Stainless steel is stronger and more durable than aluminum, it’s an excellent conductor of heat, and (because it’s magnetic) it can work on an induction cooktop. A couple of things to think about though is the material, aluminium is quite porous so is hard to clean plus it is corrosive and isn’t dishwasher safe. Invented in the 1930s by Italian engineer Alfonso Bialetti, the moka pot (named after the Yemeni city of Mocha), is a simply designed stove-top coffee maker that continues to endure, producing strong, great-tasting coffee without the faff of filters or any machinery. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. The design was inspired by art deco architecture and women’s skirts in the 1930s, says Bialetti Industries export manager Cristina Leporati, and “over the years, it has undergone only minor changes in shape, remaining virtually unchanged over time.

Bialetti Moka Induction Coffee Maker, 3 Cup

Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Despite this repeatability, however, there are still plenty of ways to experiment with the moka pot. Water is added to the bottom chamber before the spring loaded middle chamber is tightly screwed on using the wooden handle. While you’re doing that, be sure to use a straw cleaner or toothbrush to give the tube-like center of the upper chamber a good scrubbing. There are a couple of problems around the way that the coffee pours and the two spouts don’t always drip at the same speed with one cup yielding more coffee than the other.The difference, however, is that the moka pot pushes the brew upwards, and does not use high-pressure water to achieve the shorter brew times of an espresso machine. Valentina says that even though the moka pot is traditionally associated with darker roasts (similar to espresso), it can actually be used to brew a variety of different coffees with surprising success. This may not allow the water in the lower chamber to force through the bed of coffee and the build-up of pressure may result in the Moka pot starting to leak through the middle of the safety valve doesn’t function properly. You will not be able to extract an espresso that you are served in a cafe from a Moka Pot but you can get close with some of the better coffee makers above and a finer ground coffee. The ease at which you are able to take this Moka pot apart is one of the key design features, the square top and bottom can efficiently be screwed on without leakage.

Bialetti - Moka Induction, Moka Pot, Suitable for all Types

If you go into someone’s kitchen to make coffee and they don’t have the silver-and-black one, you might think they don’t know what they’re doing,” she says. A Moka pot cannot gain that amount of pressure so coffee is ground coarser and the boiling water in the lower chamber is forced upwards through the ground coffee resulting in brewed coffee in the upper chamber. If you grind your own beans at home, or if you’re able to request a particular grind size at your local coffee purveyor, Washburn recommends aiming for a texture that’s a little coarser than granulated sugar.

It has been almost 100 years since the moka pot was invented, but it remains popular among consumers for a reason.