Bialetti Moka Express Stovetop Espresso Maker Review

by Mike on December 11, 2009 in Coffee Equipment Reviews,Coffee Makers

Good:

Makes amazing tasting Italian style espresso
Simple to use
Easy to clean

Bad

Can take ten (plus) minutes long, but really I’m not going to complain too loudly about that. Good coffee is worth waiting for.
Small learning curve

Included in the gift basket that Cafe Bustelo sent me last month, was a Bialetti Moka Express Stovetop Espresso Maker, AKA a Moka Pot. I have to admit that I was pretty excited about this. It was actually on my list of coffee equipment that I wanted.

I heard so many good things about it that I couldn’t wait to try it out for myself. It took a few attempts, some playing around with the heat and amount of grounds, but it was worthy of all the praise it earned.

It’s probably not as great as some of the espresso that I’ve had in coffee shops, but I was able to make some delicious shots of coffee.

How To Use A Moka (Mocha) Stovetop Espresso Maker

Do a practice run. Make sure it works safely it’ll clear out the system.

Fill to the line the base with cold water. It shouldn’t flood into the strainer.

Add the strainer on top of the base.

Fill with espresso grounds. Make sure to keep the grounds off the rim, so that it doesn’t compromise the seal. Don’t pack it down like it was an espresso machine because that can create too much pressure and things could get dangerous.

Screw the top on.

Put over medium to low heat. I experimented with this and found medium heat on my stove worked best. The espresso took about ten minutes to brew, which produced the best tasting flavor. Low heat also worked, but took upwards of twenty minutes or more to finally brew. Higher heats seemed to ruin the taste.

Once it fills the top chamber, take it off the burner and pour into the cups.

Alternative Ending

I was reading up on how to use a Moka Pot and came across these instructions with a delicious twist at I Need Coffee. (Still, one of the best names for a site ever.) I tweaked it slightly, but it was still mostly their idea.

While the water is heating up, add sugar to a mixing container like a milk frothing pitcher or just a four cup measuring cup. Add a tablespoon for each cup of espresso that you’re making.

When the espresso starts to come out, pour just a little in with the sugar and stir. It should be pretty thick like peanut butter for best results.

Let the espresso finish brewing. Then pour half of the remaining espresso in with the sugar and the other half into your cups.

Stir the sugar mix to produce foam on top.

Pour that on to the espresso that’s already been poured into the cups.

Enjoy!

Make sure you let it cool down before trying to clean it. It’s metal so it can be hot!

Hand clean it with soap. It takes less than a minute to clean.

Final Thoughts

Almost all of the reviews I read about it were extremely positive. The only negatives were people saying that the handle fell off after a few months. If that happens, I’ll update the article.

Overall, I love the moka pot. I use it pretty frequently and I swear each cup is better than the last. I think it’s really cool looking and it’s impressed all of my friends that have seen it and tasted it.

If you’re still looking for a Christmas gift for a coffee lover, check their cabinet to see if they have one of these. If they don’t, pick them up one!

Disclosure stuff: Cafe Bustelo sent the Moka Pot as part of a branding campaign. In no way did they pay me to review it or did they even ask me to review it. I’m a very opinionated person, especially when it comes to coffee. In no way did they attempt to sway my opinion one way or another.

Buy A Bialetti Moka Express Stovetop Espresso Maker

Purchase at Amazon for $24.95

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Tagged as: Coffee Equipment Reviews, Moka Pot

Article by Mike Crimmins

Mike Crimmins is the highly caffeinated blogger behind Daily Shot Of Coffee. Besides drinking way too much coffee, he's obsessed with the Yankees and getting dirty on his mountain bike.

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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Devon Hernandez December 12, 2009 at 12:21 am

hellooooooooooooooooo I’ve been absent for awhile. Sigh. Busy.

Anyway…glad to see you got one of these finally!!!! yay! I need one. One thing I wanted to point out…does your instruction manual tell you to make 3 pots or so and throw the results out? Because my Bialetti Muka Express cappuccino maker DOES. You have to like, “season” it by doing that, kind of you like you have to season cast iron cookware. So yeah, every time you make it gets better, and your cook time will shorten. Ten minutes for espresso??? That’s crazy. You probably don’t have the heat high enough. My cappuccino gets made in like, 2 or 3 minutes. I have gas stove, so it’s easier to get a perfect temp for it. I can’t imagine that the Moka would take that long…I mean, mine has to brew the espresso too…hmm…what does the manual say? Mine actually says that it should only take 2-3 minutes; however, mine only makes enough for 2 people. So if you’re making 4 servings of espresso…it would take about 8 minutes???? Keep playing with it. I swear, it really does get better every time you use it.

Mike December 12, 2009 at 9:52 am: Long time no see! Just the other day, I was wondering if you were still online! Glad to see you again.

Since it came as a gift basket, I actually didn’t get any instructions. However, researching it online, I found several blogs that said do some practice runs first with stale/old coffee to get it going.

As far as the ten minutes, found a couple places that was the time to aim for with this sized moka pot to get the best tasting results. I could probably shorten it a little and not lose anything, but when I turned the heat up even more, it definitely threw the flavor off for me. Of course, I’m still playing with it, which I think is part of the fun with coffee equipment.

Reply

BaristaOnDutY December 12, 2009 at 8:46 am

Nice Article As Far As The Taking Long To Heat Up I Suggest Using Either Water Thats Already Warm Or Either Room Temperature. Just A Lil Bit Of Fun Exercise You Can Play With The Grounds On The Mokka Pot From Fine To Reg Drip To Make More Of A Coffee Type Rather Than The Espresso Type, That’s One Of The Things I Love About The Pot. You’ll Be Impressed On what U Can Create By Bending The Rules A Little Bit, Only Thing I Say Is You Never Want To Grind The Ground For Finer Than Turkish Yes I Have But It Dangerous Also As You Mention No Tamping The Grounds, This Is Where Mastery Comes Into Play Bec Although Anyone Can Use The Mokka Pot It Takes Practice To Create Nice Crema I Love How Critics Say U Can’t Make Espresso With It, True It’s A Mokka Pot Not Espresso Maker, But I Would Love To Place A Bet With One Of Those Critics.. HaHa Great Job Mike U Do So Well What I Hate Doing Writing! Don’t Worry I’m Gonna B Putting You On Payroll Or Coffeeroll Or Soemthing HaHa C|_|

Mike December 12, 2009 at 9:48 am: When I’m writing about coffee, it’s just easy to write. In fact, now it’s hard for me to not write about coffee. I’ll be stuck away from a computer and have the next article I want to write develop in my head.

I’ll play around with the water temperatures. I think that’s the only variable that I didn’t play too much with.

I was just debating trying some other coffees to try in the moka. So far, I’ve been sticking to darker roasts that are finely ground. It looks like I have some more work to do in the lab.

Reply

gservo December 12, 2009 at 9:14 am

Good read, i always keeps one these around, their brilliant the only ting i suggest is distilled water. If you have heavy water, deposits builds up after a while. ALso, it’s slow coffee, coffee to be appreciated.