An Italian classic — between espresso and filter, with a character of its own
YOU’LL NEED
- Moka pot (Bialetti Moka Express or similar)
- Grinder
- Kettle to preheat the water
- Scale (optional)
- Cloth or oven gloves (the moka pot gets hot)
- AeroPress paper filter (optional, for a cleaner cup)
RECIPE · HOFFMANN TECHNIQUE
COFFEE DOSE Full basket, no tamping
WATER Up to the safety valve level
GRIND Between espresso and V60
WATER TEMPERATURE Near boiling (preheated)
TIME ON HEAT 3–5 min
PRESSURE ~1–2 bar
METHOD
The moka pot isn’t espresso, even though people like to call it that. The pressure in a moka is around 1–2 bar (espresso about 9 bar), so the result is somewhere between espresso and strong filter coffee — denser than filter, weaker than espresso.
The biggest mistake we all make is pouring cold water in and putting the moka on high heat — while the water heats, the bottom of the moka (and the coffee above it) gets baked, which gives that familiar bitterness people wrongly attribute to the method itself.
Short on the heat, water nearly boiling when it goes in, and watch for the first sound.
Boil water in a kettle. While it boils, grind the coffee — your target is a grind like AeroPress (finer than V60, coarser than espresso). Pour the boiling water into the bottom of the moka, up to the safety valve level, never above. Use an oven glove or cloth because the metal will be hot.
Fill the basket with coffee level, without tamping. Just level it with your finger or the flat side of a knife. Tamping the coffee in a moka is a mistake — coffee packed espresso-style will block the water and give a bitter, burnt result. If you want an even cleaner cup, before you screw the moka shut place a small paper filter (an AeroPress filter fits perfectly on a larger moka pot) over the coffee — that filters out the fine particles that would otherwise end up in the cup.
Screw the top on. Place on medium to low heat (on gas — medium; on electric — just over medium, but move it as soon as it starts to come up). Keep the lid open so you can see what’s happening.
After 2–3 minutes you’ll hear the first thin stream of coffee start to rise into the top. As soon as coffee starts arriving in the top chamber, take the moka off the heat (or, on gas, turn it to the lowest setting). Let the process finish on its own momentum. If you wait until you hear “bubbling” and steam — you’ve gone too far, and that’s the point where the coffee starts to burn.
When the process is done, immediately cool the bottom of the moka under cold tap water — that stops further heating and prevents the little bit of remaining coffee from turning into bitter steam. Stir the coffee in the top chamber (because the first and last parts of the extraction aren’t the same strength) and pour.