Hello from Mokaland!
After lots of test I have a good tip for all the moka pots geeks.
I called it "the wet bed technique".
In this way you can reduce brewing temperature and improve the taste. Light roast is recommended.
Part 3 is the last update.
http://caffettiere.blogspot.it/2017/08/ ... on-la.html
http://caffettiere.blogspot.it/2017/08/ ... la_16.html
http://caffettiere.blogspot.it/2017/09/ ... on-la.html

I'm going to try this tomorrow. I have a moka every afternoon at the office.
My pot is a Bialletti Elettrika 2-cup, which has never produced as nice a cup as my 4-cup Brikka at home. Always more bitter even with a coarser grind where extraction is close to 20%.

I have some nice Ethiopian Yirg to try with too.

This is very interesting and I'll have to try it out. It reminds me of a discussion here on HB from a couple years ago about pre-wetting an espresso puck before locking in the portafilter Pre-wetting / pre-blooming the puck before extraction

It is also timely in that I was at a coffee shop this weekend where they were playing with this exact concept.

Lucio, se ti va bene vorrei aggiungere, entro un paio di giorni, una traduzione in inglese dei tuoi articoli linkati qua sopra, visto che le tue spiegazioni potrebbero servire bene i nostri lettori. Grazie!

E vabbe', mi son trovato con un po' di tempo libero ora, quindi eccoci qua:

English translations of Lucio's blog posts above:
Searching for the Perfect Coffee with the Moka - Part 1:

How many times have I been asked this question:
"Seeing as how you are an expert in coffee makers..." (already off to an anxiety inducing start)
"tell us what's the best wake to make coffee using a moka."

Are there any tricks?
What is the best coffee?
What is the best coffee maker?

Every question, as perfectly legitimate as they are, always give me a hard time.
I can give an opinion.
I can also explain the motives behind my reasoning.
But often well-thought out theory and objective reality collide in disagreement.

In these cases I'm always comforted by what I've learned in these past years from my good friend Mik: "If I have to declare something, then I have to be able to demonstrate it."

However, a "good coffee" is a matter of individual taste.
How can I be objective?
How can I add more weight to my affirmations?

Technology helps alot.
And a series of home grown tests conducted between yesterday and today finally allow me to affirm that "You can do it! A good coffee from the moka is possible!"

Part 2:
What is our worst enemy when extracting our black beverage from the moka?
Anyone who has followed my blog for a while will already know:
Temperature.
The moka takes advantage of the thermo-physics principle of steam pressure; thanks to this the water held in the bottom part of the moka gets pushed up through the ground coffee.

But steam is hot.
Too hot.
Terribly hot.

The optimal extraction temperature (and here the real experts come in handy) is less than 100C (92-96C) (197.6-204.8F) for 90% of the time.

How to reduce this temperature?
After about a month of study and experiments I've developed a technique, that could surely be improved upon (write or call me if you have any ideas).
I would like to call it the "wetted bed" technique.
In fact we are going to replicate the concept of "preinfusion" that every passionate barista already knows too well, only this time with distinctly different objectives.
After having prepared the optimal dose of coffee for our moka we will wet it with (hot or cold) water.

Carefully mixing the water and coffee we create a sort of "gruel" that we'll then place into the filter of our moka.

There really isn't much increase in volume, therefore you will be able to add all of it without creating any useless "mountain" of coffee above the edge.

At this point you could simply screw on the top but I wanted to dust off one of my old techniques that has gained many enthusiastic adopters across the ocean: the addition of a paper filter.

For those who don't know what it is, I suggest you click this link. (goes to a page I have yet to translate into English, sorry, but at any rate links back to this HB thread: Bialetti Sneeze)

This time I cut the filter with a bit larger circumference, which, by the way, doesn't have any negative impact on the effectiveness of the rubber seal.

Put your moka on medium heat and wait...

In case you are using one of these very recent Bialetti mokas "made in Romania" the cover must not be allowed to stay open at all. I will avoid any further comment on the matter.

A rubber band between the handle and the lid knob will allow you to monitor the extraction.
Let me remind you that you won't need to utilize any "splatter protection" if your rubber seal is in good condition, the coffee should flow out in a slow and regular fashion.

When the top is about half full turn off the burner and remove the moka from heat.
The residual pressure will push out the rest of the coffee without reaching excessive temperatures.

At the end of this extraction we will have around 90C right above the filter and around 71C in the top reservoir.
Using a dry coffee puck the temps rise to 96C and 78C respectively.

Leaving the moka on the heat to "gurgle", therefore allowing the steam to pass through the ground coffee we reach instead 107C and 83C

The higher the temperature, the more bitter (and bad) the coffee.

"Sure, but in the end is the coffee actually any better?"

Yes.
Decidedly better.

"But how does it work?"

My guess is that the ground coffee creates a sort of plug: wetting the coffee first we allow the flow of water to pass through it more easily at lower pressures (and temperatures).

Obviously you need to have patience.
Ritualize the procedure.
Retrain your palate to new aromas and unexpected aftertastes.

After 84 years, finally a revolution?

dominico wrote:E vabbe', mi son trovato con un po' di tempo libero ora, quindi eccoci qua:[/b]

Grazie mille!

Lucio, before you published this, but after talking to you I wet the grounds in the filter cup by gently pouring on cool water. It made a very nice cup with no need for milk. Is there a reason to wet only half the coffee?

Kaaachoooo!

drgary wrote:Lucio, before you published this, but after talking to you I wet the grounds in the filter cup by gently pouring on cool water. It made a very nice cup with no need for milk. Is there a reason to wet only half the coffee?

Kaaachoooo!

Italian people is the reason: too lazy to wet ground coffee in another cup before...
However it's easier in this way, and when you tight the two moka parts, all coffee inside the filter get wet.
If you add water with the basket full, you'll get everything wet...shoes as well.

dominico wrote:"But how does it work?"

My guess is that the ground coffee creates a sort of plug: wetting the coffee first we allow the flow of water to pass through it more easily at lower pressures (and temperatures).

The heat capacity of water is much higher than that of coffee and might influence the temperature?
Perhaps someone more familiar with the physics could use this info: Heat Capacity of 'dry' coffee and brew temperature profiles