Hi all,

I recently got a Moka Pot as a Christmas gift last week and only started using it yesterday. At my first attempt to use the pot, the water started leaking from the seam between the bottom water chamber and the top chamber. I had made sure to fill the water below the safety valve but to be sure, I tried it again today, making sure to fill the water below the valve and that the top was screwed on tightly. I also made sure that the water wasn't seeping into the filter when the filter is placed on the heating vessel.

The coffee took a long time (and a high heat) to come out of the small column and it was leaking from the bottom water chamber. It left my coffee burnt. Googling the problem seems to suggest that the rubber gasket is faulty but my friend had only bought the Moka pot last week, new.

Just a few things to note:

• I use hot water for the bottom water chamber

• I clean the pot after every use (using soapy water and a thorough rinse after)

• I tried turning the heat down when it started leaking but then the coffee wouldn't come out of the small column. Turning the fire up only burnt the coffee

• I used a Porlex hand grinder set at 5 clicks for my coffee beans

I've taken a picture of the moka pot while it was brewing. I'm not sure if I've done something wrong or I'm just unlucky enough to get a defective gasket. Please advise!

Try it with the coffee level with the basket, not heaped.

Don't overfill and clean the rim of the basket from the coffee grounds before you tighten the upper part
Check also is gasket and upper filter mounted correctly
If something is wrong with gasket (physical damage), you should see it
Otherwise, it shouldn't be a problem - I have a kind of experimental pump espresso machine made of moka pot (not even Bialetti) and a pump and the gasket holds 9 bar no problem. Usual pressure in moka pot is much lower - less than 1 bar
For moka pot it's however essential that gasket doesn't leak - otherwise brewing will start when water starts boiling and you are getting burnt coffee
Make sure coffee isn't ground too fine

Anyway, I was experimenting for several months with moka pot and it's probably least likely to get a good coffee with it. I think the worst coffee I got from french press was better than the best one from a moka pot

I think you choked the moka pot with a grind that is too fine and would guess the moka pot's okay. I second the suggestion to sweep off the grounds level with the rim. Don't tamp. Use medium heat. It takes awhile. When the coffee reaches the crease of the spout, immediately dip the bottom in cold water to stop the brew before water starts to boil through the coffee cake, which can also be seen when the coffee exiting the spout starts to sputter. That is when it's getting burnt.

To me too the heap of coffee grounds in the filter basket looks a bit big and I would take the back of a knife or spoon-handle to sweep the excess grounds level with the rim. But I once bought a new quality moka pot that leaked in the same place independent of grind size, heat or dose. I sent it back and had no such problems with the replacement. I therefore concluded that the problem might have been misalignment of the threads causing a gap. Gasket was fine.

vit wrote:Anyway, I was experimenting for several months with moka pot and it's probably least likely to get a good coffee with it. I think the worst coffee I got from french press was better than the best one from a moka pot

That is a question of taste. For me the moka pot beats the French press and the Italians seem to love it too.

ravco wrote: That is a question of taste. For me the moka pot beats the French press and the Italians seem to love it too.

Sure. I'm an espresso lover, so good espresso for me beats everything else. However, it was much easier for me to get a good coffee using FP or even making a cowboy coffee in a czezve than using moka pot, which always came up as a mixture of underextracted and overextracted coffee, which is what it is, as extraction starts around 50-60 °C and ends at around 100 ... which can't be changed no matter what you do due to physical properties of the device, you can only move that range higher or lower depending on quantity of water, coffee, initial temperature of the water etc (with Brikka being an exception, where it's fast process happening around 120°C at around 1 bar giving some fake crema)

I find moka pot coffee quite good once dose and grind are dialed in and the extraction is stopped before overheating. You will extract more variety of flavors over a range than at a single temperature. My impression of good moka pot coffee is that it emphasizes caramels and can be very nicely concentrated, which is ideal for a milk drink. I achieve greater clarity in the cup by placing an AeroPress paper filter on top of the coffee cake, but I wouldn't try that before having gotten the device working reasonably well without adding an extra factor. (You do not want to put filter paper under the shower screen because it can clog the machine and choke the extraction.)

Hi All,

I'm a relative newbie when it comes to brewing, I can make a decent cup with a french press or cezve but prefer espresso drinks... I got myself a little stovetop Bialetti that a lot of people were raving about and I think I got the process down, but I am having a couple of issues:

- The pot starts leaking steam out of the mid section sometimes unless I screw the top on very tight. I don't pack the grounds and just level with my finger, I keep the threads and the rim clear of grounds but unless I screw the top on insanely tight it will leak. Sometimes it leaks so bad there is not enough pressure for the water to rise at all. Did I get a bad gasket with my new Bialetti? Should I try ordering replacement gaskets?

- I have tried several kinds of coffee and they all come out very bitter. Some are so much more bitter that others that it is undrinkable even with frothed milk. I tried many methods - cold water vs preheated, high heat, medium heat, remove from heat at different times, nothing seems to reduce the bitterness. I have an electric range stove and I found that the brewing stops almost immediately when the pot is removed from the stove. I always try to remove it right before the steam starts. Basically, I settled on the following method: fill with cold water, high heat until I start hearing the water making noise, reduce heat to 3-4 out of 10 and kill it completely as soon as the coffee starts pouring but leaving it on the range just about until it will start steaming. Take it off the stove and pour immediately into a cup. I found this method is quicker and gives me the same results if I were to leave it on Medium the whole time. But I found I have to kill the stove right after it starts pouring or the little pot will boil.

Am I doing something fundamentally wrong here? Again, I tried different methods and they don't seem to change much if anything at all. Is it supposed to be that bitter and I just need to find the coffee that I like? I tried the same coffee in cezve and it's not bitter at all

Thanks!

Moderator note: This post was merged with a topic already underway on the same issue.

ETA: My post was moved here, it was not my intention to hijack this thread as my issues seemed a bit different from the OP in this thread, which I think got resolved

I think there are similar problems here, and this has me wondering whether the current production run of this moka pot has a faulty gasket. The leak could be caused by grinding too fine so the brewing process is choked. That would cause a bitter taste as noted in earlier posts. Also I think you're taking the brew too far and burning the coffee by not stopping the brew process immediately once coffee starts to bubble at the spout. This is usually done by applying a cool rag, or dipping the bottom of the moka pot in water. I prefer the latter, which works very well.

Possible. I use pre-ground (gasp) espresso from Lavazza at the moment and pour it when it the coffee reaches the "Fill line is here" from an earlier post. I will try the dip trick and try to grind my own, although I don't have a decent grinder.