My everyday moka pot recipe.

Tools

• Bialetti Venus 6 cup
• Coffee beans (my go to's are Hidden Coffee Roasters and Three Marks Coffee)
• Baratza Encore ESP
• Non branded scale
• Water spray
• Water (use a water that tastes good to you, it can affect the coffee taste a lot, since most of the beverage is water in the end)
• Water heater (I use a Xiaomi Smart Kettle 2 Pro, that has the temp control that I use a lot)
• Aeropress filter (optional, I like that the coffee oils get filtered)

Settings

I have my Baratza grinder set in 25.

First I fill the basket with the whole beans until is full without overflowing it. Depending on the batch and coffee type, it can vary from 30g to even almost 40g.

For example for the current decaf I'm drinking while writing this I've weight 38g of coffee after filling the basket. But for my morning coffee it weighs 32~33g. You will have to experiment with your coffee when opening a new bag.

I put the beans into a little vessel, and spray water 3 to 4 times. This helps with the grinding static, search for Ross Droplet Technique (RDT).

Ground the beans.

Heat water to 50℃ and fill the bottom chamber with 300g of water. (just below the valve)

Fill the basket with it, and just let the coffee sit in the basket with small taps and movements. DO NOT PUSH OR TAMP THE COFFEE, please, just let it sit there gently. If the grounds were measured correctly in the beginning it must be the perfect amount.

Put the basket in place.

Grab the Top Chamber, and place the Aeropress filter on top of the filter plate. Spray couple of times with water so it stays centered in place.

Gently screw the Top Chamber on to the bottom chamber, and adjust it tight.

Brewing

Be patient, trust the process.

I currently use a Teka TB6415, is a convection panel. You will need to experiment with the stovetop you have.

Keep the cover always open to see whats going on.

I don't get why they put a cover on the moka pots, but anyways...

I set the heat to level 6, and put a timer for 7 minutes. When the timer ends, the heat stops and I keep the moka pot using the residual heat. So it is a medium-high heat, closer to medium.

At around 1~2 minutes after the coffee starts to slowly flow out the chimney

I remove the mokapot from the heat for ~5 seconds, and turn again the heat on level 2. After the 5 seconds, put 1/3 of the moka pot base on the heat circle.

Monitor the flow, it should be smooth and steady, not too fast, not too slow, smoooooth.

If the flow stops or gets too slow, put more surface over the heat.

If the flow is too fast, put less surface on the heat, or remove temporarily from the heat.

ADAPT TO THE FLOW

One thing I observed is that the coffee chimney only gives coffee by one side at the beginning of the brew and past mid brew it starts flowing from the other side, or both at the same time, quite interesting behaviour. I don't actually understand why that happens.

When the coffee reaches almost the top of the chimney, the fluid flow will snap for a brief moment and then start to only flow foam.

If you were paying attention, just in that instant grab the moka pot and put the base under cold water to stop the brewing.

Moka foam is not crema

And Moka coffee is not espresso.

If there is too much foam on top, I grab a spoon and gently remove it. I don't like it since it makes the coffee bitter.

Final Result

After the brew finishes, I put the coffee into a carafe, usually the total extraction ("yield") weights 205g~210g

The time from the flow starting until it ends is ~10 minutes.

Americano

I like coffee, but I found the moka result too strong, so I measure 80g~90g of coffee and add 200g of water at 60℃.

Latte

30g of coffee and 270g of milk at ~55℃. I'm practicing latte art using the Subminimal NanoFoamer.

Cheers.