Hi,

I enjoy moka pot. moka pot with light roasted beans. Hence i change grind not dosage to keep my cup balanced.

I use a rocky grinder. in example: i started on grind size 31 then 30 and yesterday on 29 (4 bags all roasted 19 oct 2016).

Yesterday the coffee went awful. Tastes both over extracted and under extracted at the same time..
No matter what I do with grind size i will still taste quite a bit of both bitter and sour. This keeps happening to me from time to time. i can go out and by another fresh roasted bag and get great coffee again.

What am i missing here ? Why is this happening ? i use exact same temp on water, weight my water and coffee but still keep failing. how do i extend this "window" of great coffee

I think it's just your coffee becoming stale, Oct 19 is almost 3 weeks old, enough time for it to become stale, depending on storage conditions.

Have you tried freezing your beans and taking it out in portions as you need them? it will greatly extend your "window", tasting pretty much the same as the day you first froze them, provided they're well stored to keep any humidity inside your freezer away from the beans.

i will try to freeze next time. Thank you.

Yep, it's the same thing with darker roasts as well. I find the moka pot is more sensitive than the espresso machine to freshness of roast. Unless you haven't already, and for some reason can't do it, I heartily recommend trying home roasting for the moka pot. The first three days are a thrill, a journey - one of the best adventures you can go on without leaving your kitchen (once you have brought some green beans home, of course, but they are available on home order too...)

How do you control the water temp on the Moka? I fill with boiling water and then put it on my stove which is already on a medium heat.

Have you tried keeping the grind the same and updosing instead?

I've had very little luck with Moka Pots and light roasts in general, but if you've had some you liked then I can't imagine roast level is the issue.

You might look up James Hoffman's Moka Pot tips on YouTube if you haven't already seen them.

Well, making a coffee with a boiling water isn't really a recipe for a good coffee (which is hard to get with moka pot anyway)

I pretty much do Moka like the Italians. Medium dark roast, medium fine grind, fill basket to top loosely, fill boiler to relief valve, put on stove at medium high. I watch it with the lid open and when coffee just starts to dribble from the stand pipe turn the heat down. When it starts sputtering I turn the heat off. For that true Italian experience sometimes I add a bit of cane sugar.

Moka has become my preferred car camping coffee, little fiddling and a breeze to clean. Also comes in handy when the power goes out, then time to break out the backpacking stove. I roast, and the beans are usually between three days and two weeks post roast.

Sorry for the late reply soda;

With moka you control extraction temp with initial temp of water poured in the Mokapot and the amount of air in the chamber.. Further the amount of Dissolved Oxygen in water is related to temperature. As temperature rises water will start degassing oxygen adding pressure in the container.

Have a look at "Back to the mokapot" http://www.vimeo.com/112675264

in regards to light roasted coffee not all coffee works.. the typical etiopian "fruit coffee" i have not found the solution.

Tim wendelboe finca tamana caturra is soo sweet and mellow i have to show my guests the entire process to make them belive there is no sugar in the coffee.. in general i use alot of light roasted Colombian or honduras wet processed or washed coffee with great luck. Today im drinking tim wendelbo washed caballero java from honduras.. i love it.

zix wrote:Yep, it's the same thing with darker roasts as well. I find the moka pot is more sensitive than the espresso machine to freshness of roast. Unless you haven't already, and for some reason can't do it, I heartily recommend trying home roasting for the moka pot. The first three days are a thrill, a journey - one of the best adventures you can go on without leaving your kitchen (once you have brought some green beans home, of course, but they are available on home order too...)

thank you for the tips.. ive already been thinking about home roasting.. more fuel to the fire