Why your Moka pot tastes bad
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- Опубліковано 3 чер 2024
- JAN 4, 2021 UPDATE: WAIT, I I can't believe you preheated the water! Watch my follow up video where I specifically address this in-depth: • Why your moka pot stil...
Here's a paper claiming on the basis of physics and a 93C temperature extraction that you want to preheat your water to 70C: www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/.... So consider that too.
Also, I know! You hate my piano and it’s too loud. I have already become a lot more careful with my sound levels in the future videos. Thank you for letting me know.
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Feb 10, 2021 update: Here is a list of the papers I've now consulted about this topic. I will be putting videos out describing what each of these papers says:
Varlamov and Balestrino "La fisica di un buon caffe" (2002) (www.comunicaffe.it/wp-content...)
Gianino, Concetto. "Experimental analysis of the Italian coffee pot 'moka'" (2006) (www.researchgate.net/publicat...)
King, Warren "Physics of a stove top espresso machine" (2008) (www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/...)
Navarini et al. (2009) "Experimental investigation of steam pressure coffee extraction in a stove-top coffee maker" (www.sciencedirect.com/science...)
Hargarten et al. "Swelling properties of roasted coffee particles" (2019) (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/a...)
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Moka pots have a bad reputation among Americans, but done correctly, you can get a quality brew without the bitter taste.
Il Barista Italiano's video on how to clean your Moka pot: • The strongest myth of ...
History of the Moka Pot, Alfonso Bialetti, and aluminum as Italy's national metal:
ineedcoffee.com/the-story-of-...
My video on Siphon brew coffee:
• Video
The (TOO LOUD) soundtrack is Nocture Op. 54, No. 2 by Edvard Grief, performed by me.
Dec 15, 2020 update: I have made a sequel video addressing comments: • Why your moka pot stil... - Навчання та стиль
#1: dont grind your coffee too fine!
#2: dont pack the grounds down!
#3: dont go past medium heat!
#4: leaving it on the burner too long!
#5: not cleaning your moka pot!
bonus tip : slightly open the lid while pouring to add some of the crema
I'm not sure an aluminium pot is healthy, better use a inox one.
@@patrickallard2520 Inox makes a much better cup off coffee too. I live in Italy and most sold are aluminum. Terrible!!!! I won't even drink out of it. I have my grandparents vintage Vev Vigano and it makes a huge difference. Or I use my inox or Le Creuset french press.
@@patrickallard2520 I have a stainless steel Bialetti, they are available, I much prefer it, I won't use aluminium.
@@lisa6371 Bialetti make a stainless steel moka pot too, I have one.
I've never heard of boiling the water BEFORE putting it in the moka pot.
Me either!
To boil it faster and to avoid sizzling the coffee grounds, you don't want them to taste bitter.
It just saves time. If you think about it, it makes sense to do so , because starting out with cold water will add nothing to the flavour. You're just making yourself wait longer.
@@suppiluiiuma5769 yeah, but, doesn’t boiling some water first take time? 🧐
@@robhulson I have an electric kettle it really does save on boil time vs the open flame on the stove in a cold perk, you can use the electric kettle to heat up your mugs as well so the coffee doesn't immediately go cold when you pour it, its really was a game changer to my coffee game.
i never tasted my moka pot, the coffee comes out of it tastes good tho
I deem this joke properly brewed.
@@loodog555 my moka pot tastes of alluminum 😂
@@samuele5931 lol
I never experienced a bad tasting coffee from my moka pot and i dont put hot water before it brews. I just put regular temperature water and let it boil on the stove
@@vanessac0382 it never boils
Number one advice from me.....keep the burner at low to medium. All the other tips, you can mess up on. I never pre-boil. Never cool down. Just keep the burner down. And remove after it starts steaming. Don't worry about being perfect. All this obsession with the perfect cup....I've been brewing coffee for decades. Most important tip is to enjoy.
100% agree. I use cold (or room temperature) water and use the lowest gas setting. Takes longer but comes out perfect every time.
More discussion on preheating water:ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html
@@loodog555 I just preheated it to try your theory, no difference.
Actually it looks like it's watered down, at first I thought it was just a feeling, but it seems that preheating removes some flavor.
@@switchstatement568 No wonder I've never heard of preheating water for moka. Because indeed it sounds like extra useless step and extra appliances that just fill the kitchen space for no reason.
Either way, I'm gonna try this preheating methodology tomorrow morning.
@@OG_ALviK I agree with you, I am making a coffee not a full meal so there's no need to clutter the kitchen with another pan, but I have to say it does some difference, the result for me is basically a watery coffee with less flavour, please let me know your results after you try, another opinion would be good since it seems that a lot of people would debate over it.
I've watched dozens of Bialetti Moka pots and this one is excellent. I appreciate the in-depth look at the history of the Moka pot and its inventor, too. Thank you!
Thanks, Bill!
Thank you...
this and your advice about sour coffee in comments really helped me out. this mornings brew is the best this far, and i honestly cant wait for tomorrows brew... cheers 🌴☕
Awesome! I'm glad all the COVID-era research I put into brewing is making the world a better coffee place!
I love that your channel is just about coffee. Such good explanations and curiosities, thanks so much!
I put cold water in mine and wait until i can’t hear the bubbling and never had a bad coffee
You do you. You're making coffee to please your taste buds, not anyone elses 😊
Mmmm im sorry to inform you every cup of coffee youve had tastes terrible
@@joeshapiro8365 😂
Thats how i make mine but have i been wrong ?!,
Your coffee is probably fine, maybe even best, sometimes if you skin the cat from the other end it's better. But in this vase you're actually more closely following the manufactures instructions instead of getting cocky
I just got a moke pot for Christmas... youtube knows this somehow. Although I have no privacy whatsoever, atleast I have good coffee now.
Hope the video helps you on the path to good coffee!
😔✌️
I don’t have one and I got recommended
@@lainedauncey8578 I just thought of it in my mind, and then seconds later--
*Pop*
This is all legit information. Once I started preparing my moka pot the way it's described in this video, the difference has been night and day compared with my years of wrong brewing method.
Awesome! Glad to be a help! That’s a pretty good yelp review! For even more tips, there’s my follow up video linked above and there’s this awesome video if you search “moka pot voodoo”, he’s also got some nice tips to try out.
Thanks for ur suggestion. I'll try this one out next time. Hopefully it turns out well.
I have been doing most of this except I was heating it on high and not cooling the chamber after. Great tips, made a huge difference cheers pal!
I don't even drink coffee. I'm just fascinated with the alternative coffee pot aesthetic.
Edit: I now have a french press and a Moka pot
The art deco design of these things is iconic.
in Italy whatever you people use is literally alien.
Yeah i enjoy the process every time and I like watching it erupt like a little volcano lol
@@nikolaisedov2295 facts
moka is better in taest or french press?
I used to start with cold water, but a few days ago I read that it should be hot, so I tried freshly boiled water, and the result was much better, smoother and tastier. I also tried grinding less fine, and that also improved the result. And yes, taking it off the stove when frothing helped too. So I agree with your recommendations, wish I’d discovered this years ago. Tomorrow I receive a new burr hand grinder, having always used a blade coffee mill. Apparently the burr grinder will make a big difference, as the grounds will be a more uniform size.
Indeed: ua-cam.com/video/dgM-_nPPKgw/v-deo.html& burr grinders are necessity!
I'm told you get much better quality for your dollar with a manual grinder, but I'm laaazy. You need that morning coffee to have the energy to operate a manual grinder, but you need ground coffee to get that morning coffee soooo,,,
@@loodog555 I’ve ordered a manual grinder, but I cannot fault your logic. Looks like I’ll need an ekectric grinder too so I can wake up enough to use the manual one. Oh shoot.
I don’t drink coffee
And I’ve never heard of a Moka pot
Thank you sleep deprivation
I honestly didn't think this video would be remotely interesting to anyone who wasn't into coffee. How did you get here?
@@loodog555 youtube recommendations are weird as fuck
An italian died somewhere in the world
I enjoy French Press coffee the most it is Rich and sweet
@@loodog555 honestly my mans, I have no idea, but I like it
Another good tip is to NEVER tap or bang the funnel when emptying the grounds, as it can distort the shape of the funnel and cause the pot to not seal properly. A lot of people think the sealing gasket is bad or they have a defective pressure valve when they get steam leaks, which may be the case, but it could also be the funnel is distorted.
I have not personally had this problem, but your mileage may vary! Certainly, aluminum in a thin layer is more malleable than most people realize!
@@loodog555 I've also just recently realized that it is better to have your coffee grounds filled about 1mm BELOW the rim of the funnel. This is because the top strainer protrudes below the gasket and can 'move' the grounds while the top is being screwed on, this can cause the grounds to get caught in the seal or the thread.
How do you empty it?
@@susan8282 the funnel where the coffee goes? Turn it upside down, make sure the long funnel thing is not hot. Blow into it and 90% of the coffee grounds will fall out.
I came to this video for Moka pot tips and stayed for the music! What a lovely, spirited rendition of this Grieg nocturne - one of the most enjoyable I can remember ever hearing. Bravo from one pianist to another!
Aw thanks, man! All my other commenters seem to hate it!
@@loodog555 I guess my opinion won’t be completely representative then, but this subscriber for one would gladly enjoy more music! Or perhaps you’ll share a video of just your playing for us all to enjoy while we sip an improved cup of Moka! ☕️👍
Add this pianist to the count. In fact I searched the channel for a video of the nocturne and was sorely disappointed.
Mistake#4 was the one I learned most recently. When the coffee is coming out, after a while there will be a "surge" that is more pale and watery. That's the time to take it off the heat. I always used to keep it on until all the water had filtered through.
not a mistake, also not a problem, it depends on time
coffee starts burning (Giving off sour flavors) 3.5 minutes after it has started brewing (got in contact with hot water), as long as that water doesn't come 3.5 minutes after the brew started there's no problem on waiting for it to finish.
but if you left the grinds on the fire for a long time is possible that it has already burnt
Pale and watery means you didnt fill the Grounds pan up and flatten it.... ignore this videos "dont pack it" advice ,you have to pack it if you like strong espresso... which ,to be fair,is what a Mocha pot is for
Great tips. Thanks gents
@@Gianfranco_69 this is wrong and dangereous, mocha pot is not designed to withstand pressure as a espresso machine, that's not what mocha pot is designed for.
@@miguelarturopalomaresruiz oh....i dont 'tamp it down' like an espresso machine,just fill and flatten it...they are fool proof,they never explode (they have a valve) unless you make a rookie error and put grounds in the bottom and coffee in the top...which i have seen someone do
Great video. One more thing I noticed improves the final taste is to give your coffee a stir after you pour it into the cup.
Sure, get it nice and even! Thanks for the tip!
Great video and well edited down to the pertinent info. Thanks, finally a video that gets right to the point!
I love how the intro is precisely the story that probably brings 95% of the people to the video.
Hello! Thank you for this review! I'm wondering if you or anyone knows: If I get a 300ml pot, I assume that if I fill the chamber with coffee I'm making what's essentially a coffee with 3-shot intensity? (I've only really had cafe espresso - flatwhites and lattes, coz that's all anyone sells around here. No percolator or plungers.) Will the coffee chamber cope with being filled only a half/third? Must the water chamber be filled to the valve, or can I run the whole thing at less-than-full for both grounds and water on a lower burn?
Although I'm late in seeing this video, I just wanted to say yes, you can half fill (in your case 150ml) the water chamber. You'll get a stronger brew by doing this.
Great video on how to make a great pot of coffee. I have never in all the time I have a Moka pot, ever had to cool it down to "remove the bitter". Remove from the heat just as it starts to go pale, let it cool naturally. Never got a bitter coffee ever.
Great video. What setting on the de’longhi do you have your grinder set to for Moka pot? Thanks!
What coffee grinder should I buy to make moka pot with?
Hi Gregory! Thanks! My grinder has settings from 1 up to 18 (larger numbers being more coarse). I find I get results that I like by setting the grinder to "7", which is basically just pas, the range the machine has labeled as "espresso", so coarser than espresso. Your extraction time is pretty short so the grind needs to be pretty fine. The problem is most people go too far with this and get overbitter coffee. Good luck!
@@loodog555 thanks for the reply. I appreciate it!
Legend has it, that behind this piano concert there is a guy ina distance talking something about the coffe.
Of all the comments annoyed with me for my mixing of sound levels, this is by far my favorite.
@@loodog555 :) its a polite way of saying just eliminate the music. Less is more.
@@creation_nono Believe me, I know what the message is from the 40 (less witty) comments before you. Unfortunately, UA-cam doesn’t let you just upload a new video to replace an old one, so we’re all stuck with it. I have made improvements on my newer videos.
I think this is the very video I’ve been looking for. Thank you! My moka pot coffee every time spitters and taste absolutely awful, it doesn’t do that smooth rising like in this video and others and I am so heartbroken.
Start with medium heat, then immediately reduce to minimum heat once you start seeing coffee. The result is that it will come out slow and smooth and less burnt.
Do you have a vid on how to clean the bialetti? I follow your procedures on brewing but if there are any hints and hacks for cleaning the pot, other than washing the top carafe and rinsing the bottom, that would be great to know
Hey, great question! I included a link at the relevant portion of the video, but here it is for your easy access: ua-cam.com/video/yRW3V7Q0oQY/v-deo.html
Removing the gasket to clean out the cone of the upper chamber is the big surprise for everyone.
amazing video, thank you! should you take the Moka pot off the stove AS SOON as you seen the bubbling begin or after its about half full? there should be enough vapor pressure once its start bubbling to push all the water through correct? thank you again
Hey thanks for the praise! Great question! What matters is the *color* of the coffee produced; don’t get hung up on what quantity of coffee made. Once you’re getting pale bubbly stuff, you’ve run out of accessible water and are now brewing with superheated steam (very bad for flavor!).
I explain the physics of this here: ua-cam.com/video/2jLdGi7kjzk/v-deo.html
@@loodog555 thank you and cheers
Use low heat and put A LOT of coffe without packing it out, thrust me, I’m Italian
Hi Italian, thanks for your contribution. The two suggestions you you give are on the list of parameters are very which I discuss in my follow up video: ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html
I am also very much aware that I am doing this completely wrong from the Italian point of view, again, discussed in my follow up video.
Also, I will not take you up on your offer to thrust you!
@@loodog555 I’ll watch the video, maybe I’ll change mi mind! 😂
Italian. French. South American. Cuban.
I will not thrust you.
I found give the final coffee a stir before pouring it into my coffee mug gives a more consistent flavour. Otherwise the second mug gets a stronger taste.
I’ve loved Moka coffee for a while now. I didn’t know about cooking it too hot or taking it off the burner and running cold water. Thank you very much.
Cool! Glad to be a help! For even more moka pot ideas, there’s my follow-up video in the description and if you search “moka pot voodoo”, there’s another guy who has some very worthwhile tricks to try out in his vid too!
Excellent character notes that percolated on this one, nice vid bro
Seen a few people talking about using the mocka pot. You however, have the most informative, yet, concise, video out here. Thanks for making this, saving me from watching a dozen videos and my morning coffee ritual.
Thanks for commenting! It’s good to know this has been helpful.
W.O.W. I had no idea you could get those results from a Moka pot! you have forever changed my morning routine...
Man, that is awesome to hear!
I look forward to trying your method. Thank you for your advice.
Hey, glad to help! You may also like my follow-up video with more details: ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html&
Also, wiredgourmet has a great video on some ideas to try that are a bit out of the box with regard to heating times, in their Moka Pot Voodoo video: ua-cam.com/video/u-PeYeiqPLU/v-deo.html
Love the light touches of history and science thrown in there. 👍
"snickers" Science?
Judging by how the pot nearly slipped when the top is being screwed on, I would not want to do that when the bottom is filled with boiling water (even with an oven mitt)! Boiling the water first is using two tools and two steps when you could do it in one anyway. I still enjoyed the video along with the researched intro, and going to try the quick rinsing cool-off trick you showed : ) Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comment. I do mention safety as a concern in my follow-up video: ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html
Technically, you can also boil the water directly in the reservoir, before placing the grounded coffee and attaching the top.
I've been doing it all wrong all these months! THANK YOU!!!! can't wait to actually enjoy my coffee.
is your moka pot coffee tasting better now
Awesome to hear!
@@zorawarsingh9373 yes, but i honestly feel like everyone just has to experiment and see what works best for their moka, their coffee grounds, their stovetop etc...and don't get too frustrated! i'm finally happy with my brew in the morning starting with room temperature water, grinding beans to a little coarser than fine, heat at medium. simple. i don't run my moka under cold water like in some videos. starting with boiling water kept giving me sour coffee. i stopped stressing, and started to just do what felt right, and yay delicious, rich moka pot brew!
Please use cold water, that is the best way to get the best tasting coffee ever. Always use cold water. Good Luck,,
So if you apply cold water to the bottom, how is it stopping the brewing process if you're already done making the coffee?
great question! The issue is that your moka pot will continue to brew if you don’t apply cold water from the residual pressure in the base. The only problem is, any brewing you do after you get the pale bubbly coffee, will be nasty and bitter. I explain a bit about a paper that models this in one of my later videos here: m.ua-cam.com/video/2jLdGi7kjzk/v-deo.html The short answer is that it relieves the excess vapor pressure.
There was a guy that tested various variables in regards to brewing a moka pot, with sensors and everything. In his tests using preboiled water didn’t give good results, i always used room temperature to start but i will try this method also.
Hi, thanks for commenting! It sounds like you're talking about the paper I explain here by Navarini et al (2009): ua-cam.com/video/2jLdGi7kjzk/v-deo.html&pp=sAQA
though they never vary the starting temperature. The only paper I've seen that experiments with starting temperature and gives recommendations is the 2009 paper by Warren King, which I explain here: ua-cam.com/video/O14BIH-9KTA/v-deo.html&pp=sAQA
If you really have found a different paper that varies starting temperature, I'd love a link so I can make a video on that paper too!
Personally, I find the starting temperature of the water doesn't matter at all: ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html&pp=sAQA so I found the whole debate kind of silly. An AeroPress filter, for example, is a much more important tweak to make: ua-cam.com/video/fy1YKqrPYCw/v-deo.html&pp=sAQA
Nah, the dutch way: fine ground, pack it down add some more, keep it on till it starts spitting, never clean the heat sterilises it for you.
The bitterness is the good morning turkey-slap in the face im looking for.
Damn straight. It's ESPRESSO, so it's going to be bitter! I don't know what all these people are expecting from espresso coffee. If they don't like the bitterness, then they SHOULDN'T DRINK ESPRESSO!
@T B Its a joke, i learned ro drink coffee to meet deadlines while studying engineering. I agree propper coffee is better haha
This was very concise and informative :) thank you
Over the course of years. I've pretty much come to your conclusions. I use a grind that's put out by LaVazza, and it's better than the coarser "all-purpose" grinds I used to use. It's an "espresso" grind, but not the "dust" you need for a Pavoni Europiccola.
i always fill the sieve completely with powder, tap it lightly so that the powder is distributed and smooth it out. this is how you avoid channeling.
Fancy seeing you here 😅
I've never gotten channeling, though I've researched about whether you need to completely fill the basket: ua-cam.com/video/bCSn2CXWZOE/v-deo.html
@@loodog555 Thank you!
I love mine. As soon as it gets noisy in the Brewing process I take it off the heat. Also I've had great results using cafe bustelo which is espresso ground coffee. So for every rule there is an exception to this.
I think there are probably many 'combinations' of rules, or recipes that lead to a good cup of moka pot coffee. I have found that it's basically impossible to get a good cup of coffee from bad beans, though.
Bustelo si
I like the fact that you use the stirrer from an Aeropress to smooth out the coffee! LOL Nice touch. All good advice. Thanks. I have at least 40 mokka pots, but only drink espresso. Cheers.
The more diligent will notice the little touches!
Anyone abut the oxidation of the bottom pot ? Although Bialetti started to make it all free materialers sensitive for oxidation. After very good drying, I add rice to soak up humidity !
Soo if you take out as soon as it starts to bubble or become pale, you end up not filling the entire upper part and will have water in the lower part. I thought I have to use all the water and fill the upper part to the top before ending. Will try your method, guess it better to add hot water later if it is too strong but at least don't get bitter coffee.
Hey, thanks for the comment! You’re completely correct, in that some water is left behind in the lower chamber. Some brewers will say this messes up your brew ratio (it does), but I’ve found those last 50ml or so of brewing to be the biggest culprit in bitter taste, since you’re running water through grinds that have already been extracted by the earlier water.
On ratios, for my model of Moka pot, filling up both the water and the coffee gives a 15:1 ratio, which I imagine is common across different sized pots. You’re right in that my method makes that ratio a bit higher, since some water is left behind. The coffee winds up being a bit stronger, but a lot less bitter, so I’ve found the taste to be greatly improved over just leaving the pot there until the water is gone. But, with all Moka advice, your mileage may vary! Try both ways and see what works better for you.
Now the question that was confusing me regarding similar tutorials - if I pour coffee out of the pot immediately after taking the pot off the stove - is there still any point in cooling the pot under cold water right before pouring?
If you want to clean it out as soon as possible which is ideal, then yes.
Hi, this has been asked before below and the answer is "yes". The coffee will continue to brew from the stream pressure after heat is removed, even as you're pouring, since you're not going to get all the coffee out in the next 2 seconds. This may even cause the coffee to brew *more*, since the steam isn't pushing against gravity anymore. Applying cold water stops the brewing process. My prediction would be that your coffee would still be overbrewed, but don't take my word for it! Try it out and see what happens!
I don't see how it would be physically possible for the coffee to overbrew if that isn't cooled: mostly because the already brewed coffee is in a sepparate chamber (the top reservoir that you pour it into your cup from) to the coffee grounds (still trapped in the basket by the mesh screen inside the moka pot).
The only reason I can see for cooling the base is to make clean-up easier by filling the empty top reservoir with water and using vacuum pressure to suck water back through the basket and forcing the grounds to pack back into to it, so that the grounds all come out as a puck when you tap the basket out into a bin.
@@dj1NM3 thanks for this comment. Great question! The coffee does become separate once it has brewed through. You are right about that. The issue is not that any little drops of coffee overbrew, but that the grinds themselves continue to be extracted past the desired point. Imagine one little grain of coffee. If 20% of it has already dissolved from the water, then hitting it with any more water will result in getting the undesirable bitter pieces.
I’m not quite sure I follow you about applying cold water for easier cleaning. By the time you are starting to clean your moka pot, I am sure the base is far too cold to get a significant vacuum effect. Cooling the base for me is about stopping the over brewing.
@T B Hi T B. Thanks for your comment, but there a few things to clarify:
1) The idea that a moka pot doesn't brew until the water is boiling is a very common one, but it surprisingly turns out to not be true! ua-cam.com/video/O14BIH-9KTA/v-deo.html.
2) The idea that coffee overbrews because it's being heated belies a misconception about how coffee extraction works. I think the terminology of "overbrewing" is misleading you here.
Unlike baking or cooking, the process of chemical change is not brought about by heating. Brewing doesn't happen because the water is cooking the grinds or because the coffee is being heated; extraction happens as the water comes into contact with coffee grinds and the grinds partially dissolve into the passing water. So, while many people believe a moka pot can't overextract because each drop of water only passes through once, the truth is that you can easily overextract a given granule of coffee because you've run too much water past it, dissolving the coffee past the magical 22% mark and then you start getting past those sweet sugars and into the bitter stalky fibers of the plant. This is why any pourover recipe has a recommended ratio (usually around 16.67:1) so that you don't try to keep extracting out of beans that are already spent.
The reason you stop the brewing when you hit air bubbles is that the beans are not only optimally extracted by then, but instead of sending water through the grinds, you're now sending water mixed with superheated 120C steam, which dissolves A LOT more of the beans than you want for good flavor. Navarini et al. demonstrate this in their 2009 paper, which I explain here: ua-cam.com/video/2jLdGi7kjzk/v-deo.html
I do everything wrong and I like my results. I use cold distilled water, electric plate on high, I use fine ground espresso roast coffee, and I pack the coffee in and slightly mound over the puck. This makes an extremely strong cup of coffee and I don't find it too bitter. I don't use sugar, only cold heavy whipped cream.
I live at over 1 mile high so the water never reaches 212°F so it doesn't over heat the coffee.
Anyway, that's how I do it.
Yeah, the more I research into Moka pot, there larger the number of expert opinions I find saying different things. I posted a link above to a video that completely contradicts much of my advice. At the end of the day, these are just ideas to play with and should come down to what *your* experimentation yields with your taste preferences. Don't take my word as gospel, for sure!
If it tastes good, it's not wrong. )
My valve leaks and the spout is sputtering, do I replace the valve or can it be fixed?
Don’t know. Just make sure you haven’t overfilled the basket so that you’re getting a good seal between the rubber gasket and the upper piece. There should be no grinds in the gasket when you screw the pieces together. Good luck!
@@loodog555 I replaced the basket and it works now! Thanks
Thanks for the tips. Can I just ask why you put the pot under cold water to stop the brewing process instead of just pouring the coffee straight into the cup? Thanks!
Hi, thanks for the comment! A lot people do exactly as you say and stand by it.
That said, I personally don't recommend it because when you tilt the pot sideways, the bottom end of the connecting tube is no longer immersed in water (since there's always some remaining water and the remaining water goes sideways when the pot is tilted). The upshot of this is that instead of sending your heated water through your coffee grinds into your upper chamber, you're sending superheated steam through instead.
There's a 2009 paper by Navarini et al. that calls this the "Stromboli" phase, when the water is bypassed and steam goes straight into the grinds. They strongly advise against letting your coffee get to this. I explain the paper here: ua-cam.com/video/2jLdGi7kjzk/v-deo.html
I explain experiment a bit on what happens when you don't cool your pot right away after getting bubbles. That video is here: ua-cam.com/video/aA8KoZbtl84/v-deo.html
@@loodog555 Thanks for the detailed reply; I appreciate it.
I'll be sure to check out your other videos on the subject. I'd love to get into this kind of brewing method, but I've had various attempts over the years and always end up with very bitter and harsh coffee, so always go back to other forms of brewing.
Bialetti instructions say to immediately remove the Moka from the stove as soon as you hear it gurgle. It will finish brewing off the stove from the residual heat inside the pot.
So don't hold it under cold water, that's not correct technique. Just let it finish brewing on your countertop. Stir up the most-concentrated coffee from the bottom and pour.
Bialetti earns $180 Million US dollars per year. They invest in the best scientific testing and professional taste testing. You can trust their instructions for consistently good coffee that's never overcooked.
I'm getting wayy too sour coffee? Am I grinding too fine? Too coarse?
Sour coffee = underbrewed. You'll want combination of finer grind size and/or longer brew time. Leave the pot on the stove a bit longer and grind your beans more finely and you'll be good to go!
the coffee should not gurgle/explode/bubble. it needs to ooze out slowly with just a bit of steam at the very end.
I have drifted more in a direction of turning down the heat to low once coffee starts sputtering. This does result in a more oozy and smoother coffee flow as you suggest. Anything to reduce the brewing temperature is a good thing!
@@loodog555 yes thats how i do it. i have a glass electric stove, so i turn it off as soon as coffee starts coming out, and the residual heat of the coil is just enough to finish the brew.
overall, everyone has to experiment for themselves until they find the right procedure.
do you know why you should use boiling water to start with? i always use cold water and set the stove to low-mid and it brews (very) slowly and it's really nice every time
I preheat the water to conserve energy and to save myself time. On the merits on whether you *should* for better coffee, I'll refer you to my follow-up video, where I discuss this at length: ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html
@@loodog555 thanks, watching it now. i will try pre-heating the water tomorrow, makes sense that heating the water also heats the coffee and adds extra bitterness. i really enjoy bitter taste though, so that's why i didn't even notice anything wrong with the method i used (cold water)
If your method tastes good, don't change it.
What about removing the coffee from the burner as soon as it starts sputtering vs turning off the heat and letting it finish without sputtering?
Hey, great question!
Here's a video describing a physics paper that discusses that: ua-cam.com/video/2jLdGi7kjzk/v-deo.html
And here's a video where I experiment around myself: ua-cam.com/video/aA8KoZbtl84/v-deo.html
@@loodog555 Interesting, thank you for the links. I definitely did not think that cooling down the pot played such a big role. What I meant though was if there is a significant difference in taste of the coffee if you turn of them heat prematurely and let the coffee stop brewing on its own (preferably before the steam gets the chance to burn the coffee, which should be a matter of knowing roughly how long it takes, how much more coffee will come out when you stop the heat etc..) versus gettin just to the sputtering phase and cooling it down.
You've changed my life and my coffee. Thank you!
That's what I want to hear! Awesome that this had value to you! More to consider here: ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html
My 2 biggest problems with them is everyone tells you how much water to use, but no one ever mentions the amount of coffee to use, and second, it just takes way too long to get the coffee volcano going, even when you start with boiling water, like unreasonably long. You can brew 2-3 coffees in the same amount of time with literally any other brewing method.
I've found moka pot is as fast as any brewing method except AeroPress and certain much faster than a French Press, especially using the 8-minute James Hoffman technique: ua-cam.com/video/13GGreDHowQ/v-deo.html
Between 1g of coffe per 16 mL of water (stronger) - 1g of coffee per 24 mL of water (lighter).
That's the values you could use as base but there are no rules, give a try and see how it pleases you.
i measured how much grams of water fit in the base until the valve. divide that by roughly 10-11 and use that much grams of coffee.
I brewed my first cup today.. from start of heating to finish, it took 3 minutes in a 2cup Pot. And it was very cheap.
My electric kettle takes longer than that just to boil water.. and another 10 minutes to brew tea….
….such that I’m thinking of getting a separate Moka Pot just for tea..
If you know a faster way to make espresso or tea, other than instant, teabags or microwave.. I’m all ears.
Just got a moka pot..do you have to use ground beans and must the holder be fully fill with coffee?
Q: do you have to use ground beans?
A: only if you want to make coffee. Every method of red coffee requires grinding the beans. For best results, buy yourself a burr grinder. The Barraza encore is a favorite entry level Choice among home Brewers. The reason to buy a good grinder is explained in this video: ua-cam.com/video/dgM-_nPPKgw/v-deo.html&
As for filling up the holder, you basically should. If you don’t fill it up, you will wind up with weaker coffee: m.ua-cam.com/video/bCSn2CXWZOE/v-deo.html
@@loodog555 thanks
Thank you loodog. I've been doing this wrong for years. Keep up the good work.
Happy coffee brewing!
One of the good things about them is that the spare parts are still available, in particular the rubber rings. I recently resurrected an old one that needed a new ring, which hadn’t been cleaned properly over the years.
Often my mother forgets the Bialetti Moka on the fire. A disaster happens ; -)) ... the handle melts. So I take apart all the pieces, rub it with the 3M scotch brite sponge and water abrasive paper 1000-1500 etc. then I go to buy all the spare parts. The most complex to change is the handle, you have to hammer the fixing pin with a nail, it is inserted by pressure. To clean the limescale, vinegar must be put in the boiler and left for a few hours. Greeting from Italy
Thank you for sharing, I can't stand what passes the average American acceptable standards of "coffee" i.e anything pre ground, instant, burned, old, or worst of all a combination of all; paying 3$ for 4 hour old perpetual sludge from a 30 year old bunn coffee pot found in every chain establishment because the waitress/cashier/clerk isn't paid anywhere near enough to maintain the equipment let alone brew fresh coffee on the reg so they just top it off with water occasionally so its always a burnt, cigarette, watery combination, - you know who you are.
Stay coffee snobby indeed.
Ha, you are literally the first person out of like 200 comments to appreciate my little tagline! Thanks, amigo. I hear ya for sure!
This read like a manifesto and I'm a convert
The first time I tried coffee in Paris my mind was blown-“It can taste good?!”
You've done very well.
Thank you...great video......do you think the Aluminium is an issue?.....My pot is Stainless Steel.
Answers! ua-cam.com/video/qV3Us0KkIMo/v-deo.html&lc=UgzIC4s93dnz-dtsUQp4AaABAg
What's the purpose of boiling in advance? I always just start with cold water and let it sit on low-medium heat within the moka pot.
Heating the coffee grounds makes it taste burnt/stale/bad . If you start with cold water, you burn your grounds even before the water can go through it, resulting in bitter, burnt aftertaste.
Starting with hot water is better because you don't have to heat the water up to temperature so your grounds arent sitting in a hot furnace without any liquid.
From what i've heard, starting with cold water can cause the coffee to burn and come out bitter as it's over the open flame longer. Starting with hot water means less time over the flame.
See above.
Honestly, I haven't found preheating the water makes much a difference compared to more important tweaks like using an AeroPress filter, coarser grind, or removing from the heat at the right time, but probably you should preheat because the physics models show you'll extract at too low a temperature otherwise: ua-cam.com/video/O14BIH-9KTA/v-deo.html
I saw the advice about a coarser grind before in another video but the coffee just tasted weak when I tried it 🤷
Definitely don’t go too coarse either. I made a video about grinders that could be a helpful instruction on this: ua-cam.com/video/dgM-_nPPKgw/v-deo.html
What’s a good coffee bean for a moka pot? Do you have a preferred brand?
In general, good fresh beans are good fresh beans. The brewing method doesn’t have much effect on which beans are optimal. If you find that your moka pot is causing your coffee to come out bitter and overbrewed, don’t use anything dark roast/espresso/Italian/French roast. Anything roasted dark is designed to be extracted easily at low temp. You moka pot might pull too much out of them. I personally like a medium roast.
What is the piano piece playing in the back?
Hey Herman, just realized that I did not post this in the video description so thanks for pointing this out. It’s Nocturne Op. 54 No. 4, by Edvard Grieg, performed by me.
Also, there is a much longer video that spends a bit more time discussing some of the science theory (like the fact that water boils at higher temp when it's under pressure) and contests my claim that you need to remove the Pot as soon as it's bubbly. Their claim is that ambient temperature water will... I don't know... they're not exactly clear... spend more time in contact with the grounds. I don't see how the steam is going to spend any time in contact with the grounds before boiling creates the vapor pressure....
Anyway, watch if you'd like a bit more food for thought ua-cam.com/video/aikEi9xHt2A/v-deo.html.
Turns out that Moka pots are a bit trickier to pinpoint then I thought 😅. Moka pot and none of its parts aren't in my eyes a sealed system. While true that partial pressures between each of the three chambers at any time will probably vary, it is not sealed and the pressure is fairly free to equalise, as the only resistance is the coffee bed itself.
Therefore based on the drawing, you can see the system works not exactly due to Pascal's principle as it is more complicated than that. The first part is largely based on vapor pressure difference. Water evaporates at pretty much all temperatures, temperature only changes the rate at which it does so. So does the surface area of the faze interface. The drawing shows, that the tube of the basket is a much smaller area, compared to the rest. Temperature being close to same in the chamber, it is expected that there will be less vapor in the tube than around it, less vapor = lower pressure, causing water to be sucked through the tube until equilibrium, which we keep shifting by heating it.
This effect doesn't necessarily happen only at boiling temperature, it can happen sooner (haven't tested nor calculated the lowest temperature though.)
Than the coffee chamber starts to fill and extract the coffee. It can be tricky here to pinpoint the ideal heat to use, as extraction is a function of both time and temperature. Temperature increases both the extraction and the evaporation rate in the bottom chamber, increasing the speed at which the water is forced up into the coffee, eventually out of the coffee into the final chamber, and therefore decreasing the time of extraction per molecule of water. I expect there to be a steep extraction curve though. The water that enters first is at a relatively low temperature and stays a long time, as it needs to fill the chamber before being forced out. It also at this stage doesn't get heated further. The water coming after it gets progressively hotter and hotter, as it is necessary for it to be so, so that the pressure equilibrium is not reached. After the water fully fills the coffee chamber, it has nowhere to go but up. The hotter the water going into the coffee, the shorter the contact time, purely based on small pressure gradients between the three chambers. (Higher heat, more water sucked faster, works even between the coffee chamber and the top of the pot).
Now, the reason you can produce wastly differently tasting cups is that extractions are a mess 😁. You would expect that there is no difference between short, hot extraction and a long cold one. If you ever had a cold brew, you know that isn't true. Some chemicals are not extractable (think of soluble but for liquids) at lower temperatures. In the case of coffee, these compounds are the harsher bitter ones (tanins mostly) and the acidic ones.
That corresponds to their testing, where the coffee spends a fairly long time extracting at 60 degrees and progressively shorter times at the higher temperatures. This is aided by them using high heat to heat the cold water, causing a longer 'lag faze' and a quick 'log faze' of extraction.
If you use already (close to) boiling water, you will force the water to fill the coffee chamber a lot quicker as the pressure difference between the two chamber will rise quicker, causing shorter extraction time at a higher temperature, but your extraction has very short 'lag faze' and the same 'log faze' afterwards, extracting overall more of the bitter, and less of the lower temp sweeter rounder compounds.
That assumes the use high heat too, though. Your result is better, because you put it over medium heat. That will lengthen the lag faze and make the log faze not as steep, extraction will be likely less bitter and more sweet.
In regards to them not plunging it into cold water, it is just the matter of reaching equilibrium to stop the process. You are putting constant medium heat into it, starting at a water close to a boil. You will reach a point where this system becomes incapable of keeping up the heat necessary for the equilibrium to not be reached(as the amount of water in the chamber decreases), and the water will stop flowing. At that point, you will likely superheat this water, which you don't want as that temperature will likely cause unwanted compounds extracting. So you stop and force equilibrium earlier, by rapidly decreasing temperatures( likely reversing pressure gradient, btw, causing some watery coffee to be sucked back into the heating chamber).
They on the other start high heat, but as they see the flowing coffee, they immediately decrease to low, causing the equilibrium to be reached more slowly and naturally, without the need of cooling the chamber down.(therefore results may vary in between electric stoves with higher temperature lag, over gas stoves)
Long post, should've wrote an email 😂
@@MultiBamb00cha Yeah, I agree with most of what you said as it is mostly in line with King's paper www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~phyexp/uploads/Moka/article1.pdf.
"Your result is better, because you put it over medium heat. That will lengthen the lag faze "
I'm not sure this is the case. Medium heat will mean it takes more time to get sufficient water to boil to have the vapor pressure needed to start the brewing, but I'm figuring the only thing that changes the brewing temperature is the ratio of the temperature of the fully heated air to the starting temperature of the air, since that alone dictates what the partial pressure of the air is going to be, and therefore how much water vapor needs to be produced, and therefore what the water temperature will when brewing. Medium get gets you to that temp more slowly, but it's still the same temp, by my figuring anyway.
On a side note: I'm curious about your consistent spelling of the word "faze"
@@loodog555 Sorry, not a native speaker, I use the word 'faze' in a couple different instances, and it is used in a similar way I'd use it in my native language.
Also what I meant by your result being better because of the use of medium heat, what I was comparing is a scenario where already boiling water from the kettle is being used, and I am suggesting that in that case, medium heat should yield better results, as opposed to high heat, if like I said you are using boiling water.
You will likely get enough of a pressure differential fast enough even on a medium heat in this case, plus reaching higher pressure, though unlikely due to the systems inability to really get pressurised much, may lead to increase of the boiling temperature of the water, causing it to superheat a bit, and making the extraction go more bitter.
The way I address partial pressure was also not the way you are thinking, and I should have cleared that up. I used the wrong term there. I was talking more about a likely pressure gradient in the Moka pot, from highest likely being in the bottom water chamber, second in the ground coffee chamber, and lowest (atmospheric) in the upper chamber.
The air, although it can affect the process, is much less important in the chamber than water. Air is not highly heat conductive, nor does it have a high heat capacity, and there is comparatively much smaller amount of molecules of it in there.
Understand that water in the chamber doesn't have to be boiling evaporate, aka increase pressure, aka start the process. It is just much faster when it is boiling.
There are reasons it is never said to brew Moka at a low heat and temperatures reached. It is impractical due to time required, and it is also practically impossible to monitor the actual temperature inside. It will likely also taste bad, as we are looking for a sweet spot of temperature/time of our extraction, and this might yield poorly extracted coffee.
@@MultiBamb00cha You didn't make an important consideration: gases expand as the temperature rises. This is the reason why the water put in the boiler rises towards the extraction chamber and continues until it reaches the bric.
Inside the boiler, you must not only consider the presence of liquid water but of a gaseous atmosphere of air saturated with water vapor which, when heated, expands, pushing liquid water (not compressible) upwards, at temperatures around 90~95 ° C, through the funnel of the coffee recipient.
@@antc.4457 yeah, that's why the whole mechanism works, pressure is increased by evaporation, gases have larger volume than liquids, creating higher pressure. What I was saying that the amount of molecules of air is not as significant overall, as water molecules, later steam molecules vastly outnumber it, until a lot of water is pushed into the coffee and out of the bottom chamber
I dont understand why u need to cool the chamber. Just pour it out immediately. That should stop the cooking.
Hey, good question! Simply removing it will not stop the brewing. Once it starts going, even removing the heat won't stop it. As for pouring it right away, I guess you could try, but my concerns would be that you're not going to pour it out fast enough and also, you might not want all of it in your cup at once, if it's a larger capacity device. But hey, don't take my word for it. Give it a try and let me know how the results work out!
Sorry its not directly directed to you but a general remark cos i see other people do this too. To me its just inefficient. For smaller moka, pour to your cup. For bigger moka, pour into serving pot.
I had worked out keeping the heat medium and taking it off as soon as I can see the coffee was there to stop over brew, however I will try not to grind the beans too fine next time and I’ve never used boiling water from the start only cold filtered 🤔... I will say however my coffee isn’t bitter but I notice the older the beans the more bitter they taste so only keep beans for what you will use for that week makes a big difference.
I mention importance of freshness in my grinder video: ua-cam.com/video/dgM-_nPPKgw/v-deo.html. I’ve read that 1-2 weeks is the longest you would want to keep ground beans around. As for whether to preheat the water, I discuss my findings in my follow up moka video: m.ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html I find it doesn’t matter much.
I use hot water from the water cooler/heater, medium heat until it bubbles and turn off the heat and move it off the stove immediately. Pour into my cup and it's perfect every time. I've heard not to boil the water and that it should be slightly less than boiling, so the water from the water heater seems to be perfect. My first few times I over brewed both with too much heat and too long of a brew, so I know the bitter taste he's talking about. It was almost enough to put me off Mocha pots, but so glad I stuck with it!
The most specific advice Ive seen to preheat to about 70°C. Here’s why: m.ua-cam.com/video/O14BIH-9KTA/v-deo.html
Thank you! I come from a Hispanic family and they are religious with Moka pots. I’ve told them that boiling the water is crucial and that good coffee should come from good beans, fresh grinned, not too fine unlike bustelo. 🥴. People would be happier if they can properly brew from a moka pot. Cheers!
coffee is a beverage. tea is an infusion. Never boil a beverage - always boil an infusion. (and never use aluminium!) PS - I did 21 years in catering
Thanks for the great video. just to recap:
1) no need to grind the coffee too fine / leave it on coarse
2) no need to press the coffee / so water can penetrate easily
3) temperature better on medium and not too high
4) don't let coffee to overbrew, remove it before the last bubbly part starts to come out
5) clean the pot right after
The truth is I was using cold water, so great tip on the warm / hot water in advance.
I still find it challenging to clean the tank after I left it few times with the water in. I used dishsoap, I used vinegar and even the metal-wire to rub it. Ay tips would appreciated.
Im having a small Bialetti (2cups) so im cleaning it after every brew and having fresh brew every time. I used to have a bigger one(5-6 cups) and no matter what it left coffee stains because the coffee was sitting in there for two days.
Now if u have a bigger moka just buy some contanier cup and pour out the fresh coffee there and A, immidiately wash the moka or B, rinse and fill the moka up with water until clean water is in there then worry about washing it properly later. The bottom and the filter part isnt really matter.
Also once in a while replace the rubber ring in it. Take a picture of a fresh one the you can compare it to it how burned it gets after time.
Don't clean it with soap! Only use hot water to clean the moka pot. Be careful about the water tank, there is a protective layer that goes away if you clean it with soap.
Put the flame to the minimum possible, and as soon as you hear bubbling remove it! Before serving use a little spoon to mix the coffee inside the moka pot, it is more dense at the bottom and more "watery" (?) at the top.
Putting the hot moka under cold water can damage it, only do this if your coffee does not go up (usually this means that the filter is clogged)
Sorry for my english, i'm italian
to clean it, you can try to use citric acid, it is sood in small packages for backing or for peackels (at least in my country). You need to put couple of packages into bigger pot, boil it an put moka pot inside. This is the same method as winegar, but without bad smell, so you can put any amount there
@@mr.priman The Bialetti Moka is made of aluminum, and aluminum does not pair well with acids ...
This is only if you want to ruin the coffee maker or want to find unwanted aluminum salts in your coffee.
Instead, it might be possible with the stainless steel coffee pot.
@@antc.4457 yes, good point, i didn’t think about that :)
Americano: Start with a clean pot, add cold/fresh water (I use bottled) to basin, use a good espresso but do not pack, twist on top for a tight seal, 3 minutes on a low-medium flame. Pour finished espresso into a cup, add 6 oz of boiled fresh water, creamer to taste. Always great.
Yeah, I ran some experiments on best water and I agree that bottled water works best: ua-cam.com/video/V-zqiitKUYg/v-deo.html
I don't know about this "creamer" stuff, but live your best life. Make it how you like it!
If you don't have an electric kettle to pre-heat and you don't feel like pre-boiling in a normal kettle on gas, what you do (and should do either way) is make sure the flame does not come out from the sides of the pot if you're looking directly down from above at it. With the water charge in there, there's enough mass to keep the basket from cooking if you do this. Nice and slow. And remember to use the proper burner on your stove. The top right, which is usually the simmer burner on standard non-fancy stoves, is perfect if you have the espresso sized tiny pot. Use one of the two utility burners on the left hand side of the stove for larger ones. But again, in short, make sure the flames are not coming out from the underside of the burner. Brew, quench in the sink, done.
Good advice! I actually do always use the simmer burner for the precision you get, though I’m not sure how much it really matters.
Oh finally one talk abotu yemen and coffee history.. 🌸 ❤
Really cool... thanks Taxi Driver's DeNiro...
Are you talkin' to me?
There should be enough grounds to fill the basket to the top, there should be uniform depth but not packed as you said, just levelled off - any free space will let the grounds move about and allow under-extraction to occur.
Interesting idea. I actually discussed this in my new video, that leaving a bit of open space can be a solution to overbrewing. I agree with you that too much open space could cause an underbrew.
@@loodog555 I think as long as you’re not packing, only levelling off, overbrewing shouldn’t happen. They built them to have the basket full, with the fill line, so I tend to follow their formula, and have had some moka coffee that rivals cafe-made espresso stuff
@@ScibyTravels I agree that their formula is generally a pretty good rule of thumb. I think I worked out the brew ratio to be something like 15:1 when you fill the basket and the water to the fill valve. That said, these little guys tend to overbrew rather than underbrew, so it's yet one more thing to play around with. Your mileage may vary and everyone should find a brew technique that makes them happy.
Short, but useful tips
Tip n 3 : used grinded coffe is good for degrease nasty pots and pans 😉
Very true!
Great video, straight to the point. But, it would have been better without the loud, distracting music.
Yes, just wanted to write exactly the same. Music too loud and distracting.
How would one use this on an electric stove? Grazie ahead of time.
Hi Mick, same principles as with a gas stove:
1) preheat your water (ua-cam.com/video/O14BIH-9KTA/v-deo.html)
2) use an aeropress filter (ua-cam.com/video/fy1YKqrPYCw/v-deo.html)
3) put heat on medium until seeing the first drops of coffee, then reduce to minimum (ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html)
4) apply cold water to the base as soon as you see pale bubbly coffee emerging (ua-cam.com/video/aA8KoZbtl84/v-deo.html&)
Enjoy!
What if I instantly pour the coffee to my cup instead of cooling it down first under water?
My concern is that the coffee will continue to brew while you're doing that, unless you can pour it out in less than 2 seconds (doesn't sound safe to me!)
Italian here. You made two mistakes. 1) You don't have to put hot, boiling water in it, but cold tap water and put the pot on the smallest flame possible. 2) You have to put way more coffee in it (without pressing it with the spoon), it has to look like an hill/mountain and it will be compressed a bit when you tighten the pot.
It is also fundamental to stir the coffee with a teaspoon after you remove the pot from above the flame since at the beginning the coffee that rise is denser and more bitter while at the end it's more watery.
Hello there, my Italian friend. Thanks for bringing up these issues, as it lets me clarify a few more misconceptions:
1) You absolutely can use cold water and I've experimented around with both, but it does not affect the taste of the coffee, simply because the vapor does not start to dampen the beans until boiling anyway. However, since using an electric kettle is both more energy efficient (insideenergy.org/2016/02/23/boiling-water-ieq/) and faster, I just jump straight to it.
2) I would specifically advise *against* stuffing the filter in the manner you suggest. I've have experimented around with it a bit and I have found (a) it prevents an airtight seal with the gasket and (b) causes loose grounds to become embedded in that gasket. The result is that you do get a stronger cup of coffee, but you sacrifice brewing pressure. I've even found it makes less coffee!
3) Regarding your post below about stirring with a teaspoon, I agree.
loodog555 I forgot to mention that to preserve the airtight seal and the pressure you simply have to tighten the pot so strongly that veins in your head start to pop :)
Tip: if you all found out the coffee is getting stuck, like only 40% or less has risen up, just put the base of the pot under cold water ( you’ll feel some vibrations) being careful not to spill the coffee inside, and put it again on the flame. After few seconds the all of the coffee will magically rise.
@@g3rzin Hey Gerardo, happy to follow up! Of course, our expression here in America is "Your mileage may vary". Moka Pot is all about getting the best coffee that works for you and it seems everyone has a different favorite cup. However, for the sake of the collective coffee knowledge of humanity, I'd like to debug this a little bit and figure out why your results and mine have turned out so differently using the same technique.
I definitely tighten the top to the point of the tolerance of the aluminum threads, which is pretty tight. The issue is that all the pressure in the world won't create a proper seal with the rubber gasket if there are obstructions to that seal in the form of the grounds (which is what happens when I have tried your "mountain" technique). A nice seal will happen without all that much pressure so long as the rim of the filter can mate smoothly to the gasket. So this leads me to my theorizing about what you're doing differently.
My pot takes about 300ml of water and the filter holds about 20-25 g of coffee, depending on how coarse the grinds are. This is intentional design, as it creates a water:coffee ratio of about 15:1. My theory is that your overfilling is only an extra gram or so and the result is that you can still get a seal out of it.
Can you be a bit more specific about how much "mountain" you're adding?
@@loodog555 I think it's more than a gram :)
Here's all the process: imgur.com/a/HLyVA42
You're like Ross from FRIENDS
Start educating whenever a topic comes up.
Covers all the bases. A must watch for anyone who brews Moka pot coffee
Hey, thanks for the review! Glad to be helpful!
You have to press the coffee down a bit more than that lol
I usually use hot water from the tap or if i have enough time I'll boil water then cool it.
Why your moka pot tastes bad: ...why are you tasting the moka pot? Just drink the coffee.
So that’s what I’ve been doing wrong! 😂
Hey you guys, thanks for all your comments! Before you launch the 200th comment at me about whether to preheat the water, check out my latest installment which addresses this specific question: ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html.
Before you launch the 2000th comment about how much to fill up the coffee basket: ua-cam.com/video/bCSn2CXWZOE/v-deo.html
Here's a paper claiming on the basis of physics and a 93C temperature extraction that you want to preheat your water to 70C: www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/~phyexp/uploads/Moka/article1.pdf. So consider that too. There are subtle interactions between how much the initial air in the chamber expands and starting temperature of the water.
I know, many of you are Italian and unhappy with what I've done to your brewer, like I’m coming along and telling you your culture is wrong! No worries, my friends. I mention this in the update as well. People bring up how much coffee to pack, what beans to use, it's all in that update and I welcome you so we can continue the conversation and CENTRALLY IMPORTANT TASK of making the world a better coffee place.
Also, THE MUSIC IS TOO LOUD! Sorry. I'm already making adjustments on my new videos and trying to be more considerate of how obtrusive some people can find it.
All in all, don't take my word for it! Try it out on your own. MY best technique doesn't have to be the same as YOUR best technique, but wouldn't it be great if we collaborated and came up with the best principles for how to experiment with our beloved little Moka pots?
93°C? In my Aeropress, I usually use water around 185°F/85°C going as low as 180°F/82° or as high a 190°F/88°C, depending on the beans. Anything above 190°F/88°C (measured with a digital thermometer just before pouring into the beans) always tastes burnt/bitter to me.
@@slippydouglas The proper context on that number was that it was in an article in Scientific American written by Ernesto Illy who was discussing espresso extraction.
Your numbers are curious, as I do my AeroPress at 195F/91C and I'm pretty happy. Maybe I'll try a lower temp. next time and see what it does.
I thought maybe the taste was from the pot being aluminum and was looking to buy a stainless steel one. Also please do a percolator video. Thanks!
Man I used that exact brand of stovetop expresso for years.
I've found the best taste comes with running the burner at the lowest possible setting that will push the water through. And as soon as you start to get loose foam or sputtering, the brew is done. Quickly remove from heat and quench the bottom reservoir in cool water.
I agree with this. Minimum heat is the same technique recommended by James Hoffman, and Moka pot voodoo: m.ua-cam.com/video/u-PeYeiqPLU/v-deo.html
You have to use the best coffee which is from Ethiopia. In Ethiopia there is the Harrenna Forest and located near the eastern boundry of this forest there is Mt. Batu. On the south slope of Mt. Batu, the soil conditions have a high concentrations of minerals that give the local coffee a special flavor which is deeply rich and robust yet, not bitter. About 1 kilometer south-east of the Mt. Batu, there is a very small village and there the local growers harvest the best coffee in the world.
There is no such thing as best coffee. Regions all over the world can produce high quality coffee. You must buy high quality fresh coffee if you want good coffee out
@@Adam-vx6to Yes Adam there is something called The Best Coffee in the Universe. It is coffee that brings a smile to your sleepy face.
Cold water, highest heat and it works fine for me
It it tastes good, it is good!
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 it's the least bitter I get, when heat is at its highest
Did not know the word mocha came from there! Cool!
Wow, mad to see how much controversy and discussion this video still draws up today... Especially since a lot of videos on youtube claim same/similar methods and don't appear to get that much hate.
Appreciate the video, keep it up mate!
I think it's that I phrased my advice as Mistakes to avoid, as opposed to...I don't know... common practices to examine closer. Also, I did a lot of weird shit here like only partially filling the filter basket and preheating the water, without explaining why so maybe that lead people to think I'm a charlatan, especially the Italians who NEVER do it that way.
@@loodog555 Love your self-reflection. I think you're right, maybe the missing explanation is what made people think you condemn and personally attack their different (italian) way per se.
Obviously, you were just suggesting based on your knowledge but I guess the internet is a childish place nowadays were you have to explain and justify everything.
Also, it is so weird to me that something like brewing coffee can be taken that personally and nationalistic? You NEVER claimed in the video that what you're doing is the ITALIAN way, yet Italians attacking you like hell for not doing it in the italian way? like wtf haha
Nah, ignore the Italians. We’re convinced that everything we do is god’s way and nobody can dare say otherwise. Italian coffee is shit. After having lived abroad in real coffee countries I came back home to find burnt coffee beans and “gold quality” coffee of unknown origins.
Cheers from Indonesia, I’ll be drinking coffee from Mr. Brejo’s plantation today.
Okay, once more for a thick one... Why am I stopping the brewing process? What's the thinking there?
The concern is that water is being run through beans that have already been sufficiently extracted, leading to an overextracted and bitter taste.
I really need to buy a gasket for my mocha pot which I've been avoiding for years. I guess this is a sign that its time lol.
PS: We have the same coffee mug! :D
I and all my Italian ancestors have NEVER filled a Moka pot with boiled water nor have they ever removed it from the hob half way to run it under cold water.
We have never had horrible tasting coffee.
The only thing that is worth doing here is cleaning your Moka pot properly including under the filter plate.
Haha, someone told me that I would be pissing off a lot of Italians! If you watch my follow up video, I do mention that my advice is contrary to “authentic Italian” method: ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html
Great to learn some italian tradition from you. however, I don't see why things have to be italian tradition to be worth doing?
Thank you! I had given up on the moka pot, and switched to pour over (v60 + chemex filter)
I will give the moka pot another chance now 😎
The moka pot is hard but rewarding if you’re willing to do A LOT of tweaking. Here’s my follow up video with more details: m.ua-cam.com/video/jcgMeDDAT-s/v-deo.html. The problem is that the process doesn’t give you as much control as a siphon or a pourover so it can be hard to get right.
@@loodog555 thanks
No idea if you're still watching this space, but my coffee tends to come sour, any advice on that? I understand that it's due to underextraction, but how can I help with that?
I'm brewing it on low heat, pre-boiling the water, stopping the process the moment the coffee stream turns light-brown. Full filter basket, medium roast, fine-ish grind.
Any way to somewhat increase the extraction without burning it?
Easy to fix: grind your coffee to finer size! Good luck!
@@loodog555 Hmm, I'll have to try, thanks!
@@loodog555 I just tried it, but it was kind of a mess. My previous coffee was already pretty fine, so going finer meant that some of the grounds got into the final pot. It also started sputtering despite me using low heat. It doesn't taste sour, but having bits of grounds in my coffee is less than ideal. So I guess I'll have to try something else.
@@loodog555 Thinking about it, would going for a very low heat(even potentially removing it from the heat for a minute after it starts flowing) prolong the extraction process?
@@laerin7931 ya, the nasty fines in your coffee is one of the perils of a moka pot. Most people just get used to it, but there is a great hack going around the Internet, to use an AeroPress filter in your moka pot: ua-cam.com/video/fy1YKqrPYCw/v-deo.html really makes a difference in getting an enjoyable coffee!