Wow, I've been using cold water and finer ground espresso. That would explain why my espresso has been so bitter. Also thank you for the french press microfoam trick!!
I picked up one of these at a yard sale for a dollar because, the seller explained, he couldn't find the cord. He thought the pressure valve was an electric plug!
The problem with this is when the press is all the way down there is about an inch of space between the screen and the bottom of the container. This is fine for trapping coffee grounds but less than ideal for frothing. If you disassemble the press, put the top lid aside, and reassemble the shaft and screen assembly you can now press the screen all the way to the bottom of the container. This way will get you much lighter and frothier foam. I have a second French press setup like that for milk and cream only. There are also glass milk frothers that are just a small French press where the screen goes all the way to the bottom. Either way its the best way to get your foam on. The electric stirring ones suck.
After watching the video, I immediately did it for the first time with hot water, and not with cold water, as I usually did before. The taste is completely different! Much better! Just wow!
@@bigbluebuttonman1137 You do you but, and it's probably no big deal if you drink a moka pot worth of coffee every now and again, but in some systems you don't want to be drinking the water from the hot water tap. Better to heat up water from the cold tap in a kettle or on the stove or something. The hot water can leach minerals more than cold water and impart substances that you don't want to imbibe. Typically lead.
I bought a moka pot from goodwill online, watched this and was excited to use it, it arrived and I realized it was about 3x the size of the one in the video. Excited to make a month of coffee at a time 👍
My family owns a lot of different sizes of mokas (i am Italian, that's the main way we make coffee in our family) and the one in the video is the big one 💀
@giovannicurotto5134 I knew a family originally from Italy that had a tiny stovetop espresso maker that could fit in the palm of your hand. I tried for a long time looking for one like that, but the smallest I could find is what is shown in this video. Do you know where one can purchase a small espresso maker like that in the US?
Another technique I've developed with this that contributes a lot to a smooth non-bitter non-burnt coffee is to closely regulate the temperature once the coffee starts pouring through the column. You want a thin light brown flow, without too many foamy bubbles. When it gets a bit too violent and starts to foam slightly raise it off the heat source, keep it in the air a bit until it's smooth and silky again. And keep controling the distance from the heat source until the brewing ends. When air starts to come through with foam and the flow is interrupted, immediately run it under the tap as shown in this video. This technique produces excellent results every time.
Using hot water instead of cold was a HUGE game-changer for me. I can't believe I was about to give this away for free since it made bitter coffee the first few times I used it.
I was getting some bad results with my Moka pot but followed this video exactly. I think running cold water over the pot to stop the brewing at the end is what saved me. Normally I just let it gurgle and do it's thing when all the water runs through - today I stopped the brewing and the difference in the cup was night and day!
@@jooger69 If you're pouring and drinking it right away then yeah. But there are lots of reasons why you might not, maybe you're having half and leaving half (especially with a bigger moka pot), or maybe you're finishing cooking and if you pour it in the cup it will get cold by the time you're sitting down to drink it.
These are good tips. In addition, I suggest trying to slow down the brewing speed. I usually take the pot off of the heat quite early and let the top of the pot fill as slowly as possible. Every once in a while you can put it either fully or partially on the heat to get the boil going again. When the process is too fast the grounds will be underextracted, making it overly acidic; this is a common problem when brewing with a moka pot.
This is a cool tip, will defo try his, I did think to myself, using hot water from the kettle and straight to the stove - the coffee boiled/extracted too fast for my liking.. I'll try "warm" water rather than "just boiled" water and try on and off technique for slower extraction.
The Mocca Pot is how I've been making my coffee for years now, first they're cheap, second I'm cheap, third I'm not about to buy a coffee maker, fourth I have no space for the machine, fifth they make pretty good coffee. Don't know why people dislike them if one knows how to use one they're great
I'm new to coffee, but as a tea drinker, I like things simple. One kettle, one moka. When the power goes out, I'm still covered. If I'm feeling fancy, I'll shake up a mason jar with some milk and nuke it for 45sec.
@@TheHypercarnivoreChef same in Puerto Rico. These are the way people make coffee in PR except for the really old school that boil it in a pot and run it through a piece of cloth we call a sock. The thing with Mocca Pots is that if you put it on the stove top under full flame you'll burn the coffee. Which is what I suspect where most people fail.
There is nothing practical. Removing the milky fat from the metal filter is a nightmare. This French pressure coffee maker is not made to use milk, only coffee.
In italy we use to do this: -1: Fill with cold water a little below the valve -2: Put the funnel on -3: Put the coffee in the funnel, and make like a little mountain with it (don't press it!) -4: screw the collector very tight -5: Put on a stove on low heat -6: wait till you hear bubbling -7: turn off the heat and let it cool for about a minute -8: put the coffee into a bottle or some container (preferably glass) -9: Enjoy your coffee :)
I got my Moka Pot today and followed the advice from this video. I’ve never had coffee so good in my life, as much as I like going to coffee shops, I don’t know if I’ll ever need to go to another one again unless I just don’t feel like making coffee.
@@thedude4795, I'm not sure about your question but I'll try to answer it. When the ground war started in the early morning of February 24th, specially equipped tanks had plows mounted on the bows. When ordered to advance against prepared Iraqi positions, the tanks just plowed in the Iraqi trenches burying alive the defenders. After the first and second echelons punched through, the third echelon swept up any Iraqi troops that were captured or surrendered. Once the Iraqis seen that they were completely outclassed and we weren't going to murder them outright they couldn't wait to surrender.
@@michaelweinmann3679 Jesus lol not sure how I stumbled upon this question while trying to figure out the Moka pot at 4:30 in the morning. Wild thought to be buried alive. I’m sure nobody saw that coming.
+ChefSteps Thanks so much! I've got some interesting food science demos coming along, but they are taking a little longer to get working than I had planned. Talk to you later.
I just got a tiny 2-cup mocca pot for my birthday. This was just the video I needed to expand my coffee world. Thank you for sharing, James always delivers!
Right. My wife won't let me wash her aluminum caffettiera with dish soap. She conceeded to me for the stainless Alessi. According to her it's not to get the seasoned pot taste but to not have a metallic flavor. So are the Chinese also lying to themselves about their seasoned clay tea pots?
@@ConstantThrowing, yes. It really isn't my wife holding me back from washing our aluminum moka with soap. I was passive about supporting no soap to not discount someone like James Hoffman (on the soap side) whose palette and knowlege have much more creds than mine. But your'e forcing my hand here--no soap. We use cold water and elbow grease. I don't use soap very often on our stainless--not so much for any reaction, as it is Inox 18/10 stainless, but for the claim there can be an accumalation of detergent affecting the taste in the stem above the filter that rarely gets cleaned and some part of it may never get scrubbed during rinsing. My comment about the Chinese and their tea pots (I could have used tobacco pipes as an example as well) was a little subtle trolling western newcomers to the moka who are smugly convinced the no soap thing is a myth and think they can taste bitterness from some minute contact to rancid coffee oil. Makes sense in theory--but don't even try for those who take theirs with sugar. For those who take moka coffee full strength without sugar or milk etc that say this, okay, I'll believe some people can taste things I can't.
I use to say that my mother does the best moka pot coffe ever - by far preferable over any espresso in opinion - and I have never managed to get even close. After trying this I understand why, I was messing all over the place. The difference is huge, and having a better start right at breakfast feels like a huge quality of life improvement. Thanks a lot!
Coming from Spain, we have plenty of those lying around in every single household, so this is a game changer. I just tried this technique combined with what James shared on his channel about grinding with a blade grinder and it upped my moka pot coffee game so many notches I do not know where to start to thank him.
I used a moka pot when I studied abroad in Italy and have used that same one for 20 years now...but these tips really do make it taste better. I think starting with heated water from a tea pot is the biggest hint to smoothing out the flavor. I mean I liked it before but these are even better. Also the french press works much better on almond milk than several expensive machines I tried and returned.
One thing he didn’t mention was the temperature of the stove eye, do we want a slow heat because as soon as mine came to boil it started spouting out instead of the slow bubbly overflow he had.
Mine did that the one time I tried to run water through without grounds. It definitely helps to have the grind hopper mostly full and smaller grind than French press. But yeah also turn the heat down once you see it start to work
First time trying Mokapot here! And the same thing happened!! I am giving another shot in medium heat :) I ended up with near espresso this morning haha
My absolute favourite coffee is what I make at home with my Bialetti Moka pot, have to get exact right grind, amount of coffee, and temperature, but once mastered its delicious. Also found my hand blender makes some pretty epic foamy milk.
So strange, as a Spanish, this caffetiere is found in almost every single home. Delicious coffee! And we call it italian caffetiere. I've never head of "moka pot" ever!
Many thanks to the both of you! I bought a moka pot a while ago and just couldn’t get the bitterness level low enough every time I made my coffee. After watching this video I’m all set. I grew up in a culture where Turkish coffee is the homemade go to coffee, but when I began drinking coffee in bars, I just fell in love with Illy and Filicori. Hence the moka pot because it’s the best way to make great coffee on a low budget (I can’t afford an espresso machine yet 😁).
Love it! Quick and clear explanations. I did my own coffe after this video, it was my first time using a moka pot. I actually was a bit afraid because the bad reputation it had. Thanks!
Just wanted to thank you for the great tips in this video. I tried making mine with hot water tonight and then immediately cooling it off with cold water once it started to bubble and that bitter taste disappeared. Thank you for the content!
We live in Italy and have gone thru many old battered aluminum Moka's. Last year I finally went to the local Bialetti store and bought a stainless pot...huge difference, and so much easier to keep clean. I also use the pre-ground Italian coffees especially for the Moka so no worries about grind size. Lavazza makes a decent medium roast in the d'Oro brand....good for everyday drinking. Not packing the grinds and stopping while the sputtering is still going helps a lot. It's never going to be as good as a pulled shot, but one can get rid of the canned metallic taste. Love the French press milk trick, will have to try that!
I have never tried to froth the milk with a French press, why not using a milk frother? One more tip (it's done in the video, but not highlighted in the commentary): leave the lid open until the very end, otherwise the coffee will reach a temperature that is too high. If you don't have a moka pot and you're about to buy one, make sure it's made out of aluminum. I only have bad experiences with the ones made out of steel (for the hipster: for bike frames it's the opposite :P)
Thank you for the visual lesson I have owned two Moka pots and never used them. I will be trying my Moka pot out. I now realized what I need to buy is the induction burner plate to be able to use the Moka pot. TY!
The bialetti electric one is a life saver for the office. We adore these things in Italy. I don't know how you could dislike this. Only if you have bad quality / old coffee.
Do the Italians really use Lavazza though or is it just a marketing ploy for the rest of the world that because "sophisticated Italians use Lavazza therefore it must be good'"......I use it all the time and love it.
Chris James Italian coffee products get marketed in the way they do because a surprisingly high percentage of British based people drink instant coffee. The fresh coffee drinking culture in Italy is not a 'sophisticated' thing at all. It is just the norm to drink fresh coffee. Personally, I prefer to grind my own coffee beans than buy them in those air tight bags. I've never really thought they tasted that good. Having visited the UK, I've noticed that it makes you 'cool' to drink fresh coffee, have a coffee machine with a shower head and some people even go and attend exhibitions on different grades of roast, grinds and be served by so called 'expert baristas'. This type of thing gets backed up by marketing that says....this is how the Italians do it, but in reality for us, coffee is what tea with milk is to the british. It isn't supposed to distinguish. Its just coffee.
+Chris James Lavazza is okaish. Personally I don't really like it. It tastes somewhat flat. The best brand of Italian coffee you can find in supermarkets is Illy. It costs almost twice as much as the other brands, but it's worth it.
Refreshing to see that I've been using my Moka right the whole time. Especially the quenching of the pot, I've found that the coffee is way nicer. You get all the burnt over extracted flavour in the last few millilitres of water, one thing I do that wasn't said here was that I also fill above the pressure valve so the basket gets the bottom of the ground coffee soaked, it's basically like preinfusion and also I do tamp lightly, but I use layered ground coffee, first it's coarse for about 3mm then almost espresso fine then back to a little coarse for the last 3mm, it keeps the finer coffee in the puck so you can grind finer without getting granules in your coffee by grinding too fine. The coarser grind acts as another filter. You're welcome coffee addicts.
Do you cover the pressure relief valve with water? Im sure I don't need to tell you this but be careful, as I there's ever a blockage and a build of of steam it can cause a catastrophe.
This was a great video. With just a tiny bit more effort, a drink like this has taken over my morning routine. One of the most useful things I've noticed was the cool trick about frothing the milk in a french press! never thought to do that! Thanks!
Just a tip. If you have leftover, or in general, you can get a glass Starbucks frappochino, use the glass to make your own frozen cappuccino, which is way nicer and not nasty sweet like the Starbuck ones. Fill the bottle 1/3th to 1/2 with caffe. Fill the rest with some milk and add Suger as desired. Put in fridge till it's cold and you have perfect easy cold cappuccino
Moka Pot, such an underrated brewing device. Great video, as usual. One thing to note (from my moka pot experiences at least), the coffee at the bottom of the top/pourer/carafe? is significant stronger than the coffee at the top, due to the density of extracted solids in the initial brewing, so it isn't a bad idea to stir up the coffee in the pot before pouring, especially if you're using it for two separate drinks.
@@jlammetje Been a while but, I think just some water and paper towels did the trick for the top of the pot. I was "building a patina" but that's not really a thing as the old oils and such give an off flavor.
Using French press for "fluffing: the milk is pure genius. Appreciate these tips so much. Now, finally know how to make a very decent Moka at home. Only regret is did not see this years ago.
I have a tiny 1 cup moka pot and am obsessed with it. I started doing everything he suggests except for running it under cold water. It's hard to do moka with an electric stove, but I've got it figured out. What I do is microwave the water to get it hot, put it in and turn the burner on high. Once I start to hear the pressure building, I pull the moka pot halfway off the burner, and then a little bit more as it starts to come out of the funnel. I basically pour the coffee off into a cup as soon as it's about halfway through thr brewing, and then stick it back on the burner to get more, and pour it off. Once no more coffee is coming out and I smell burning I know there's no more water, but because I poured it out in intervals I didn't burn anything. I like to pour it onto ice and make myself a nice iced coffee with a splash of cream and some sugar free caramel syrup. Tastes amazing, I feel no need to ever go to a starbucks again!
Glad to see this getting out there! Like most manual brew techniques, just requires some finesse and an understanding of what you're trying to achieve. Sharing with my staff!
From trial and error I found the ideal grind: 1/4 between drip and espresso grind. So if 4 on the grinder is drip and 5 is espresso, go for 4.25. If 6 is drip and 8 is espresso go for 6.5.
Thank you. What brand of coffee are you making? I don't know why i am having trouble...I do what they say but for my 6 Cup Moka pot is only giving me 6 oz of coffee...anyone have any tips for me? Thank you.
I love the moka pot! I’m certainly going to try the hot water thing. Another trick for the milk if you don’t have a French press- tightly closed mason jar! Shake away! Just make sure it’s tight.
James Hoffmann (the guy on the right) says "bad rep" because moka pot rely on boiling water to buildup pressure, and boiling water is bit too high temperature for coffee brewing, that causes bitter coffee.That's why he trys to mitigate this by using coarser grind and cold water to stop brewing immediately. Oh, btw this guy is from UK and he's the author of World Atlas of Coffee, he does know some coffee stuff.
+Socomnick It usually corodes, because of the salt used in the dishwasher or rather in the detergent. The material pretty much gets ruined beyond repair. you get aluminiumoxide to your fingers whilst cleaning it and the coffee is unbearable. actually that's valid for nearly every aluminium tool in the kitchen.
Plus, the moka pot must not be washed with soap at all: the soap flavor will stick and ruin your coffee. You must wash it with water only, a few minutes after using it. This way it will be clean and the coffee will taste right.
Thanks, I make Moka pots for a few years, but now we did buy a new Bialetti for induction and it did not work anymore? So I saw this video, with you tips it is again excellent coffee.
Once you have the extraction turned from brown to light color and sizzling, you remove it from the heat source and the water should finished siffoning in seconds if your measure is right. No need for the rinse just pour it out
I'm Italian and we never made coffee like that. We use cold water and when it starts to brew and it hits the top we turn the stove off. Another thing is to keep the Pot on the side of the burner as not to burn the handle, especially with a gas stove. In terms of the level, I usually fill it right to the top as not to make it too bitter. I only use espresso brands such as Kimbo, and a Canadian company called Barzula. Both very good espresso coffees
That's probably the difference between the age-approved Italian traditional tactic and what some British hipster thinks is important :D no, who yo gonna trust? Nonna or the hipster? :D
@@fingerbottom Yeah, that's the "real" way to do it. Or, you can get boilers with a wand attached just for that purpose. But, aerating the milt with the mesh of a French press will give a similar effect, but I'm saying that the milk should be cold first, not the way they did it. There are little electric stirrers which are cheap and do a good job.
You forgot to mention the heat! Should it be low, medium, what? Because when I put it on high the coffee rockets through the moka pot, and it tastes kinda weak and gross.
The lowest the strongest flavour. Also for stronger flavour you can put a lot more coffee inside, it'll pressed down from the top part when screwing it down. These two things makes the coffee more compact inside, there will be more of it so more stuff to give flavour. Low heat takes more time, but if you start with hot water it's fine... And water goes through the coffee powder slowly so it takes up more of the flavour. Lastly, here in Italy where we have almost everywhere gas stove, 90% of people using the moka Bialetti start will start with regular cold water, place it on med-high flame and lowering it down asa it starts to boil up...
In Italy, for a perfect original coffee like they do in Naples, you should make a little pile, just like a little mountain when putting the coffee on the filter and should NOT press it, just close the moka on top of it. For the frothy cream, just as you get it when you order an espresso at a café, wait for the first thicker and darker coffee drops, mix them in another pot with 3 little spoons of sugar, then await for the rest of the coffee to come out of the moka and pour it with the previous mix of sugar and coffee. Finally stir everything and pour, with the aid of a spoon, the creamy coffee into a cup.
@@CookinCOI use a fine grind, nearly as fine as an espresso grind. Usually I grind it until it looks like half way between white sugar and powdered sugar (for a reference in texture). I hope it will help!
Wow just wow 👌 👏 I've forever used cold water and this is the first time I've ever used a darker roast full bodied bean fresh ground with hot water the smoothness omg! Not bitter at all. Looked really good after the pour bull bodied and chocolaty almost. Spectacular
That's how we do our coffee at home in Italy (I used to put the bottom part of the moka on the stove, prepare the filter with the coffee and then assemble) :P Nice video indeed!
This is actually funny because I always wanted a cup of this coffee in the morning. And I needed it fast to get to work sooner. So I started putting hot water into it just to make it finish faster and so I realised that it made the coffee better :)
I bought a Moka Pot because of this video and really like using it. I also like to put a pinch of salt on top of the coffee grounds, this helps to reduce the bitterness of the coffee, an idea I got from Alton Brown.
just dont grind as fine as espresso. Mokas are a lot less finicky when it comes to grind size: too fine of a grind will "choke" it (steam will come out the safety valve). A bit too fine will work but the coffee will be overdone and too coarse will see just water rushing through the grinds without extracting much. If you want to see the grind yourself then pick some cheap lavazza pre-ground and that size of grind works for mokas
Tip for my fellowAmericans...it's waaaaaaaay easier to get the Lavazza bricks in the US that are custom ground for Moka pots than it used to be. I used to order multipacks of them online but now I can find them all over the place. That takes care of the grind and it's actually very affordable compared to other good coffee. I use the Qualita Rossa kind, it has silver and red packaging. It's what my friend's mom in Sardinia swore by.
A serious question here: why not to just pour the coffe after the bubbling but cool it down with water? You can stop the process by just pouring it to the mug, right?
@Keren It's news to me that people don't like the café from a Bialetti! I grew up in France and I don't know one person who doesn't have a Moka pot or the drip Napoletana. They make excellent coffee! Electric drips do not make a good coffee; and that scorched coffee smell they make from being left on is revolting! I am constantly unplugging them at work because I'd much rather smell brewing coffee.
+Keren Wang Quite a few people you mean :). More common down south. It really was invented by this aluminium worker who wanted to create a closer to espresso way of brewing coffee at home. Our italian friends have a big one for parties and they serve a whole group with it. And then in the morning the coffee with heated milk. Just delicious.
+AeroDoe When I visited Vietnam with my friend it seemed like everyone used the drip Napoletana. It was awesome flavor to be sure but I just simply went ahead and acquired a moka pot and love this espresso! Reminds me of my time in Cicily.
I followed most of your steps and still made a bitter brew (when drunk straight, just with sugar). I'll try adjusting the grind to regular grind - and thanks for the french press milk frothing idea. Amazing - I'll try that too.
Thank you for this! Pulled mine out of the cabinet and dusted off the cobwebs. Used some PNG beans that I had done a bad job of roasting ( too bright in my double boiler espresso machine) and ended up with a rich, full-bodied cuppa. Wish you had given a touch more info on the amount of heat you gave from the burner. I've got gas and I think it went too fast. Still it tasted great and I'm going to use my mocha pot more in the future. Cheers.
Nice, I use often as well a my French press and Vietnamese coffee drip. I always used cold filtered water, but never hot as I though it was better to heat up the coffee over time 🤔 interesting.
The very big difference is that in Italy the coffee is roasted differently, it becomes very strong and you can choose if you want it bitter or aromatic. So you can buy it depending on your taste. It you want to reproduce the Italian coffee you need the proper Italian coffee preparatio. Or you follow the super good instructions given in this video! 👏👏👏
From a video on James Hoffman's own TH-cam, he says medium heat and no higher. Otherwise same rule, as soon as you hear the bubbling, cool it down under tap water. Look up his name with "coffee at home". If you see him with a red Moka Pot, an aeropress and 3 different milk frothers, you're on the right one ! It'll be by 6 min 23.
Thank you! I experimented since watching this and definitely burned it the first time. 🤣 A "5" on my stove is waaaay too high. Second time round I got the heat better (I think) at about a 3, but put too many grounds in and/or ground it too finely. I still drank it even though it was still bitter out of spite and the fact that I really wanted a vanilla latte. I've been reluctant to try again since. 😂 I used my Vitamix to grind my beans and am pretty inexperienced with grinding my own coffee in general. I'm thinking the easiest option may be getting the beans already ground up. I've also considered getting a grinder machine itself. However, from the bit of research I've done, those seem to be unreliable in grind consistency and break easy unless you have a pretty penny to spend for a decent one. Does anyone have a pre-ground brand they like to use for this specific pot? Can anyone recommend any coffee/spice grinders they've found reliable and helpful? I'm such a wannabe coffee snob but there more I get into this, the more I'm justifying paying someone to make it for me. Lol If you made it this far, thanks and God bless. 🙏
@@chloer.6495 hey i just got into this as well, got my Moka Pot last Saturday, should start playing around with it soon. I totally get you with the 5 being way too hot, it depends a lot on the type of cooktop you have, they reach their temperature differently and I've had one that medium was really aggressive. For your later question, and I'm no expert whatsoever, but this is a good opportunity to go to/find a local coffee shop (not necessarily a café) --- granted with the state of things nowadays that may be more complicated (but also a great way to support them), and they can recommend you coffee based on your preferences, or help you figure that out by making you taste some while giving you tips and they can grind them for you and you go home with your bag after geeking out a bit with someone passionate. (Haven't done it myself yet but I've heard a lot of people do that, so figured I'd pass that along.) This way you can get into the hobby gradually, getting to know what you want and going for that grinder eventually. Some argue your grinder is the most important piece, so it's worth saving up while you level up your knowledge and understanding going for a chat with an expert in the meantime ! As you can tell I'm no stranger to big walls of texts, I'm always told I write too much. Take care and happy brewing on your side ! I'm pretty much just repeating things I've learned. Two great channels I recommend are James Hoffman and Lance Hedrick, you're set to learn ! But if anyone can answer you more precisely, by all means !
From Bialetti's official site "A little secret? Set the heat to low and take all the time necessary" Seems you were on point and bonus, would yours be painted, you'll get less chances of getting the burned colouring occuring near your base!
I had my first successful mocha pot coffee this afternoon. I experimented with cheap coffee for a while to get the setting on the gas stove just right as well as the proper timing before using good coffee. It definitely produces a different flavor profile than the other processes. Nice to have another device in my brewing arsenal.
@@iqratahir6221 The first time, using medium setting, was too high. I did it again to nearly the lowest setting. It took a few minutes but the result was perfect.
I grew up in a family of Cuban Americans, who used this type of coffee pot all of the time. One brand of coffee only, won't mention the name, but it rhymes with Jello. Cold tap water only, packed it down in the funnel basket. Pot had build - up on it, from W.W. II Best coffee I ever had. Scalded the milk before adding it to the coffee. i make mine the same way . Science, bah!
Just made my 3rd moka coffee - I've got the process almost perfect now... kettle on, measure beans using moka pot coffee holding part (so you know you have exactly the right amount), grind beans to medium setting while kettle cools, pour hot water in to moka base to just below the safety valve, put back coffee holding part to moka base, tip in ground coffee but don't squash down, make sure join nice and clean, use oven gloves to hold base while slowly screwing on moka pot top nice and tight, take to induction hob, place on converter, heat on 5, wait with lid up, as soon as the coffee brew starts to come through turn off induction hob and move off hob, close lid, pour milk in cup, 60 seconds in microwave while brew stops and coffee is cooling down a little, then pour coffee from moka pot in to cup and stir... delicious!
Quite complicated. But still, my moka has some problem... what am I doing wrong (in this video)?? th-cam.com/video/C0N93UFgkLk/w-d-xo.html 1 - when the water starts boiling, it spews coffee all over the place! The coffee just doesn´t come out nice and slowly! 2- if I turn heater off, coffee immediately stops pouring out!!
@@rogeriopenna9014 check your filter inside the moka pot and turn down your heat. This is not a fast process. Use a blunt knife or thin small spoon to lift up the rubber seal and clean it. If that does not work, then change your moka pot.
@@rogeriopenna9014 Just use cold water. It's easier this way, and when Biaetti designed the Moka Pot, there was NO KENNEL's back in the day. So you're best option was to assemble and put the pot on the burner. All these opinions about to Moka pot is just based on opinions. Bialetti knows best.
I love my Moka pot! It gets me the stronger cup I love without costing as much as a full espresso machine! Though I do wonder if me half filling it with espresso and water to get a single cups worth affects the flavor much. Either way pick one up! Cheep, easy to use, and delicious!
Not sure if it affects the taste filling it like that... but you know, I have a 3 cup size moka, and instead of tossing the coffee I don't drink from it (I only drink 1 cup a day) I actually save the coffee in a small closed glass jar in the fridge and drink the rest over the next 2 days. Not as tasty as fresh brewed, but since I mix with my french press frothed milk, I don't notice the difference. No wasted coffee and it still tastes great.
Whoa... just like that. I did it, using hot water and cooling the bottom part with cold water when hearing that sound... no bitterness in my morning latte! Thank you for the video!!
You nailed it. We switch to your method and immediately noticed incredible flavor and aroma in our coffee and also both my wife and I did not have diarrhea every morning. Thank you Thank you Thank you bravo.
Even until now I'm still captivated by the physics behind the brewing process,... And I am a mechanical engineer! Really an amazing piece of equipment.
I wish to understand it more myself. So many variables and I trust that they explored them all carefully, just wish I knew the process they went through and what they discovered during that process. At the moment I want to make consistent brews with my four Moka pots ( a little one to two serving generic aluminum, a 3-4 serving aluminum TCM, another 3-4 serving stainless two spout no-name, and a 6 serving generic from Woolworth). I am not even sure of the “serving” sizes since only one was purchased new (Woolworth here in Berlin). I need to accurately measure the volumes of water & coffee in and out to establish each pot’s brew ratio. Water in and coffee out is easy because they are fluids, but the coffee volume changes with grind size.
Took me years to figure out what it was. I come from an Italian family that moved to Australia and drank coffee since I was 2 years old. My father would make me a tiny cup of coffee for breakfast and lunch and we always used a lot but it was called “Mr Gurgles” because of the sound. A over a decade later and I got one just for the memory of my childhood coffees.
Great video. Any suggestion on the best temperature of the hob under the Moka Pot? In the spirit of using hot water, I wonder if the hotter the better? Though in the manufacturers instructions it advises NOT to use too much heat. I currently use the middle setting on my hob.
I usually start on medium heat, but once it starts bubbling up, I turn it down to low. You should see a thin stream of coffee coming up if it's right. If it's coming up quickly or sputtering, the heat is too hot and it will be more bitter.
Wow, I've been using cold water and finer ground espresso. That would explain why my espresso has been so bitter. Also thank you for the french press microfoam trick!!
Same, although I like the taste. But I'm gonna try it with slightly coarser grounds and hot water just the same.
Dad?
You know what is more bitter? B Roll
Papa no kiss
@@mdasifrezwanshishir742 papa no like
I picked up one of these at a yard sale for a dollar because, the seller explained, he couldn't find the cord. He thought the pressure valve was an electric plug!
That is amazing oh gosh
What a moron
LMAO😂😂😂
@@leonlawson2196 😂 😂 😂
That's hilarious 😂
Making frothy milk with a french press was a revelation
+Talliwa123 It totally works!
The problem with this is when the press is all the way down there is about an inch of space between the screen and the bottom of the container. This is fine for trapping coffee grounds but less than ideal for frothing. If you disassemble the press, put the top lid aside, and reassemble the shaft and screen assembly you can now press the screen all the way to the bottom of the container. This way will get you much lighter and frothier foam. I have a second French press setup like that for milk and cream only. There are also glass milk frothers that are just a small French press where the screen goes all the way to the bottom.
Either way its the best way to get your foam on. The electric stirring ones suck.
Kev Ro
Good.
And that just happened to me 3 years later from your comment lol
Alicia R well it’s pretty much obvious isn’t it? I always used it for that
After watching the video, I immediately did it for the first time with hot water, and not with cold water, as I usually did before. The taste is completely different! Much better! Just wow!
Glad I saw this tip as well. Big difference, makes a lot of sense.
I did it with water hot from the tap.
But I’ll try it with heated kettle water and a pre-heated stove burner for the moka pot.
And see how that goes.
I’m trying this out this morning!
@@bigbluebuttonman1137 You do you but, and it's probably no big deal if you drink a moka pot worth of coffee every now and again, but in some systems you don't want to be drinking the water from the hot water tap. Better to heat up water from the cold tap in a kettle or on the stove or something. The hot water can leach minerals more than cold water and impart substances that you don't want to imbibe. Typically lead.
@@steelonius fr ppl don't know about cold water vs hot water
I bought a moka pot from goodwill online, watched this and was excited to use it, it arrived and I realized it was about 3x the size of the one in the video. Excited to make a month of coffee at a time 👍
Lol I have one of these but mainly use it for decoration because I cant get myself to use half a block of espresso grounds at once
My family owns a lot of different sizes of mokas (i am Italian, that's the main way we make coffee in our family) and the one in the video is the big one 💀
No, dont, just dont. After a week its dangerous to even consume it.
@@Francisco-j1e it’s a joke.
@giovannicurotto5134 I knew a family originally from Italy that had a tiny stovetop espresso maker that could fit in the palm of your hand. I tried for a long time looking for one like that, but the smallest I could find is what is shown in this video. Do you know where one can purchase a small espresso maker like that in the US?
Another technique I've developed with this that contributes a lot to a smooth non-bitter non-burnt coffee is to closely regulate the temperature once the coffee starts pouring through the column. You want a thin light brown flow, without too many foamy bubbles. When it gets a bit too violent and starts to foam slightly raise it off the heat source, keep it in the air a bit until it's smooth and silky again. And keep controling the distance from the heat source until the brewing ends. When air starts to come through with foam and the flow is interrupted, immediately run it under the tap as shown in this video. This technique produces excellent results every time.
Preach. Thats exactly how I do it. You want reaaaaly tiny stream of coffee. If you do it too fast the coffee will end up bitter.
John Tsiombikas 🤔 I will give it a try tomorow ;) 👍
Nice tip. I asked a question about that on top but I think I will try what you just said. Thanks!
John. Do you ad boiling water or just hot water to the pot?
I will try this tomorrow. Thank you for the advise
Using hot water instead of cold was a HUGE game-changer for me. I can't believe I was about to give this away for free since it made bitter coffee the first few times I used it.
I was getting some bad results with my Moka pot but followed this video exactly. I think running cold water over the pot to stop the brewing at the end is what saved me. Normally I just let it gurgle and do it's thing when all the water runs through - today I stopped the brewing and the difference in the cup was night and day!
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
Doesn't that leave water at the bottom though?
@@Topaz763 Not an amount that matters and not near the spout so it doesn't get in the cup when pouring!
I don't understand the point of running cold water over the pot... You could just as well pour in the cup.
@@jooger69 If you're pouring and drinking it right away then yeah. But there are lots of reasons why you might not, maybe you're having half and leaving half (especially with a bigger moka pot), or maybe you're finishing cooking and if you pour it in the cup it will get cold by the time you're sitting down to drink it.
These are good tips. In addition, I suggest trying to slow down the brewing speed. I usually take the pot off of the heat quite early and let the top of the pot fill as slowly as possible. Every once in a while you can put it either fully or partially on the heat to get the boil going again. When the process is too fast the grounds will be underextracted, making it overly acidic; this is a common problem when brewing with a moka pot.
This is a cool tip, will defo try his, I did think to myself, using hot water from the kettle and straight to the stove - the coffee boiled/extracted too fast for my liking.. I'll try "warm" water rather than "just boiled" water and try on and off technique for slower extraction.
Not true, the coarses grind will be just fine under maximum heat. 47 years as a barista.
Italians don't rush things such as Spaghetti Bolognese, so yeah, this makes sense.
@@Vinnay94 No Italian I know would ever eat Spaghetti with their Bolognese ;) But your point is good
so if gets underextracted doesn't it mean that we should use a fine grind size
The Mocca Pot is how I've been making my coffee for years now, first they're cheap, second I'm cheap, third I'm not about to buy a coffee maker, fourth I have no space for the machine, fifth they make pretty good coffee. Don't know why people dislike them if one knows how to use one they're great
That's pretty much the only way we make coffe at home in Italy, people that dislike this are insane 😂😂
I'm new to coffee, but as a tea drinker, I like things simple. One kettle, one moka. When the power goes out, I'm still covered. If I'm feeling fancy, I'll shake up a mason jar with some milk and nuke it for 45sec.
Chef Dario I know Italians with a machine.
@@TheHypercarnivoreChef same in Puerto Rico. These are the way people make coffee in PR except for the really old school that boil it in a pot and run it through a piece of cloth we call a sock. The thing with Mocca Pots is that if you put it on the stove top under full flame you'll burn the coffee. Which is what I suspect where most people fail.
@@catocall7323 I guess I have burnt my coffee in this machine many many times then, as I always put this pot on the stove at close to full flame :) .
I have one and I've made every mistake you talked about.
+jerson valdes That's why we have James Hoffmann around, he is always enlightening. :) chfstps.co/1OfhjFN
+jerson valdes That's adorable.
+jerson valdes Likewise, I have been using mine for years and have made all the above mentioned faux pas
Did you have problems with coffee flying from the pot while you have the top opened?
Ditto
I just followed James’ technique and I just had the best moka I ever had, and I’ve been using a moka pot all my life!!
Thanks James
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
The best part of this video was the french press to make frothy milk!! Genius!!
+phillybigdoh I never thought about doing that before. Great idea!
+shante0078 .... 2 days from the mention of "fluffers"... and nothing? Noone? Hmm ok. Pleasant surprise.
John Smith h
There is nothing practical. Removing the milky fat from the metal filter is a nightmare. This French pressure coffee maker is not made to use milk, only coffee.
Should've realised this when I clean a cafetière and froth up the washing up liquid.
In italy we use to do this:
-1: Fill with cold water a little below the valve
-2: Put the funnel on
-3: Put the coffee in the funnel, and make like a little mountain with it (don't press it!)
-4: screw the collector very tight
-5: Put on a stove on low heat
-6: wait till you hear bubbling
-7: turn off the heat and let it cool for about a minute
-8: put the coffee into a bottle or some container (preferably glass)
-9: Enjoy your coffee :)
Davis Schina how long do you wait until you hear it? My God, you're not Italian
cnn8420 Yes, I'm from Italy and it takes around 5-6 minutes
so is it better with cold or hot water like James said in this video?
It's not so important, but I prefer cold water
it change nothing
I got my Moka Pot today and followed the advice from this video. I’ve never had coffee so good in my life, as much as I like going to coffee shops, I don’t know if I’ll ever need to go to another one again unless I just don’t feel like making coffee.
Yeah, for me cafés are also about the ambience, and meeting with friends for a coffee and a catch up 😁😁
@@judylloyd7901 - and to get out of the home. 🏡
And spend money everyday that’s alot per year .. I drink at home with my buddy Fissman 😂
Used a Moka pot during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. My heat source was usually a tank manifold and my pot was the envy of my unit.
do you believe the rumors that there where so many desertions that order where given to the earth movers to just bury everyone, deserter or not?
@@thedude4795, I'm not sure about your question but I'll try to answer it. When the ground war started in the early morning of February 24th, specially equipped tanks had plows mounted on the bows. When ordered to advance against prepared Iraqi positions, the tanks just plowed in the Iraqi trenches burying alive the defenders. After the first and second echelons punched through, the third echelon swept up any Iraqi troops that were captured or surrendered.
Once the Iraqis seen that they were completely outclassed and we weren't going to murder them outright they couldn't wait to surrender.
@@michaelweinmann3679 Jesus lol not sure how I stumbled upon this question while trying to figure out the Moka pot at 4:30 in the morning. Wild thought to be buried alive. I’m sure nobody saw that coming.
@@glennbell6627, "Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of Man." - Gen. Geo. S. Patton
@@glennbell6627
I hurt my side laughing.
I hadn't seen the French press trick. Very nice overall!
+Applied Science Glad you enjoyed it! Grant casually dropping knowledge bombs. :)
+Applied Science By the way, Your channel is AWESOME! love the Slow Mo Vinyl video: th-cam.com/video/GuCdsyCWmt8/w-d-xo.html
+ChefSteps Thanks so much! I've got some interesting food science demos coming along, but they are taking a little longer to get working than I had planned. Talk to you later.
Let us know how they turn out, best of luck!
+ChefSteps YES! I love both your channels and the first time I watched one of your videos I thought Grant must be related to Ben somehow.
I just got a tiny 2-cup mocca pot for my birthday. This was just the video I needed to expand my coffee world. Thank you for sharing, James always delivers!
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
Nice James Hoffman the coffee expert. I wonder if he's of any relation to James Hoffman the World Barista Champion?
@Vaibhav Pandey r/wooosh
Who's James Hoffman?
@@jchow13 coffee dad
Same person ya donut
Their both the sam
Outstanding! I’ve been making all the common mistakes you’ve highlighted, thank you for leveling up my coffee obsession!
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
Wait what? How is moka pots underrated and have a bad rep?
You americans....
Tigrre Ampluch We Americans are still captivated by our auto drip coffee makers. Some of us have come around, though.
@@joshuatree206 lol
As an American, i can speak for my country by saying 95% of us have no idea what a moka pot is
Right? I love this thing. Moka pots are wonderful
Young Gucci and that’s exactly what’s wrong with our country. 😂
Hoffman:
Keep the Moka Pot clean
*Italians have left the chat*
Improves taste drastically, I thought the beans were bad :D
mia nonna non ha mai lavato la moka...
Right. My wife won't let me wash her aluminum caffettiera with dish soap. She conceeded to me for the stainless Alessi. According to her it's not to get the seasoned pot taste but to not have a metallic flavor.
So are the Chinese also lying to themselves about their seasoned clay tea pots?
@@hallin6311 you're not supposed to wash with dish soap as it reacts with the metal. You have to clean it with hot water, but be careful of course.
@@ConstantThrowing, yes. It really isn't my wife holding me back from washing our aluminum moka with soap. I was passive about supporting no soap to not discount someone like James Hoffman (on the soap side) whose palette and knowlege have much more creds than mine. But your'e forcing my hand here--no soap.
We use cold water and elbow grease. I don't use soap very often on our stainless--not so much for any reaction, as it is Inox 18/10 stainless, but for the claim there can be an accumalation of detergent affecting the taste in the stem above the filter that rarely gets cleaned and some part of it may never get scrubbed during rinsing.
My comment about the Chinese and their tea pots (I could have used tobacco pipes as an example as well) was a little subtle trolling western newcomers to the moka who are smugly convinced the no soap thing is a myth and think they can taste bitterness from some minute contact to rancid coffee oil. Makes sense in theory--but don't even try for those who take theirs with sugar. For those who take moka coffee full strength without sugar or milk etc that say this, okay, I'll believe some people can taste things I can't.
I use to say that my mother does the best moka pot coffe ever - by far preferable over any espresso in opinion - and I have never managed to get even close.
After trying this I understand why, I was messing all over the place. The difference is huge, and having a better start right at breakfast feels like a huge quality of life improvement.
Thanks a lot!
You were messing?
Coming from Spain, we have plenty of those lying around in every single household, so this is a game changer.
I just tried this technique combined with what James shared on his channel about grinding with a blade grinder and it upped my moka pot coffee game so many notches I do not know where to start to thank him.
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
I used a moka pot when I studied abroad in Italy and have used that same one for 20 years now...but these tips really do make it taste better. I think starting with heated water from a tea pot is the biggest hint to smoothing out the flavor. I mean I liked it before but these are even better. Also the french press works much better on almond milk than several expensive machines I tried and returned.
Ok... so extra fine grind, ice cubes in the water reservoir, and a nice patina in the coffee pot. Just how I like it.
Honestly i really make in this way.. nah, ok, not ice, but cold water.
if there isn't visible chunks from previous brews then you're doing it all wrong.
He said NOT extra fine grind.
@@goodgravy3047 Whoosh!
@CalvinSomething Oooh, no... The last thing you want is for your rubber to loosen up. Go ahead, ask me how I know. ;)
If using a gas burner do not let the flames go up the sides of the mocha pot and keep it off-center so the handle doesn’t melt
One thing he didn’t mention was the temperature of the stove eye, do we want a slow heat because as soon as mine came to boil it started spouting out instead of the slow bubbly overflow he had.
Mine did that the one time I tried to run water through without grounds. It definitely helps to have the grind hopper mostly full and smaller grind than French press. But yeah also turn the heat down once you see it start to work
First time trying Mokapot here! And the same thing happened!! I am giving another shot in medium heat :)
I ended up with near espresso this morning haha
Medium heat is what James says in another video about Moka pots
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
My absolute favourite coffee is what I make at home with my Bialetti Moka pot, have to get exact right grind, amount of coffee, and temperature, but once mastered its delicious.
Also found my hand blender makes some pretty epic foamy milk.
"A coffee video on my frontpage who isnt with James Hoffman? Okay ill give it a go"
10 seconds later
"Oh.."
So strange, as a Spanish, this caffetiere is found in almost every single home. Delicious coffee! And we call it italian caffetiere. I've never head of "moka pot" ever!
en Italia siempre lo hemos llamado moka (moka es una ciudad de Yemen)
its an italian invention.
Actually 'Moka' is the specific name of the Alessi's coffeepot. Not all of them are Moka. It's like calling 'Kleenex' a paper tissue.
Same here in belgium, we call it " caffetière italienne" ^^
@@bhkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk Same in Quebec ! ;)
Just found a new Moka pot at a thrift shop and followed this tutorial. The coffee was delicious!! Thank you so much!
Many thanks to the both of you! I bought a moka pot a while ago and just couldn’t get the bitterness level low enough every time I made my coffee. After watching this video I’m all set. I grew up in a culture where Turkish coffee is the homemade go to coffee, but when I began drinking coffee in bars, I just fell in love with Illy and Filicori. Hence the moka pot because it’s the best way to make great coffee on a low budget (I can’t afford an espresso machine yet 😁).
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
Im planning to get a moka, because my parents keep putting cheap shitty beans into it, and the coffee tastes awful.
Love it! Quick and clear explanations. I did my own coffe after this video, it was my first time using a moka pot. I actually was a bit afraid because the bad reputation it had. Thanks!
Just wanted to thank you for the great tips in this video. I tried making mine with hot water tonight and then immediately cooling it off with cold water once it started to bubble and that bitter taste disappeared. Thank you for the content!
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
We live in Italy and have gone thru many old battered aluminum Moka's. Last year I finally went to the local Bialetti store and bought a stainless pot...huge difference, and so much easier to keep clean. I also use the pre-ground Italian coffees especially for the Moka so no worries about grind size. Lavazza makes a decent medium roast in the d'Oro brand....good for everyday drinking. Not packing the grinds and stopping while the sputtering is still going helps a lot. It's never going to be as good as a pulled shot, but one can get rid of the canned metallic taste. Love the French press milk trick, will have to try that!
I like lavazza rosso for the chocolate taste, also their canned coffee lasts me a year,cand doesn't lose taste and aroma
Someone gave me one of these today, I just made a cup. This is really good. Taste better than the French press I made this morning.
I have never tried to froth the milk with a French press, why not using a milk frother?
One more tip (it's done in the video, but not highlighted in the commentary): leave the lid open until the very end, otherwise the coffee will reach a temperature that is too high.
If you don't have a moka pot and you're about to buy one, make sure it's made out of aluminum. I only have bad experiences with the ones made out of steel (for the hipster: for bike frames it's the opposite :P)
cosenal What do you dislike about the stainless steel pots?
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
I bought a moka pot again because of this. Thank you. It is delicious now.
Thank you for the visual lesson I have owned two Moka pots and never used them. I will be trying my Moka pot out. I now realized what I need to buy is the induction burner plate to be able to use the Moka pot. TY!
I have been looking for the name of that since I first saw JH using one - thank you.
The bialetti electric one is a life saver for the office. We adore these things in Italy. I don't know how you could dislike this. Only if you have bad quality / old coffee.
Do the Italians really use Lavazza though or is it just a marketing ploy for the rest of the world that because "sophisticated Italians use Lavazza therefore it must be good'"......I use it all the time and love it.
Chris James Italian coffee products get marketed in the way they do because a surprisingly high percentage of British based people drink instant coffee. The fresh coffee drinking culture in Italy is not a 'sophisticated' thing at all. It is just the norm to drink fresh coffee. Personally, I prefer to grind my own coffee beans than buy them in those air tight bags. I've never really thought they tasted that good. Having visited the UK, I've noticed that it makes you 'cool' to drink fresh coffee, have a coffee machine with a shower head and some people even go and attend exhibitions on different grades of roast, grinds and be served by so called 'expert baristas'. This type of thing gets backed up by marketing that says....this is how the Italians do it, but in reality for us, coffee is what tea with milk is to the british. It isn't supposed to distinguish. Its just coffee.
+Chris James Lavazza is okaish. Personally I don't really like it. It tastes somewhat flat. The best brand of Italian coffee you can find in supermarkets is Illy. It costs almost twice as much as the other brands, but it's worth it.
Roz Sa I can't agree more with you, it's only bad when you have bad quality coffee
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Refreshing to see that I've been using my Moka right the whole time. Especially the quenching of the pot, I've found that the coffee is way nicer. You get all the burnt over extracted flavour in the last few millilitres of water, one thing I do that wasn't said here was that I also fill above the pressure valve so the basket gets the bottom of the ground coffee soaked, it's basically like preinfusion and also I do tamp lightly, but I use layered ground coffee, first it's coarse for about 3mm then almost espresso fine then back to a little coarse for the last 3mm, it keeps the finer coffee in the puck so you can grind finer without getting granules in your coffee by grinding too fine. The coarser grind acts as another filter.
You're welcome coffee addicts.
Do you cover the pressure relief valve with water? Im sure I don't need to tell you this but be careful, as I there's ever a blockage and a build of of steam it can cause a catastrophe.
This was a great video. With just a tiny bit more effort, a drink like this has taken over my morning routine. One of the most useful things I've noticed was the cool trick about frothing the milk in a french press! never thought to do that! Thanks!
Just a tip. If you have leftover, or in general, you can get a glass Starbucks frappochino, use the glass to make your own frozen cappuccino, which is way nicer and not nasty sweet like the Starbuck ones. Fill the bottle 1/3th to 1/2 with caffe. Fill the rest with some milk and add Suger as desired. Put in fridge till it's cold and you have perfect easy cold cappuccino
Moka Pot, such an underrated brewing device. Great video, as usual.
One thing to note (from my moka pot experiences at least), the coffee at the bottom of the top/pourer/carafe? is significant stronger than the coffee at the top, due to the density of extracted solids in the initial brewing, so it isn't a bad idea to stir up the coffee in the pot before pouring, especially if you're using it for two separate drinks.
Cleaned out my pot yesterday and tried the tips here, holy crap what a noticeable difference. Thank you both!
What did you use to clean it?
@@jlammetje Been a while but, I think just some water and paper towels did the trick for the top of the pot. I was "building a patina" but that's not really a thing as the old oils and such give an off flavor.
Using French press for "fluffing: the milk is pure genius. Appreciate these tips so much. Now, finally know how to make a very decent Moka at home. Only regret is did not see this years ago.
I have a tiny 1 cup moka pot and am obsessed with it. I started doing everything he suggests except for running it under cold water. It's hard to do moka with an electric stove, but I've got it figured out. What I do is microwave the water to get it hot, put it in and turn the burner on high. Once I start to hear the pressure building, I pull the moka pot halfway off the burner, and then a little bit more as it starts to come out of the funnel.
I basically pour the coffee off into a cup as soon as it's about halfway through thr brewing, and then stick it back on the burner to get more, and pour it off. Once no more coffee is coming out and I smell burning I know there's no more water, but because I poured it out in intervals I didn't burn anything.
I like to pour it onto ice and make myself a nice iced coffee with a splash of cream and some sugar free caramel syrup. Tastes amazing, I feel no need to ever go to a starbucks again!
Glad to see this getting out there! Like most manual brew techniques, just requires some finesse and an understanding of what you're trying to achieve. Sharing with my staff!
+Hayden Fulghum Thanks Hayden! This technique is underrated for sure. chfstps.co/1OfhjFN
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
Watched this few months ago, didn’t know who James H. was. Now I came back after watching ALL of his videos and laughed cause I realized who he was
Edgar Gamboa same
Haha, exactly the same here
Same !
Oh dude, this is an algorithm thing, isn't it?
From trial and error I found the ideal grind: 1/4 between drip and espresso grind. So if 4 on the grinder is drip and 5 is espresso, go for 4.25. If 6 is drip and 8 is espresso go for 6.5.
Thank you. What brand of coffee are you making? I don't know why i am having trouble...I do what they say but for my 6 Cup Moka pot is only giving me 6 oz of coffee...anyone have any tips for me? Thank you.
I love the moka pot! I’m certainly going to try the hot water thing. Another trick for the milk if you don’t have a French press- tightly closed mason jar! Shake away! Just make sure it’s tight.
I didn’t imagine James as tall. My mind is blown.
Foreal tho!
He is about 6"4
This broke is enormous
I did
He always looks tall 🤔
america:
Moka pot has bad rep
The wolrd:
left the chat
Eh, it's the same in the UK. I use a stainless steal caffettiere/ French press and I don't get a metallic taste, but I do with my Moka pot. :(
I use stainless steel Moka pot, it has no metallic taste.
James Hoffmann (the guy on the right) says "bad rep" because moka pot rely on boiling water to buildup pressure, and boiling water is bit too high temperature for coffee brewing, that causes bitter coffee.That's why he trys to mitigate this by using coarser grind and cold water to stop brewing immediately.
Oh, btw this guy is from UK and he's the author of World Atlas of Coffee, he does know some coffee stuff.
Jorji Costava *James* : * stares in British *
America: moka pot have a bad rep. Italy: declares war.
you forgot to mention, that you instantaneously go to hell, if you put your aluminium-pot into the dishwasher.
+Jan Itor What happens ?
+Socomnick It usually corodes, because of the salt used in the dishwasher or rather in the detergent. The material pretty much gets ruined beyond repair. you get aluminiumoxide to your fingers whilst cleaning it and the coffee is unbearable. actually that's valid for nearly every aluminium tool in the kitchen.
Plus, the moka pot must not be washed with soap at all: the soap flavor will stick and ruin your coffee. You must wash it with water only, a few minutes after using it. This way it will be clean and the coffee will taste right.
You'd have to sandblast it to clean it pretty much. It builds a layer of carbon on the surface of the aluminum I believe.
Francesco Gambaro right
Thanks, I make Moka pots for a few years, but now we did buy a new Bialetti for induction and it did not work anymore? So I saw this video, with you tips it is again excellent coffee.
Once you have the extraction turned from brown to light color and sizzling, you remove it from the heat source and the water should finished siffoning in seconds if your measure is right. No need for the rinse just pour it out
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
I recently upgraded my grinder a couple of months back, and it’s made a big difference in my moka pot coffee especially using James technique as well!
I dont understand I grind on the finest what does James mean? Maybe one up from the finest or should I pick 2 up from the finest? What do you do?
I'm Italian and we never made coffee like that. We use cold water and when it starts to brew and it hits the top we turn the stove off. Another thing is to keep the Pot on the side of the burner as not to burn the handle, especially with a gas stove. In terms of the level, I usually fill it right to the top as not to make it too bitter. I only use espresso brands such as Kimbo, and a Canadian company called Barzula. Both very good espresso coffees
That's probably the difference between the age-approved Italian traditional tactic and what some British hipster thinks is important :D no, who yo gonna trust? Nonna or the hipster? :D
@@partlycurrent Nonna everytime
@@mariodefazio1653 never thought any different :D
@@mariodefazio1653 What should I do for my electric coil stove?
@@budmeister electric coil stove is fine, just make sure the handle is off the edge. Also, once the water is hot, adjust the heat to MEDIUM, not High.
A nice simple method. I like the way you don't get into fiddling about with scales to weigh the coffee.
the milk process with the French press blew my mind
SAME! i knew you could froth milk with it but i didn't know you could make it so you could do latte art. Gotta try this out asap
Nic Lai i tried it and it works xD can make latte art at home. Best thing learned during this pandemic.
He would get better foam it he used cold milk... and maybe heated up the foam after...
@@Nikosi9 yeah, like with a steaming wand attached to a boiler
@@fingerbottom Yeah, that's the "real" way to do it. Or, you can get boilers with a wand attached just for that purpose.
But, aerating the milt with the mesh of a French press will give a similar effect, but I'm saying that the milk should be cold first, not the way they did it.
There are little electric stirrers which are cheap and do a good job.
I had to learn to use the Moka pot when I was in Sicily a few weeks ago. Love it! Got one to bring back to America. Its the only way I make coffee now
The wife got me last year for Christmas, it's really nice... Now I want to try the hot water on the bottom.
@@Longbowan Believe me in Italy no one put hot water,and it's just perfect like this ciao😊
A coffee press is great as well.
You forgot to mention the heat! Should it be low, medium, what? Because when I put it on high the coffee rockets through the moka pot, and it tastes kinda weak and gross.
+Meelg222 Sorry, medium heat works great!
Yep, was gonna say the same.
The lowest the strongest flavour. Also for stronger flavour you can put a lot more coffee inside, it'll pressed down from the top part when screwing it down. These two things makes the coffee more compact inside, there will be more of it so more stuff to give flavour. Low heat takes more time, but if you start with hot water it's fine... And water goes through the coffee powder slowly so it takes up more of the flavour.
Lastly, here in Italy where we have almost everywhere gas stove, 90% of people using the moka Bialetti start will start with regular cold water, place it on med-high flame and lowering it down asa it starts to boil up...
I never know what temperature to use. No matter the temp. of the stove i can never get the coffee to bubble out nicely like that.
@@chefsteps Should I pre-heat to medium before I put the moka pot on? Or should I let it slowly come up with the moka pot on?
In Italy, for a perfect original coffee like they do in Naples, you should make a little pile, just like a little mountain when putting the coffee on the filter and should NOT press it, just close the moka on top of it.
For the frothy cream, just as you get it when you order an espresso at a café, wait for the first thicker and darker coffee drops, mix them in another pot with 3 little spoons of sugar, then await for the rest of the coffee to come out of the moka and pour it with the previous mix of sugar and coffee.
Finally stir everything and pour, with the aid of a spoon, the creamy coffee into a cup.
That's like making Cuban coffee.
Okay, i just bought a moka pot because a was curious after watching this video but now I'm in love with it and I don't regret it!
what coffee are you using and what grind level? I can't seem to get it right. thank you.
@@CookinCOI use a fine grind, nearly as fine as an espresso grind. Usually I grind it until it looks like half way between white sugar and powdered sugar (for a reference in texture). I hope it will help!
@@taraneal6725 Thank you!
Wow just wow 👌 👏
I've forever used cold water and this is the first time I've ever used a darker roast full bodied bean fresh ground with hot water the smoothness omg!
Not bitter at all. Looked really good after the pour bull bodied and chocolaty almost.
Spectacular
That's how we do our coffee at home in Italy (I used to put the bottom part of the moka on the stove, prepare the filter with the coffee and then assemble) :P Nice video indeed!
That's not true you are not Italian hahaha
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
This is actually funny because I always wanted a cup of this coffee in the morning. And I needed it fast to get to work sooner. So I started putting hot water into it just to make it finish faster and so I realised that it made the coffee better :)
. . . Allow me one guess - you are from the 'U.S.' ?...
@@donaldcook3112 Allow me one guess - you're a condescending insufferably smug Brit?
Long time Moka pot user here, and I've not once thought about putting hot water in the reservoir. Thanks!
+Daniel Watkins James always has great tips for our team.
This made the process easy after I purchased a moka pot. The coffee was much nice than I had before from capsules.
It doesn't require sous vide? The hell is this
They had to repair Joule. You obviously want to use it to warm up the water than a basic kettle.
+TTate mate, it was a joke. Their recent vids have quite a lot of Joule in it
+TTate ah. I didn't get it the first time haha. Cheers
Haha. First thing I thought when I saw this guy on the screen was, "oh no, is he going to make sous vide coffee?"
You funny.
Had no idea you could froth milk w a French press! Glad I watched this video 🙌🏾
I have never been more appalled and fascinated by people than these two guys
😂 Why appalled?
Weird comment...
Thanks guys - I’ve been curious about these moka pots for years and this video clears up all my concerns! 🤗🙏🏼🦋
I bought a Moka Pot because of this video and really like using it. I also like to put a pinch of salt on top of the coffee grounds, this helps to reduce the bitterness of the coffee, an idea I got from Alton Brown.
Neill Hames Must try this hack! Also going to try adding some spices on top :)
The salt helps a lot!
Stresses the importance of the grind. Proceeds to gloss over it and not detail the grind.
A professional never gives away their secrets for free. They did plenty by telling us how important the grind is.
just dont grind as fine as espresso. Mokas are a lot less finicky when it comes to grind size: too fine of a grind will "choke" it (steam will come out the safety valve). A bit too fine will work but the coffee will be overdone and too coarse will see just water rushing through the grinds without extracting much.
If you want to see the grind yourself then pick some cheap lavazza pre-ground and that size of grind works for mokas
If you don't have a coffee grinder you can always ask your spot to grind them for a peculator, they'll do the correct grind for you.
too much work for the coffee. this is nice on the weekend but not when i'm rushing out the door.
Tip for my fellowAmericans...it's waaaaaaaay easier to get the Lavazza bricks in the US that are custom ground for Moka pots than it used to be. I used to order multipacks of them online but now I can find them all over the place. That takes care of the grind and it's actually very affordable compared to other good coffee. I use the Qualita Rossa kind, it has silver and red packaging. It's what my friend's mom in Sardinia swore by.
A serious question here: why not to just pour the coffe after the bubbling but cool it down with water? You can stop the process by just pouring it to the mug, right?
underrated comment. but i think its because you often want to heat milk after and keep the coffee hot in the pot while you do that.
Here in Europe, EVERYONE has one. Well all the people I know. for some it's their only coffee maker! Love the moka
+Keren Wang It's a great way to go!
@Keren It's news to me that people don't like the café from a Bialetti! I grew up in France and I don't know one person who doesn't have a Moka pot or the drip Napoletana. They make excellent coffee!
Electric drips do not make a good coffee; and that scorched coffee smell they make from being left on is revolting! I am constantly unplugging them at work because I'd much rather smell brewing coffee.
+Keren Wang In the Southwest US here, I've never even heard of one of these!
+Keren Wang Quite a few people you mean :). More common down south. It really was invented by this aluminium worker who wanted to create a closer to espresso way of brewing coffee at home.
Our italian friends have a big one for parties and they serve a whole group with it. And then in the morning the coffee with heated milk. Just delicious.
+AeroDoe When I visited Vietnam with my friend it seemed like everyone used the drip Napoletana. It was awesome flavor to be sure but I just simply went ahead and acquired a moka pot and love this espresso! Reminds me of my time in Cicily.
I followed most of your steps and still made a bitter brew (when drunk straight, just with sugar). I'll try adjusting the grind to regular grind - and thanks for the french press milk frothing idea. Amazing - I'll try that too.
Thank you for this! Pulled mine out of the cabinet and dusted off the cobwebs. Used some PNG beans that I had done a bad job of roasting ( too bright in my double boiler espresso machine) and ended up with a rich, full-bodied cuppa. Wish you had given a touch more info on the amount of heat you gave from the burner. I've got gas and I think it went too fast. Still it tasted great and I'm going to use my mocha pot more in the future. Cheers.
Always locked onto all your videos, just waiting for the Joule to reach my side of the Caribbean. And Happy Holidays from the Caribbean xoxo
Nice, I use often as well a my French press and Vietnamese coffee drip. I always used cold filtered water, but never hot as I though it was better to heat up the coffee over time 🤔 interesting.
The very big difference is that in Italy the coffee is roasted differently, it becomes very strong and you can choose if you want it bitter or aromatic. So you can buy it depending on your taste.
It you want to reproduce the Italian coffee you need the proper Italian coffee preparatio. Or you follow the super good instructions given in this video! 👏👏👏
Thanks for a great demo - entertaining and instructive! Why can't I just put the bottom half on the stove to heat up? Faster than heating water twice.
from what i recall its something about heating up the coffee grinds while heating up the cold water that somehow affects taste
How high should your heat be on the stove? Low, low-medium, medium-high, etc? Overall, super informative video. Thank you!
From a video on James Hoffman's own TH-cam, he says medium heat and no higher. Otherwise same rule, as soon as you hear the bubbling, cool it down under tap water.
Look up his name with "coffee at home". If you see him with a red Moka Pot, an aeropress and 3 different milk frothers, you're on the right one ! It'll be by 6 min 23.
Thank you! I experimented since watching this and definitely burned it the first time. 🤣 A "5" on my stove is waaaay too high. Second time round I got the heat better (I think) at about a 3, but put too many grounds in and/or ground it too finely. I still drank it even though it was still bitter out of spite and the fact that I really wanted a vanilla latte. I've been reluctant to try again since. 😂 I used my Vitamix to grind my beans and am pretty inexperienced with grinding my own coffee in general. I'm thinking the easiest option may be getting the beans already ground up. I've also considered getting a grinder machine itself. However, from the bit of research I've done, those seem to be unreliable in grind consistency and break easy unless you have a pretty penny to spend for a decent one. Does anyone have a pre-ground brand they like to use for this specific pot? Can anyone recommend any coffee/spice grinders they've found reliable and helpful? I'm such a wannabe coffee snob but there more I get into this, the more I'm justifying paying someone to make it for me. Lol If you made it this far, thanks and God bless. 🙏
@@chloer.6495 hey i just got into this as well, got my Moka Pot last Saturday, should start playing around with it soon.
I totally get you with the 5 being way too hot, it depends a lot on the type of cooktop you have, they reach their temperature differently and I've had one that medium was really aggressive.
For your later question, and I'm no expert whatsoever, but this is a good opportunity to go to/find a local coffee shop (not necessarily a café) --- granted with the state of things nowadays that may be more complicated (but also a great way to support them), and they can recommend you coffee based on your preferences, or help you figure that out by making you taste some while giving you tips and they can grind them for you and you go home with your bag after geeking out a bit with someone passionate. (Haven't done it myself yet but I've heard a lot of people do that, so figured I'd pass that along.)
This way you can get into the hobby gradually, getting to know what you want and going for that grinder eventually. Some argue your grinder is the most important piece, so it's worth saving up while you level up your knowledge and understanding going for a chat with an expert in the meantime !
As you can tell I'm no stranger to big walls of texts, I'm always told I write too much.
Take care and happy brewing on your side ! I'm pretty much just repeating things I've learned. Two great channels I recommend are James Hoffman and Lance Hedrick, you're set to learn !
But if anyone can answer you more precisely, by all means !
From Bialetti's official site
"A little secret? Set the heat to low and take all the time necessary"
Seems you were on point and bonus, would yours be painted, you'll get less chances of getting the burned colouring occuring near your base!
I had my first successful mocha pot coffee this afternoon. I experimented with cheap coffee for a while to get the setting on the gas stove just right as well as the proper timing before using good coffee. It definitely produces a different flavor profile than the other processes. Nice to have another device in my brewing arsenal.
how do you set the flame? too high or moderate?
@@iqratahir6221 The first time, using medium setting, was too high. I did it again to nearly the lowest setting. It took a few minutes but the result was perfect.
I had one of these 30 years ago and sold it because I didnt take the time figure out how to use it. Now I get a private lesson. Thank you!
I grew up in a family of Cuban Americans, who used this type of coffee pot all of the time. One brand of coffee only, won't mention the name, but it rhymes with Jello. Cold tap water only, packed it down in the funnel basket. Pot had build - up on it, from W.W. II Best coffee I ever had. Scalded the milk before adding it to the coffee. i make mine the same way . Science, bah!
Why so secretive about the coffee brand though?
😁
Bustelo!😂
Just made my 3rd moka coffee - I've got the process almost perfect now... kettle on, measure beans using moka pot coffee holding part (so you know you have exactly the right amount), grind beans to medium setting while kettle cools, pour hot water in to moka base to just below the safety valve, put back coffee holding part to moka base, tip in ground coffee but don't squash down, make sure join nice and clean, use oven gloves to hold base while slowly screwing on moka pot top nice and tight, take to induction hob, place on converter, heat on 5, wait with lid up, as soon as the coffee brew starts to come through turn off induction hob and move off hob, close lid, pour milk in cup, 60 seconds in microwave while brew stops and coffee is cooling down a little, then pour coffee from moka pot in to cup and stir... delicious!
Quite complicated.
But still, my moka has some problem... what am I doing wrong (in this video)??
th-cam.com/video/C0N93UFgkLk/w-d-xo.html
1 - when the water starts boiling, it spews coffee all over the place! The coffee just doesn´t come out nice and slowly!
2- if I turn heater off, coffee immediately stops pouring out!!
@@rogeriopenna9014 check your filter inside the moka pot and turn down your heat. This is not a fast process. Use a blunt knife or thin small spoon to lift up the rubber seal and clean it. If that does not work, then change your moka pot.
@@rogeriopenna9014 Just use cold water. It's easier this way, and when Biaetti designed the Moka Pot, there was NO KENNEL's back in the day. So you're best option was to assemble and put the pot on the burner. All these opinions about to Moka pot is just based on opinions. Bialetti knows best.
@@sO_RoNerY it doesn't work. I even have a video showing it
I love my Moka pot! It gets me the stronger cup I love without costing as much as a full espresso machine!
Though I do wonder if me half filling it with espresso and water to get a single cups worth affects the flavor much. Either way pick one up! Cheep, easy to use, and delicious!
Not sure if it affects the taste filling it like that... but you know, I have a 3 cup size moka, and instead of tossing the coffee I don't drink from it (I only drink 1 cup a day) I actually save the coffee in a small closed glass jar in the fridge and drink the rest over the next 2 days. Not as tasty as fresh brewed, but since I mix with my french press frothed milk, I don't notice the difference. No wasted coffee and it still tastes great.
Whoa... just like that. I did it, using hot water and cooling the bottom part with cold water when hearing that sound... no bitterness in my morning latte! Thank you for the video!!
wash the moka, but only with water ;)
Hey cool idea the Induction Interface Disk!!
I would like to see an alluminium vs stainless steel moka pot comparison
You nailed it. We switch to your method and immediately noticed incredible flavor and aroma in our coffee and also both my wife and I did not have diarrhea every morning. Thank you Thank you Thank you bravo.
My primary method for making coffee in college. (Mid 70's, the good ole days)
Even until now I'm still captivated by the physics behind the brewing process,... And I am a mechanical engineer! Really an amazing piece of equipment.
Agreed! I think of that everytime I do use my pot. 🙈
It's just like a steam powered engine, haha
@@81caasi Can't agree more! :-)
#Cafe@Home
I wish to understand it more myself. So many variables and I trust that they explored them all carefully, just wish I knew the process they went through and what they discovered during that process.
At the moment I want to make consistent brews with my four Moka pots ( a little one to two serving generic aluminum, a 3-4 serving aluminum TCM, another 3-4 serving stainless two spout no-name, and a 6 serving generic from Woolworth). I am not even sure of the “serving” sizes since only one was purchased new (Woolworth here in Berlin). I need to accurately measure the volumes of water & coffee in and out to establish each pot’s brew ratio. Water in and coffee out is easy because they are fluids, but the coffee volume changes with grind size.
MOKA COFFEE PREPARATION ---> th-cam.com/users/shorts750JC2pNtoI
James: *doesn’t drink milk drinks*
Also James: *pours good latte art*
well, he *is* a world barista champion 😆
Well, the engineers who designed the space shuttle have never been in space...
How to do an Italian coffee ? th-cam.com/video/M9BZxLGY3KQ/w-d-xo.html
Well he owns a coffee shop I'm sure he knows how to work with milk
Took me years to figure out what it was.
I come from an Italian family that moved to Australia and drank coffee since I was 2 years old. My father would make me a tiny cup of coffee for breakfast and lunch and we always used a lot but it was called “Mr Gurgles” because of the sound.
A over a decade later and I got one just for the memory of my childhood coffees.
Awww "Mr Gurgles". Sooooo sweet. Sounds like nice memories.
😍
Great video. Any suggestion on the best temperature of the hob under the Moka Pot? In the spirit of using hot water, I wonder if the hotter the better? Though in the manufacturers instructions it advises NOT to use too much heat. I currently use the middle setting on my hob.
I usually start on medium heat, but once it starts bubbling up, I turn it down to low. You should see a thin stream of coffee coming up if it's right. If it's coming up quickly or sputtering, the heat is too hot and it will be more bitter.