was. I so love that James is talking about them! I’ll be thinking of you and James every time I dust mine off and give it a whirl.
Great video. Across here in Scotland you can buy these coffee brewers from Nardinis in Largs. Nardinis is more famous for their ice-cream (and rightly so!) but they are also very serious about coffee. Well worth a visit, if you are ever in this part of the world. (They serve the coffee to your table in the Neapolitan)
Interestingly, the term "macchinetta" just as it is, is used in Hebrew for "moka pot". I have bought a modern 2-cup stainless steel version of Napoletana, but probably used it just a couple of times. It now sits in the closet together with a tiny Hario vacuum syphon and a rare Yixing pottery coffee set (cups and Cezve-style brewer).
In italian "Macchinetta" means "little/small machine" and it's how we refer to a lot of things: a moka could be referred as "La machinetta", it could be a car, a pasta maker. "Machinetta" it's whatever machine you're currently using with few exceptions for more modern machines like computers or smartphones. All the things I previously mentioned have a specific and more correct name but we use this slang/colloquial term pretty often and it's quite funny seeing it used outside the country.
Thanks for the memories! I remember my Mum making coffee using one of these in the early 70s. She was also nervous flipping it over, as it didn’t always stay sealed! She was happy to swap it for the Corningware percolator, especially as we were a large family. (That is still my favourite coffee- smooth and robust, despite living in a city where espresso is considered the only coffee.)
It’s still a quite common thing in Finland to make coffee in that very old way of only throwing coffee in a pot and letting it boil a couple of times. We don’t have that fishy thing though 😄 Of course it isn’t the most common practice, but quite often in the woods hiking, hunting, fishing etc coffee is made that way.
James, as Neapolitan watching this video warmed my hearth, thank you for sharing our coffee culture! Recently are also borning some specialty roastery around the city, it will be quite exciting the fusion between traditional "machinett e cafè" and really good coffe
Bought one of these when I lived in Naples. It was a pain to make but it makes good coffee. Takes too long to brew. Taste is basically a moka with less body. Its beautiful and fun to use once in a while
Here in Italy, every small machine is a "macchinetta" (and this is more the case in the South). Photo Camera? Macchinetta. Coffee brewer? Macchinetta. Ticket validating machine? Macchinetta. Manual crank to move the side window of the car? Macchinetta. The context brings the meaning.
I love mine, I got one from an antique shop and figured it out. I find it makes a delicious consistent flavour. I also love how easy it is to add spices or sugar to the coffee chamber. I tend to start from cold water on a gentle heat as I like the idea of it steaming the coffee a little to get it a little hydrated and warmed and releasing the oils once it hits a slow boil flip it give it a minute or 3 so the coffee has started coming through then I nudge it onto the edge of the heat I have only used this on an electric hob and the plate stays warm and that helps keep the coffee warm with out boiling. I’ve probably done a lot that massacres the coffee but I really enjoy it. I give the coffee a gentle patting down with a finger tip. I also found a double and triple version but only wanted the single.
At Perú we have something that looks like it but it is a dripper method that is also called neopolitan coffee maker, or drop-to-drop (gota a gota). It is usually made of aluminum and it is very cheap compared to any common method. It is about 3-5 dollars.
My parents had one of these when I was a child, they pulled it out any time they had company before noon. Tragically, it was lost in a move, but you've inspired me to pick one up.
It's always a pure pleasure listening to James talking with his deep knowledge and facts about my country. I mean, I knew some things he said for instance, but didn't know all the informations he gave. What a well of knowledge! Bravo!
We've always had both Neapolitan and Bialetti Moka Express pots in our family, my mother having been Sicilian. I actually have a very old, large (9 cup) version of each on the back of my stove right now. (My moka pot needs TLC, but I'm thrilled to say that I just got a nice induction ready moka pot for Christmas. 😁) But the funny thing about the Neapolitans is that we always just boil the water in a separate pot and pour the water into the filter section and then put the boiler section over top. (Having it on creates a little bit of vacuum pressure that keeps the water from flowing through too fast.) The video at 14:36 triggered a vague recollection of a similar mishap in the distant past. So, my guess is that my mom stopped doing it the intended way because of that.
So let me get this straight, the French Press aka the cafetière as its design is known today was invented/patented in Italy, and the Neapolitan coffee maker (Napoletana) was invented/patented by a French man? I see the naming conventions are right on point. (Side note: I want one of these.)
Finally! I have two of these I’d picked up a flea markets and could never find much info. One is like yours there and the other much older and classier.
Yay! Finally …. I’ve used a stainless steel version for years, for camping. Greater capacity than most moka pots, and the jets of scalding water don’t matter. Much better to preheat the water as it’s too easy to cook the coffee before extraction, otherwise.
The "Napoletana" compared to the "moka" has the undoubted advantage that the extraction process occurs by gravity and not by pressure: this prevents the coffee from "burning" as the temperature of the machine body will never be higher than 97/99 degrees . The roasting of coffee in southern Italy is preferred to be darker so with a "Moka" coffee maker we will have a coffee with a very strong flavour, making coffee with the "Napoletana" we will have a coffee with less body, but certainly sweeter.
I learned about it when i was visiting napoli, and i bought one... Although there is no pressure involved in the brewing process i pulled some very good coffe cups form it and although i don't use it on daily basis i kinda dig it
This works almost exactly like a south Indian coffee brewer, except that the south Indian doesn't have a spout and hot water is poured directly over the coffee bed instead of the inverting business. Hope James covers that one at some point!
The one Neapolitan Coffee maker I like is made by a coffee roaster I absolutely adore from Napels called Passalacqua and well using their coffee in it hits the spot for me but I like those coffees in general for espresso.
Hi about five minutes in you talk of the names of the Neapolitan, one being ‘the little copper pot … but it is made of aluminum which is cheaper’. Back around that time (1860’s) aluminum was nearly twice as expensive as gold. So the little copper pot was probably a little copper pot made of copper and definitely not aluminum. Great throw by Sophia.
Dang it isinglass, fish bladder parts. Love it. Beer me brew would have had that in that time line too. Cheers. England still use it today at some places. Old one. Non vegetarian for sure. Love the history lesson. That early early brewer looks like coffee urns of today with the spigot.
I have found with my own experiments that an ethanol/water solution requires less liquid than a water-only source. Possibly due to the slightly negative polarity of ethanol. I use a quality vodka as my source of ethanol/water solution. It adds no noticeable flavor changes and the lower liquid volume suits my grinder.
As a Neapolitan (and coffee lover) I appreciate the De Filippo video snippet and documentation being included here. One suggestion with this brewer is to use local tap water from Naples (it makes a difference) and brew Kimbo coffee with it (most used and loved dark roast coffee in Naples). Also Passalacqua, Borbone and Toraldo are popular here.
Hi James love these videos. Would love to see you do one on an Indian coffee filter, which is basically a pour over as well, and produces some really lovely coffee
Yeah, my grandma had one, and one of her sisters always praised the quality of the coffee brewed with the napoletana vs the moka. Nowadays very few people use it even in Italy, I bought one new recently and use it occasionally. Quite often, even in online shops, you may see normal mokas advertised as "caffettiera napoletana" by people who don't know anything.
These makers are still produced, and I brought one from Sorrento, from shop on the main street, decently priced. More than this one, I have enjoyed strange make of the same, advertised as half-cup size somewhere on eBay. It is looking like a toy from doll house, made in bit-curse manner, yet does produce that tiny amount of coffee to have special experience in funny way.
I got a cooper one in Naples because I was intrigued by it. Yes, the coffee is not ideal but I am still keeping it even though I gifted all of my mokka pots. It’s an interesting part of coffee, beverage making (and in a way engineering) history.
OMG... I have half of a large one of these (the half without a spout) that I bought at a flea market years ago and use as a flour dredger. Mine would have made several cups.
Il filtro bucato da cui passa l'acqua calda ha i buchi grandi perché il caffe per questa caffettiera deve essere macinato grossolano ( coarse ) come per fare il french press.
Fun fact. That's how Diego (Maradona) used to drink his coffee in the mornings during his time in Napoli. The team kit man would make him coffee with the macchinetta every morning before training. Bless your heart, Diego, te amo
I love this content! Would it be possible to make a video on the vacuum pot? My grandmother used to make coffee in one and it would be nice to know more about it and how you brew the best cup of coffee in it!
Since you are boiling water separately, I’m not entirely sure if the pot on the bottom is even necessary. I think you can treat it like a very tall phin filter. Bonus is that it has a more elegant dispersion solution.
Aluminum in the 19th century was very expensive, until the invention of the Hall-Heroult and Bayer processes in the mid-late 1880s. Copper was likely much cheaper prior to then.
Great episode. Requesting an episode about the ageing of coffee beans. I live in West Java and the place I get my coffee (Aroma) ages Arabica 8 years and robusta 4 years. Thank You
Bought one on eBay and tried it once…only now I can’t recall how that went? Need to dig it out to my collection and try it again. Now I know what to call i toot…thanks!
The intro made me wonder, how did Italy come to be "the" coffee nation? It wasn't the first place in Europe to have it (it started with the Ottomans, spread to Austria, and then France before going everywhere else in Europe IIRC). It obviously doesn't grow there. Is it just Italian marketing and branding? Is it the specific invention of espresso in Italy that changed things?
This coffee pot is makes me wonder what effects steaming the coffee grounds before they hit the water has on coffee brewing. I think more than even the moka pot, the grounds are going to come into contact with the steam/water vapor as the brewer comes to temperature, meaning they're going to naturally be heated BEFORE the water comes into contact with them. I wonder if the heat/moisture has any significant impact on the flavor/extraction compared to a normal pour over, or if it doesn't really make much difference.
That transition of you catching the Napoletana launched from the movie was gold 😀 On a side note, Naples seems obsessed with appropriating French inventions - throughout Italy the Parisian Baba au Rhum is known as the Baba Napoletano.
French are obsessed with appropriating other people's inventions, even more than Italians, like croissants, for instance. By the way, Baba originated in Poland.
You might want to look into the air quality when using that gas burner inside. I guess you've long thought about it but it can have quite the effect. Something like a second hand atmotube pro can be had for 30ish euros and it measures PM2.5 accurately. There is more to it that just PM2.5, but if you don't use ventilation you're probably inhaling the equivalent of a cigarette or two in that space, over the course of a few hours of testing. Thanks for the lovely video!
