It’s no secret that we love a Moka Pot here at Baytown. In fact, it’s our favourite way to enjoy our morning cup of The Bolts before a busy day at the roastery.
Stovetop espresso makers are simple, easy to use and produce perfectly brewed cups of coffee making them a hit in households all over the world!
As well as being great at home, Moka Pots are perfect for brewing up outdoors. We can often be found out and about with ours, whether we’re on the beach, in the woods or up on the local moorland. And well, it would be rude not to enjoy a cup of the good stuff while we’re out exploring!
Here’s our guide on making great coffee using a Moka Pot.
What is a Moka Pot?
A Moka Pot or stove top espresso maker is a traditional Italian method for brewing coffee.
Invented by Alfonso Bialetti in the 1930s, it is believed that he was inspired by watching his wife do their washing!
The Bialetti’s washing machine was made up of a bucket of soapy water over the fire. Once the water was boiling, it was pushed out through a tube and onto the dirty clothes.
Bialetti took this simple idea and developed a similar technique for the coffee pot and his design remains much the same to this day.
How Does a Moka Pot Work?
It’s just physics! A Moka Pot has 3 chambers, one for water, one for ground coffee and one for the brew.
When the Moka Pot is placed on heat, the water begins to boil, generating steam. The steam increases the pressure in the bottom chamber and pushes the water up through the coffee granules and into the top chamber where it is ready to be poured.
How To Use a Moka Pot?
Step One – Take it apart
Unscrew your Moka Pot so it is in two parts and remove the basket.
Step Two – Water
Boil your kettle then fill the bottom chamber of your Moka Pot with warm water.
We preheat the water to stop the the Moka Pot getting too hot and cooking the coffee which can give the coffee a metallic taste.
How much water you add to your Moka Pot will depend on the size but the water level shouldn’t go above the the pressure valve on the side.
Remember how much water you’ve put in for later – you can measure this, or a rough guess will be fine!
Step Three – Coffee
Grind your coffee. For Moka Pot, the grind should be medium-coarse grind. The consistency should be a similar to castor sugar.
Fill you basket with grounds. How much coffee you use will depend on the size of the basket and your Moka Pot. For a 3 – 4 cup pot, we would suggest about 16g of ground coffee which is about 2 and a half tablespoons.
Use your finger to level off the coffee in the basket so the surface is flat.
Step Four – Reassembly
Place the basket into the bottom chamber of the pot. Replace the top chamber and and screw together, but don’t over tighten.
Be careful as the metal chambers will be hot from the water!
Step Five – Heat
Add your Moka Pot to the heat. If using a stove, this wants to be a medium heat. Try and avoid the handle being subject to the heat and leave the lid open.
Step Six – Extraction
As the water begins to boil, coffee will start to pass into the top chamber. Watch as the coffee comes through, remembering how much water you put in.
When half the water has passed into the top chamber, close the lid and remove the Moka Pot from the heat. Set to one side and allow the rest to flow through.
Step Seven – Enjoy!
Pour the coffee from the Moka Pot into cups. Serve as desired and enjoy!
How to Clean your Moka Pot
As with all makers, how you clean them is hugely important and a Moka Pot is no different.
How to clean your Moka Pot is an age old question and there are many different ideas about what is the best thing to do.
Purists would say that you shouldn’t clean your Moka Pot at all. Others would advise rigorous cleaning after every use.
We suggest making sure the inside of the pot is clean, using warm water and rinsing out after each use. But, we don’t advise using soap on your Moka Pot.
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