Moka pot temperatures: updated analysis

[Lvx]

Hi from Mokaland!
I performed 8 test to try to understand better how the Moka pot brew my coffee.
There are so many tecniques to improve taste and reduce temperature, so I tried to verify if there are mesureable improvements.
I published it on an italian barista site.
If you are interested to start to understand better your moka click on this translation page https://translate.google.com/translate? ... razione%2F.

The original page is this: https://italianbaristalab.com/test-sull ... strazione/

Enjoy!!!

[TomC]

I remember your incredible first published research! Thank you so much for sharing all of this experience with us.

[Lvx (original poster)]

Thank you very much Tom.
In Italy it's like a taboo: "you shall never drink a moka in a different way!!"

[jpender]

Thanks for posting this. Watching one of those videos reminded of all the hours I spent measuring internal moka pot temperatures, except without the nice music. The experiments with filters and added water were quite interesting. One of these days I'll have to measure the temperature inside my Brikka. When I started using that moka pot all my overheating problems vanished without having to do anything special.

For some reason the translation didn't quite work for me. The first half dozen lines were in English but everything else was in Italian. I tried a bunch of things but ultimately ended up spoon feeding a paragraph at a time to the translator.

One thing really caught my eye:

...the coffee most purchased and used in moka coffee makers in Italy is the Arabica - robust blend with percentages ranging from 50-50 to 30-70.

So different! I've only (rarely) made moka with a local blend that included Robusta and the percentage was supposedly only around 7%.

[Lvx (original poster)]

So different! I've only (rarely) made moka with a local blend that included Robusta and the percentage was supposedly only around 7%.

It depends.. however in south Italy robusta is largely used. A long sad story.
Italian moka coffee is however chained to robusta taste (the famous red packages)

[Moka 1 Cup]

Very interesting test. Thank you for sharing it.

Have you ever tried tamping the coffee after you have filled the filter?

[ojt]

Thank you very much Tom.
In Italy it's like a taboo: "you shall never drink a moka in a different way!!"

Haha, so true. You absolutely must pile the ground coffee so that it forms a mound in the filter, otherwise you doin' it wrong ™. Just as an example. Because "they" say so. Probably at the bar. Hehe. I don't think I ever heard any real thought and analysis on how to best use the moka pot here. It's always just based on someone having said something and being really convincing.

Anyway, thank you for the write-up and cheers from Verona!

[Lvx (original poster)]

Very interesting test. Thank you for sharing it.

Have you ever tried tamping the coffee after you have filled the filter?

I have tried a lot of different tecniques, tamping (soft tamping) is a good idea if you grind coffee coarser.
If you strong tamp there is no enaugh pressure to obtain a good tasting coffee (my opinion).
It's the same if you overcharge the filter basket: too much bitter.

[Lvx (original poster)]

Haha, so true. You absolutely must pile the ground coffee so that it forms a mound in the filter, otherwise you doin' it wrong ™. Just as an example. Because "they" say so. Probably at the bar. Hehe. I don't think I ever heard any real thought and analysis on how to best use the moka pot here. It's always just based on someone having said something and being really convincing.

Anyway, thank you for the write-up and cheers from Verona!

We are a funny country : italians are saints, poets, sailors, national team soccer coaches and... moka guru experts!
Everyone at home do the best moka coffee in the world!