Moka pot usage guide, brew a cup of good coffee

Moka pots seem to be less popular in China, where hand-brewed, siphon and Italian coffee are highly valued. However, Moka pots are actually a common coffee utensil in European households, and are said to be a must-have item for every Italian family. The rise of Moka pots in Italy is closely related to the political, social and economic environment in Italy from the 1920s to the 1940s. At that time, Italian coffee machines had been invented and initially popularized, but few families in Italy would make coffee at home, mainly because the Italian coffee machines at that time were too large and heavy, and the price was expensive, so if you wanted to drink coffee, you had to go to a coffee bar.

It wasn't until Alfonso Bialett invented the moka pot in 1933 that Italy's coffee culture underwent a radical change.

The invention of the moka pot

Alfonso Bialetti was an inventor and designer. After returning from studying in France, Alfonso entered the aluminum metal industry, which was quite prosperous in Italy at that time. After working in other people's factories for a full ten years, in 1918, Alfonso founded his own factory and opened Bialetti Company, starting to sell aluminum-related metal products, including household cleaning utensils, etc.

Alfonso is a typical Italian man, with a mustache and serious clothes. In his spare time, he would go to the counter of the coffee bar and raise his hand to ask for a cup of espresso. Alfonso loves coffee very much. He also thought about investing in the manufacture of Italian coffee machines, but this was already a mature industry at the time, with fierce competition. It was difficult to enter the market unless you had a lot of money.

One day, Alfonso saw a local laundry shop. The way to wash clothes was to throw all the clothes into a large sink. There was hot water and foam under the sink. There was a water pipe in the middle of the sink to draw out the hot water and soap and sprinkle them on the clothes to wash them. Alfonso was watching and suddenly had an idea that this could be applied to coffee making.

So in the 1920s, Alfonso began to research a new coffee making system. At the same time, more and more manufacturers invested in the production of espresso machines. They continued to improve espresso machines, making them more powerful, more efficient, and faster, but at the same time, they also made espresso machines larger, heavier, more expensive, and more complicated to operate. Ordinary families could not afford them and would not use them.

Alfonso decided to take a different approach. After thinking for a long time, he decided that the core of the design was: "To allow ordinary people who have not learned how to operate an Italian coffee machine to easily make coffee at home." After countless failures and attempts, Alfonso invented the aluminum moka pot in 1933.

Anyone who has seen a Moka pot cannot help but admit that the design of the Moka pot is simple and perfect. It is divided into three layers: upper, middle and lower. The upper layer is filled with coffee liquid, the middle layer is filled with coffee powder, and the lower layer is filled with water. It is placed on a gas stove and can easily make a pot of coffee in 5 to 7 minutes without any additional operation. The design is simple and powerful, the appearance is elegant and exquisite, and most importantly, it weighs less than 1 kilogram and is about the same size as a teapot. Compared with the coffee machines that weighed hundreds of kilograms at the time, it was a groundbreaking invention.

Since 1950, a total of 300 million Moka pots have been sold. A survey shows that 90% of Italian families have a Moka pot in their kitchen. The Moka pot can achieve unique success, in addition to the success of Alfonso's son, Renato Bialetti, in the business world, the biggest reason is the classic design made by Alfonso. More than 80 years have passed since the Moka pot was invented in 1933, and the Moka pot still maintains the most original design with almost no changes. Just imagine how fast technology has progressed in the past 80 years, but the design of the Moka pot has been refined and still cannot be changed.

To this day, Bialetti is still the world's leading brand of moka pots, with a global market share of an incredible 95%, and almost no competitors. Alfonso died in 1970, and Renato died on February 11, 2016. Foreign media reported that at the funeral on February 16, 2016, Renato's ashes were placed in a moka pot according to the request of family members.

5 steps to make a great cup of moka pot coffee

The direct-fire coffee maker from Italy uses the steam pressure of boiling hot water to extract coffee with a flavor close to that of espresso. Although it is not difficult to operate, the timing of turning off the fire requires skill. It has a unique and rich flavor that drip coffee makers do not have. It is of course good to drink it directly, but you can also enjoy the fun of making it into a latte or affogato.

1. Grind the coffee beans into powder (fill the powder tank). Separate the upper pot from the lower pot of the Moka pot, and pour water into the lower pot (below the pressure relief valve).

2. Put the coffee powder in the metal filter (powder slot) and tap it gently to make it flatter.

3. Install the powder tank on the lower pot, and then tighten the upper pot. (Please make sure to tighten it and make sure that the upper and lower pots are connected together.)

4. Heat with the lid open, and control the flame to a level that does not exceed the bottom of the pot. (Because it may boil over, it is recommended to do it with the lid open until you have mastered the trick. If the spacing of the gas stove's hob is too large and the moka pot cannot be placed firmly on it, please add a net and then heat with direct fire.)

5. When the hot water starts to boil and the coffee is extracted, turn off the heat. When all the extraction is completed, pour the coffee into the cup as soon as possible to avoid over-steaming.

Many people choose Moka pots, originally just to find a way to make coffee that is easier than hand brewing, but they often make bitter coffee that can only be finished by adding milk to cover it up. In fact, in addition to adjusting the particle size of coffee powder, the ratio of water to powder, and whether to do some tamping, there are some tips for brewing with Moka pots to avoid those unpleasant bitter tastes.

Tips for brewing a Moka pot:

1. It is necessary to choose fresh and high-quality coffee. Grinding it before brewing can retain the complete flavor. It does not need to be tamped, and it should be ground to the same fineness as hand-brewed coffee (with high-temperature extraction, it does not need to be ground too finely).

2. Add boiling hot water to the bottom of the Moka pot to shorten the heating time of the Moka pot, reduce the time for the coffee flavor to dissipate, and reduce the burnt and bitter taste because the coffee powder will not be heated on the stove all the time.

3. When you hear that the water in the lower pot of the Moka pot has been evaporated to the point where only the sound of bubbles remains, you must quickly move it to a place without a heat source and cool the lower pot with a wet cloth to prevent continuous heating and pressurization from extracting all the water remaining in the powder tank, causing more bitter coffee.

As long as you reduce the exposure of coffee powder to the air as much as possible and shorten the heating time of the moka pot, you will find that you can clearly feel a different burst of aroma at the moment the coffee liquid flows out, and it has a bright acidity and sweetness when you drink it.

However, no one can master any coffee equipment in a short time, not to mention that each coffee has different characteristics. Each time you brew, you need to continue to adjust and calibrate to get closer to the perfect cup of coffee in your mind. If you have a moka pot, before you find a satisfactory brewing solution, you might as well try this method!