Fill the basket level and loose, never tamped. Water to just below the valve, preheated. Medium-low flame, lid open, and pull it off the heat at the first gurgle. The moka pot asks for restraint, and repays it with the strongest honest cup in the house.
The method
Boil the kettle first and fill the base with hot water to the valve line. Starting hot keeps the pot from cooking the coffee while it climbs to pressure.
Grind medium-fine, coarser than espresso. Fill the basket to the brim, level it with a finger, no pressing. Assemble with a tea towel, since the base is hot, and set it on a medium-low flame with the lid open.
Coffee arrives as a slow amber column. When it turns pale and starts to sputter, take the pot off and run the base under cold water to stop the extraction there. Pour immediately.
How much coffee
| Pot size | Coffee, roughly |
|---|---|
| 1-cup | 7 g |
| 3-cup | 16 g |
| 6-cup | 25 g |
The pot fixes its own ratio, about 1:10 at the spout. Concentration is the point; add hot water afterwards if you want a longer cup.
If the cup is wrong
Burnt or metallic: the flame was too high, or the pot stayed on it too long. Preheat the water, lower the flame, stop earlier. Weak and watery: grind slightly finer, never tamp.
Our coffees in a moka pot
The medium roasts hold their shape under pressure. Peru Palto concentrates into something clean and cocoa-edged. And there is a quiet historical rightness in brewing Malaysian Liberica strong: the species built this country's kopi culture long before espresso arrived.
The numbers behind every method in this series live in the ratio piece.
