The Moka pot is ubiquitous in households in Italy, Latin America, and the world over. It is one of our favorite brew methods. While it doesn’t produce a “real” espresso, it does permit the use of pressure to brew a very strong coffee, which you can then cut with water or milk to your desired strength level (or just take it straight up). The high level of extraction produced by the handly little vessel lends itself better to dark roasts, or a predominantly dark-roast blend.

Brew time: 30 seconds to 1 minute

Serving Size

20g coffee for a two-cup brewer.

Directions

1. Grind coffee fine, but not too fine. The best results are with a grind setting only slightly finer than a regular drip grind.

2. Add coffee into the perforated basket, tapping the percolator’s straw down on the counter to settle the coffee grounds down. Tamping or tightly packing the coffee is not necessary, you just need to completely fill the receptacle. Level off the bed with the flat edge of a knife, ruler, or finger.

3. Add water to the base (pre-heated water will speed up the process), insert the basket, and screw the top half on. Place on your stove at a high heat setting.

4. Keep the lid up and monitor the brew. As soon as the first bit of liquid emerges from the spout, remove the Moka pot from the heat for twenty to thirty seconds. Inside the coffee chamber, the hot water is forcing carbon dioxide out of the grounds and swelling the coffee puck.

5. Once the liquid stops dribbling out of the spout, return the Moka pot to the heat. Now that the puck has bloomed, there is less resistance to the water passing through, and so less heat is needed. If you’re working on a gas stove, you can turn the flame down. An electric or infrared stovetop may not be responsive enough. A workaround is to hold the Moka pot just above the range, raising and lowering as necessary to keep enough heat on the pot without overpowering it.

6. Once you see and/or hear a sputtering noise and no more coffee coming out of the spout, take the Moka pot off the heat. It’s best to transfer it to another vessel quickly instead of letting it rest on the piping hot metal of the Moka pot.

Tips

The quality of your water is vital to the quality of your coffee. Coffee needs a certain amount of minerals to extract effectively. Thus, filtered water is always better than tap water.

Grind quality is important. Blade grinders do not yield a consistent grind size - producing a mixture of very small and some very large particles. This will lead to a mix of under- and over-extracted grinds. Our mission specialists recommend Burr grinders for a better experience.