Just picked up my first name brand Bialetti Mokapot. Way better than my original BonJour. Makes better coffee, with less mess. 3 cups is the way to go. Had two pot fulls this morning, I was feeling good on my way to work. :-) Now I need to order some beans and start trying out different coffee. :-)
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Go 'bonger. Any crema yet?
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First round had some crema, I think getting good with the harder to use BonJour made me an instant success. Now must work at getting copious amounts of crema to the cup. :-) I love this thing, even bought one for my brother for Christmas, and scored me free shipping from amazon :-)
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Well, two brews under the belt and I'm pretty pleased with the 3 cup Brialetti. The first brew was strong but a bit harsh. Switched to a different blend with the second brew, and it was better. Whether that's the beans talking, or the pot going through a break-in period, I don't know. The grounds are coming out in a puck, so it looks like the grind is in the ballpark.

The 3 cupper produces just over half a coffee cup, which is just about right for me. Cool little toy. :-)
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Sounds just right - great start to what could be a lifetime of spectacular coffee.

Mokapot done badly, not a rare thing, is way below awful. I regret so many people - not CA people, I hope - get mokapots with expectations of instant no-brainer rich, Euro-coffee that they believe will exemplify "espresso". Bad grind and/or bad packing means no compression during the brew. The result is always underextracted, bitter, stringy nasty brown water. The stale beans most use for their morning electric drip coffee might make an OK drink with cream and sugar; the same stale stuff run thru a mokapot makes super-enhanced bad stuff.

Nice to see so many folks starting of with a smaller pot. That's always a plus for an easier, better brew. Understanding in advance that burr ground med/fine is required is another key to success. And, of course, freshly roasted quality beans brewed for 45-seconds approx. is the finishing touch to perfection. :-)

Who's next up?
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Well, I have two out of three covered.

I'll have to work on the fresh bean part.

This is a great thread. I certainly appreciate all the tips. :-)
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Spoken like a true moyle.
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That's just not right, Moo...:-):-)
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Top 10 Ways You Know You Are Really Into Coffee (READ: YOU HAVE CROSSED THE LINE)

by Christian Di Bono


1. The "Coffee Fairy" leaves coffee beans under your kid's pillow in exchange for their molar.

2. You quiz the pimple-faced teenager at McDonald's on the exact roast date of the "100% Arabica" coffee being served that day.

3. You vandalize the local Starbucks by breaking in and taking a hammer to the new Super-Auto espresso machines, and as you leave, you spray paint a message that reads "Real Baristas grind and tamp their own coffee!!!"

4. You ask for the espresso machine and grinder in the divorce settlement, but agree to give your wife the house.

5. You enjoy watching squirrels after eating nuts into which you have cleverly embedded a coffee bean. You repeat this dastardly behavior on other animals like dogs, cats, armadillos, and blue jays.

6. You had your pool made into the shape of a coffee bean when viewed from above. Unfortunately now that the divorce is final, your wife gets to enjoy it now, with along with the pool guy.

7. You contend that Elvis' favorite snack was actually a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, 3 Qualudes, and a non-fat, 2 pump, extra shot, caramel macchiato chaser.

8. Your favorite BBQ rub includes ground coffee, and you insist on using it on that $52 hunk of Filet Mignon, despite your guests telling you that it tastes like crap.

9. You spent $6300 on a new DSLR Digital Camera setup, simply to take close-up photos of coffee beans and naked portafilter shots. Your current girlfried is considering a palimony suit.

10. You roast your own coffee, but you insist on roasting each bean individually for the ultimate in quality.
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Well, Im starting to get hard pucks (while usually ~1/2 the basket worth is a hard puck after I beat it out of their). But I am confused by this brew in 45 seconds thing, mine almost always takes longer, generally on the order of 2-3 minutes to full brew. Is this a function of the 3 cupper vs my 6 cupper?

I have been using low heat to get a nice pressure build up but Im not sure if I should try high temp to spike the pressure then let it finish on its own seperate from heat?
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I call "brew" time the time from the first spurt out the post until the spurting stops. If you're getting dribbles and drools of coffee for 2-3 minutes (instead of 45-60 seconds), how does it taste? Good? Sweet? Crema? Not bitter?

45-60 seconds is the "rule" someone taught me but, to be sure, I've made good coffee that took one or twominutes to brew. If it tastes good, that's all there is is. If it tastes a little on the bitter side, try a slightly lighter pack for a slightly faster extraction. 3 minutes does sound a bit too long too me, though.
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Alrighty, I'll give higher temp a try tommorrow or maybe tonight. I have been very carefully monitoring my pack and have been tamping it down to maximize the pre-puckage before brewing. Thanks Moo!
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Alrighty then! Sounds like you're getting ready to blow the safety valve! Very excellent! Learning where the edge of the envelope resides... love it - love it. This is real courage folks, tap dancing with a kitchen covered in boiling water/coffee spew.

(If you're mooshing in a filter full of coffee plus a dome on the top and it's taking 3-minutes to run a pot, you either need more heat to make more pressure - and risk blowing the valve or blowing up the pot - or a less dense pack, or a coarser grind.)
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Stainless mokapot and false crema do not seem to go together. The stainless pot makes excellent moka but I cannot make it produce crema. I've tried a dozen different kinds of freshroasted coffee and played every trick I know on the Bialetti Eleganz stainless pot to make it drool crema but it will not. I have called and written anyone and everyone who knows squat about coffee but there is no answer as to why this is. In fact, I discover, many so-called coffee experts didn't even know that a mokapot could produce the globs of crema that many of us here take for granted. Rookies, guys. We are surrounded by rookies. The best of them told me they had no idea why I can't get a stainless pot to make crema (not that any of them could). Except that my skills must be lacking there was no better answer.

I always felt the metal itself was suspect but couldn't figure out how to prove it.

Now, slightly off topic, I am suddenly struck by something I've known for a long time. My 18-10 stainless steel ibrik will not make AND HOLD decent froth when making turkish coffee. See where this is going?

Since this is now moving outside the scope of mokapots I will continue the discussion at the turkish coffee thread. Good day.
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I have to thank (or is the proper term "blame") all of you for steering me to that wonderful little Bialetti (yes I bought the six cup at Target, and I mix 1/2 & 1/2 with hot whole milk). YUM!! What an amazing brew. I didn't know anything like that even existed.
I also bought a Capresso Infinity burr grinder on sale just after Christmas, it has greatly improved my regular bean experience with my drip maker; I was using a whirly blade grinder (UGH!).
I need to try some beans for the Mokapot, have been using ground Seattle's Best I received as a present, but that is almost gone. What do you guys recommend I try for maximum goodness from the Bialetti?
Thanks for your sage advice.
Chris
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Uncle Beanz goes back online tomorrow, give Norman a call and he will surely help you take that next step.

BTW don't forget to congratulate him on his recent marriage. :-)
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What Richard said. UncleBeanz is the cat daddy but not the only daddy depending on where do you live. So, where DO you live? Sometimes it's easy to shop with a local, or nearby, roaster.

Great to hear you're loving the moka cafe con leche. When it's on it's hard to beat. :-)
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I am just across the river from Omaha in Western Iowa.
We do have at least one (maybe two) local commercial roasters, I think Pears and MJ Java both roast locally.
I have thought about contacting them to find out what days they actually roast and picking up some beans at that time.
I do like to support my local merchants.

And I treat this moka-leche like a snifter of good brandy.
Give me a Padron 4000 and a mug of this magical brew, and I am good for a couple of hours.
This is "sippin' coffee".
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Ah... hope you're not right downwind of the packing house and that all your dog-track trifectas are winners. (I used to know the neighborhood.) :-)

I would encourage you to try the local roasters if it's convenient. You might have some jewels in Omaha or even Council Bluffs. You have to consider that, just because something is roasted locally, though, doesn't necessarily make it better than anything else. The local guy may have bad skills, blend poorly or just buy crappy beans. But! It won't take long to figure it out. It all comes out in the moka. Please let us know what you find.

FWIW, beans out of the roaster usually improve dramatically with at least 1-3 days of rest. Todays roast never drinks as well as yesterdays...
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So I got a Moka pot for Christmas, and I use it mostly to make Mokachinos. I tried several different methods to heat and froth milk until I found this little gem.

Image

It heats and froths milk in about 1 minute, and I think it does a great job.

Does anyone else here go to the trouble to heat and froth milk for their Moka?
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