Moka Pot Express Yourself – Part Two

How to make Moka pot coffee

So you’ve picked your Moka, and now it’s time to brew. It’s pretty easy to make good Moka pot coffee. But with a little effort and practice, you can make a banging brew in double-quick time. So read on for a simple method and a few tips and tricks to get the most out of your Moka.

Easy Method

Fill the bottom chamber to just below the valve (or a little lower for darker roasts) with freshly boiled water.

Pop in your basket and fill with medium to medium/fine ground coffee.

With the lid open, heat the bottom of the Moka until coffee starts to flow through the funnel into the upper chamber.

Turn down the heat and allow the brew to continue until you get the classic Moka sputtering.

Immediately remove from heat and run the base under the cold tap to stop the brew.

Pour out as soon as the brew is finished. Even after running under the tap, the Moka will still be hot, so get your coffee out before it gets cooked. Speciality roasts can be great in a Moka, whether served as is, with added water Americano-style, or as the base for a milk drink like a flat white.

Getting Fancy

Water

Start with freshly boiled good quality water in the base. A water filter is recommended, particularly if you live in a hard water area. Pouring from a just-boiled kettle into your unheated Moka will drop the temperature of the water down a little and into the perfect brewing zone (around the low 90s). Using hot water leads to more suitable brew temperatures and a slightly faster brew overall.

Coffee – What’s the best coffee for a Moka Pot, and how much do you need?

As with all good coffee at home, you want speciality grade beans to grind. The way your Moka brews coffee will bring a little more acidity out than a filter or cafetiere, so we recommend a medium roasted coffee with tasting notes like chocolate, nut, or toffee notes. Our orange-label coffee will always be a good shout, but there are always multiple Two Chimps coffees that will taste great in a Moka. Need a bit of help deciding – use our awesome coffee wizard.

You want a full basket of coffee. The brew ratio for Moka pots is around 10:1 water to coffee, and filling the lower chamber to just below the valve (or the line if your model has one) should naturally mean you’re brewing at that ratio.

Do not tamp your coffee down. If you have a needle distribution tool, use that to break up the coffee. Otherwise, a finger gently spreading and levelling the coffee is fine.

Ratio Finesse

If you want to check, put your Moka base on some scales, tare, add water up to the line or valve and see what you’re putting in. Divide this by ten, and you have a good starting point for how much coffee to grind for your basket. Experiment with this to find what works for you, and the coffee you’re using, but a 10:1 ratio is a good starting point.

Darker roasts extract a little easier, so you don’t need as much water, maybe two-thirds of the way up the side of the chamber. This isn’t a hard and fast rule. Coffee type and personal preference mean your mileage will vary. Go with what works for you.

Grind – What’s the best grind size for a Bialetti Moka?

Lighter roasts are harder to extract than darker roasts and so need a finer grind. Dark or light, you’re definitely way finer than you would grind for a V60 or cafetiere, but nowhere near espresso fine. If you’re buying pre-ground coffee, your roaster should be able to choose a good grind for you. If you grind at home, start medium for dark roasts and medium-fine for light roasts and go from there.

Heat – How long do you leave a Bialetti on?

You can brew a Moka with relatively low heat, though if you’re using an electric hob, it’s best to let it heat up before you put your Moka on. As a rule of thumb, turn down the heat as soon as coffee starts to flow through the funnel into the upper chamber. The aim of the game is to keep the brew going without overheating. If you’re on gas, turn it right down. The same is true for an induction setup. Remember, you’ll need an induction-friendly Moka. If you have an electric hob, try moving the pot to the edge, keeping only a little of the base on the heat.

If you have a heat plate, you can turn your heat source off and allow the residual energy in the plate to finish off the brew.

There is no hard and fast rule for heat control – there are too many hob types and sizes, so play with this to find your happy place. One thing to note is the size of Moka makes a difference. A little two-cup Moka will need to come off the heat faster than a bigger one, as the big ones need more energy to maintain the brewing process.

If you want to try the heat plate experience for yourself but have no heat plate, you can use a frying pan or similar, but this is pretty inefficient as you have to heat the whole frying pan. Also, Mokas are metal and will scratch a non-stick surface. So, caution is advised.

Strombolian avoidance

The worst thing you can do is let the pot sputter. Rather wonderfully called the ‘Strombolian’ phase by one group of Moka scientists (yes), the sputtering means uncondensed steam is pushing through the coffee and will result in a harsh, bitter brew. No thanks. Always brew with the lid open, and as soon as you detect sputtering, remove the pot from the heat and run the base under the cold tap to arrest the process.

You should be getting about two-thirds of the water in the lower chamber through the coffee before the sputtering starts. If this isn’t the case, try lowering your heat or coarsening your grind.

Troubleshooting

Why is my Moka pot coffee bitter?

Always start with a clean Moka, and make sure you stop the brew as soon as you see the sputtering start.

The sputtering starts before I’ve got enough coffee out

If you hit the Strombolian phase too early, your grind may be too fine. Finer grinds cause the pot to heat up quicker. To combat this, either coarsen the grind a little, or if you’re trying to go as fine as possible to suit a light roasted coffee, dial back the heat a bit.

How to care for your Moka pot

How to clean your Moka pot

There is a myth that letting coffee stains build up in your Moka adds to the flavour. This is rubbish. It’s not a cool coffee patina, it’s grime and is making your coffee taste worse. Always brew with a clean Moka.

Sadly, Moka pots are generally not dishwasher safe. A dishwasher will strip away the protective oxidised layer of aluminium on the outside of the Moka, resulting in corrosion and a blackened, dirty-looking surface.

Instead, wash by hand with a mild detergent and gentle friction. Don’t use a wire brush – you’ll scratch your beautiful brewer!

Maintaining your Moka

Moka pots are pretty indestructible. The only thing that needs changing is the rubber seal which can degrade over time. If you have to replace the seal, a couple of dry runs with either used grounds or no coffee should prevent any new rubber taste from spoiling your tasty beverage.

The only other thing to check is the valve. Make sure it’s clear before you brew.

It’s Moka time!

That’s everything you need to know to brew great Moka pot coffee. All you got to do now…Express yourself!

Missed part one of this guide? Click below!

Part One