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Adventures in Coffee - the Moka Pot
Aug. 23rd, 2007 10:51 amHaven't done one of these in awhile, so I figured it was time. :) Moka Pots - a simple, cheap alternative to that fancy espresso machine or inadequate drip machine.
I took my Moka Pot camping, along with REI's hand cranked burr grinder, the Traveler II, and a milk frother - actually, that link takes you to Bialetti's stovetop frother/moka pot set. It was, hands down, the best coffee I've ever had camping. I took the same set up last year, and remember being just as impressed. (My friend Bryan, who frequents Bux daily, declared it the best latte he'd ever had. Only, I told him, because you've never been to my house and had me make you one on my machine.
But he had a good point - the moka pot/hand burr grinder/stovetop steamer combo is an extremely cost effective way to make better espresso at home that what you can usually buy out and about. About $65, total, and you've got your set up. And the moka pot makes good coffee, period. But it's rather like Turkish coffee in cup sizes. A "six cup" Bialetti (which comes in cheaper aluminum models and more expensive stainless steel) is actually 12 ounces of coffee, or about one "cup" of drip coffee.
The moka pot also makes a richer, deeper brew than standard drip coffee (hence the comparison to espresso, and use of said brew in lattes). This is because of the way the moka pot works. Standard drip brewers don't brew coffee at the proper temperature - more than 200 degree F. They fall short of this, and thus the brew extracted has less flavor, is weaker, requires more grounds for a stronger cup, etc. It also has a LOT more caffeine than people realize. One standard cup of drip coffee can have anywhere from 2-400ml of caffeine in it. A single shot of espresso has 40ml, pretty much every time. The same should be true for an ounce of coffee brewed in a moka pot, because the temperature the coffee is being brewed at hits that above 200 degrees F (or about 100 degrees C) mark, so the extraction of coffee is much more similar to espresso than drip. The grind of the coffee must also be finer than standard drip, and the hand crank burr grinder by REI that I used camping does an excellent job, and can be adjusted finer or coarser w/the simple application of a screwdriver. (The $15 whirly-blade grinder most folks use does not truly qualify as a grinder, sadly. It chops the poor beans into uneven an haphazard chunks that range from a fine dust to coarsely uneven pieces - this does nothing to improve the taste of your coffee, believe me!) About five minutes of hand cranking and you've got your morning coffee. (I made others help w/this camping, since I was making the actual coffee - heh!)
Zassenhaus also makes a good hand powered burr grinder, and they've got a lovely antique look for your countertop, but they're about $65 themselves. And if you really want something that will grind your beans properly without having to crank it yourself, you can get a more expensive counter top burr grinder - and no, that $50 Krups or Cuisinart won't do. Plastic parts. Cheap construction. You'll be replacing it within a year. So you might as well spend a little more and get the real deal - any of the grinders on that page will do, though I recommend the $149 refurbished Baratza Virtuoso for best grinder for your buck. But enough about how to grind the beans. On to what this post is about.
So, what is a moka pot? How does it work? Well, the Moka Pot makes coffee based on steam. It was invented by an Italian (go figure) named Bialetti in 1933. ( Handy pics and diagrams behind the cut )
For about $20, you can't beat the coffee these produce, and they're easy and have have the added bonus of allowing you to impress all your friends with your coffee brilliance!
I took my Moka Pot camping, along with REI's hand cranked burr grinder, the Traveler II, and a milk frother - actually, that link takes you to Bialetti's stovetop frother/moka pot set. It was, hands down, the best coffee I've ever had camping. I took the same set up last year, and remember being just as impressed. (My friend Bryan, who frequents Bux daily, declared it the best latte he'd ever had. Only, I told him, because you've never been to my house and had me make you one on my machine.
But he had a good point - the moka pot/hand burr grinder/stovetop steamer combo is an extremely cost effective way to make better espresso at home that what you can usually buy out and about. About $65, total, and you've got your set up. And the moka pot makes good coffee, period. But it's rather like Turkish coffee in cup sizes. A "six cup" Bialetti (which comes in cheaper aluminum models and more expensive stainless steel) is actually 12 ounces of coffee, or about one "cup" of drip coffee.
The moka pot also makes a richer, deeper brew than standard drip coffee (hence the comparison to espresso, and use of said brew in lattes). This is because of the way the moka pot works. Standard drip brewers don't brew coffee at the proper temperature - more than 200 degree F. They fall short of this, and thus the brew extracted has less flavor, is weaker, requires more grounds for a stronger cup, etc. It also has a LOT more caffeine than people realize. One standard cup of drip coffee can have anywhere from 2-400ml of caffeine in it. A single shot of espresso has 40ml, pretty much every time. The same should be true for an ounce of coffee brewed in a moka pot, because the temperature the coffee is being brewed at hits that above 200 degrees F (or about 100 degrees C) mark, so the extraction of coffee is much more similar to espresso than drip. The grind of the coffee must also be finer than standard drip, and the hand crank burr grinder by REI that I used camping does an excellent job, and can be adjusted finer or coarser w/the simple application of a screwdriver. (The $15 whirly-blade grinder most folks use does not truly qualify as a grinder, sadly. It chops the poor beans into uneven an haphazard chunks that range from a fine dust to coarsely uneven pieces - this does nothing to improve the taste of your coffee, believe me!) About five minutes of hand cranking and you've got your morning coffee. (I made others help w/this camping, since I was making the actual coffee - heh!)
Zassenhaus also makes a good hand powered burr grinder, and they've got a lovely antique look for your countertop, but they're about $65 themselves. And if you really want something that will grind your beans properly without having to crank it yourself, you can get a more expensive counter top burr grinder - and no, that $50 Krups or Cuisinart won't do. Plastic parts. Cheap construction. You'll be replacing it within a year. So you might as well spend a little more and get the real deal - any of the grinders on that page will do, though I recommend the $149 refurbished Baratza Virtuoso for best grinder for your buck. But enough about how to grind the beans. On to what this post is about.
So, what is a moka pot? How does it work? Well, the Moka Pot makes coffee based on steam. It was invented by an Italian (go figure) named Bialetti in 1933. ( Handy pics and diagrams behind the cut )
For about $20, you can't beat the coffee these produce, and they're easy and have have the added bonus of allowing you to impress all your friends with your coffee brilliance!
