The drink with the beans // Bialetti -The real MVP of coffee.

Bialetti, also known as the moka pot is an unbelievable piece of machinery that if used properly, makes an epic coffee. I'll explain below how to use it properly, the grind size and hopefully you'll love it as much as I do.

As with most types of coffee, there is nowhere to hide, so high quality coffee and filtered water will ensure you get the best extraction possible.

Coffee - depending on how you like your coffee, this will dictate what type of coffee you purchase. Try and grab something local and ask for it to be ground for a moka pot, most barista's will know exactly what you're talking about. As a general rule of thumb, if you like black coffee, single origin coffee will have unique characteristics when compared directly to blended coffee from multiple regions. On the flip side, if you're looking for a versatile coffee profile, ask your barista and they'll likely recommend something to you.

Grind size - Now i've split this here because not only is your coffee choice important, but arguably more important is the grind size. Water is lazy so if your grind is too fine, you'll struggle to extract coffee and it will be under extracted. Grind too coarse and water will fly through it rapidly and you wont get much flavour at all. The optimal grind size for the bialetti is fine, but not as fine as espresso.

Water - dependant on where you live, water hardness will fluctuate. Try to use filtered water where you can, the difference truly is something else. I have used tap water before in certain countries and it's been okay, just not as good as the filtered water.

Process

Now, coffee doesn't wait for anyone so timing here is absolutely paramount. If you want to grind your own coffee too then get that organised and weighed out. When it comes to ratios, i work to about a 9:1 Water: Coffee.

Bring your water to around 90C, add the coffee basket and then screw the top part on, ensuring it is tight but not overly tight as you don't want to wreck the seal within. For an extra layer of filtering, you can use a paper aeropress filter and add this to the underside of the top half of the bialetti, "gluing" it with a little water.

Now get your gas/electric hob to a medium heat and leave the lid ajar so you can monitor this. You want this to come through at a steady pace and then ensure you turn this off before the coffee starts spurting at the end. You can tell this is going to happen when the coffee starts to turn a yellowy colour. Remove this from the heat in time and you'll have a super clean and tasty coffee, too long and it'll leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

Now, if you mess up timings here and spurting happens, quickly run the bottom part of the bialetti under cold water to stop the process continuing.

Now what?

Play around with coffee from different regions, different coffee shops and even different types of coffee. One of my favourite coffees at the moment is an iced filter coffee. Simply add the coffee to a bowl over top of a larger bowl filled with ice water.

Ciao,

The Flaky Boy