My colleague Andrés once told me that the best way to make coffee in an Italian coffee maker is not to make it in an Italian coffee maker. Of all the machines used to prepare coffee, the Italian one may have been in trouble for several years, at least in Spain. Reason? We associate the taste of your coffee with something very strong, bitter, and sometimes even unpleasant. It is one of those coffees that must be mixed with milk no matter what to be drinkable. But after putting the advice of top baristas into practice, I’m rediscovering my ‘moka pot’.

This isn’t going to be a tribute to the Italian coffee maker, because of the various coffee brewing methods I have at hand, it’s the method I use the least, because doing it “well” completely defeats the simplicity of brewing coffee. This machine was invented. However, if you want to make a significant leap in quality in your daily coffee and have exactly this coffee machine at hand, I think it can be useful.

It could also be your gateway to your new obsession with making better coffee, an obsession that could be wonderful. But let’s get back to business.

Fundamentals

We repeat ourselves very often when talking about the coffee machine, but the basic thing is the raw material. It doesn’t matter if you have the best coffee machine in the world; If the coffee isn’t good, the coffee won’t be good either. It’s that simple. While this may be obvious to most people, there are many people who purchase roasted coffee for their pantry. The problem is that this coffee was not designed to keep the beans in top condition in the post-war era, but simply to make them last longer.

It’s like a kind of roasted caramel that bathes the beans and gives them their flavor… very bitter. You can drink a roasted beverage on its own. espresso or infused, is an act of courage. If you like it, continue, but if you don’t, don’t lose faith in coffee because it doesn’t taste like that.

Switching to better coffee is as simple as opting for specialty brands or other brands that are sold in supermarkets but are much higher quality than the roasted coffee. Illy or Lavazza are two good options without breaking the bank, but if you can try their specialty, I recommend doing so (without having to go to a Geisha). And of course, made to order.

The other half of coffee is water, and it’s a mess. When various sources are examined, the results are confusing. Some people prefer mineral-rich water because it is better for coffee extraction and provides a specific taste, but the coffee machine can be damaged by leaving sediment in the mechanism (in an Italian coffee machine this is not so important). Others prefer very poorly mineralized water as it won’t add flavor, although it won’t extract all that it can from the grains to the best of their ability.

My advice is to try both tap water and bottled water and decide which one suits you best. Maybe the water in your area is good and you need something like a carbon filter.

That’s it: good water + decent coffee = a good drink prepared in an Italian coffee machine. Without further ado, with these two elements you will be able to greatly improve the result.

foiling Bialetti’s plans

However, at this point we can go a little further. While the leap in the use of Italian coffee by improving the quality of coffee is notable, there are also some practices that experts have highlighted in recent years. But before that… Making coffee in an Italian coffee maker is so easy, right?

Simply put water in the bottom part, coffee in the basket, heat it and wait for it to come out from the top part. There are those who claim that this is all that is needed to drink good coffee with this machine without any fuss when it comes to buying good coffee. They are absolutely right: by purchasing good coffee and using the Italian coffee machine, we will get a better result than roasted or mediocre coffees.

It is important to fill the bucket to the brim but do not press it

But in recent months, I’ve put into practice some of the advice that James Hoffman, the best barista of 2007, and other coffee-specializing creators like Morgan Eckroth have been preaching on their channels. According to them, the steps to making the best coffee in an Italian coffee machine are:

• Heat the water in an electric kettle and pour the water into the Italian pot.
• Fill the machine’s coffee cup up to the edge and distribute it well, but never apply pressure.
• Turn off the machine by placing the upper part carefully, because the lower part where the water is will be very hot and we may burn ourselves.
• Set on low intensity fire.
• We need to open the lid to see what happens and turn off the stove when the coffee is drawn and starts coming out of the top.
• Some people put the bottom part under the faucet to suddenly stop the drain at that moment.
• That’s it: the best coffee with the Italian coffee machine. Or maybe not?

As I mentioned, I’ve tried all of these steps more than a dozen times in recent months, and while I’m no expert, I have my own opinions. They will start making the coffee with hot water and focus on stopping the extraction by putting the coffee in cold water, and in summary, I think one works for one thing and the other doesn’t work so much. At least it doesn’t work for me.

I’ll start by starting the hot water. The theory is that by preheating the water, the coffee will have a shorter exposure time to both the steam and the very hot aluminum, so it won’t overcook, and therefore the flavor we’ll get will be less bitter. Italian-made coffee tastes bitter because it’s a technique that brews a “strong coffee,” but the less heat the coffee is exposed to, the better.

Maybe this is the case for an expert palate, and they will notice more or less bitter notes almost to the millimeter. In my case, I doubt I can appreciate such small changes but I noticed one thing:

• If I apply this technique, the water temperature will always be the same as the starting point (since the tap can sometimes come out colder or hotter) so the extraction will be more consistent with each preparation.
• It takes much less time to prepare the coffee (of course) because the water is already at a very ideal point for pressure to do its job in extracting the coffee.
• Does she have more body? I don’t know if it’s a suggestion or something else, but in reality, shortening that extraction time makes the coffee very intense, but without the bitterness. He’s really rich. not as nice espresso or as soft as a filter but definitely does not ‘sink’ the throat.

Now let’s move on to what didn’t work for me: stopping the extraction by placing the coffee maker in cold water when the coffee is finished coming out. The first two times I tried I think I did it too early and the coffee remained half brewed. Of the approximately 200 grams of liquid, there was only 100 grams left, so it was definitely not ready yet.

On subsequent trips, all the coffee was ground, but I did not notice any change in taste. You add one more element to a preparation that should be simple and at least I haven’t noticed an improvement.

And therein lies the dilemma between preheating the water or cooling the coffee machine just before finishing the extraction: we take away the simplicity of operation of this technique, which has been with us for decades without many complaints. But after my experience, I think it would be useful to at least start making coffee with hot water. In the best case, you will notice a change in the structure of the drink, and in the worst case, you will reduce the preparation times.

stretch with italian

Did you think that we had already betrayed Bialetti’s ideas enough with these two techniques? There is one more step that I have to say that I have not tested, and although I think it makes sense, I will continue not to apply it in my coffees with Italians. These are paper pre-filters.

Having the lid on is interesting to control the process, but it doesn’t make the taste better or worse.

in a coffee pot espresso It makes sense to use a pre-filter (paper or metal) to better distribute the water in the basket and prevent staining of the group. In a machine like the Aeropress, this paper filter is what is used to prevent the coffee from clumping. But an Italian coffee machine already has a metal filter. It’s actually a piece of two filters to prevent sediment from passing into the upper chamber, and it generally works great.

Experts say that with this filter a new layer of protection is added to prevent this, but ultimately this is an additional expense, as I said I do not see it necessary for this type of machines and Moreover it means spending more money and time on something whose taste does not change. It is true that if Italian coffee is very cheap or you grind the coffee too finely, particles can get into the coffee chamber. The solution might be to change the grind to a coarser point, or if you don’t have a burr grinder it might be interesting to apply paper filters.

If you do not see grains in the cup when preparing coffee, I do not think you should invest more money in such filters, because, as I said, this is a way of making the preparation even more complicated. It’s extremely simple and we had previously complicated the task a bit by heating the water.

If you’ve made it this far and, like me, have recently lost faith in your Italian coffee maker, I encourage you to try the pre-heating water technique (and use the right coffee if you haven’t taken this step yet). ) because you may discover another preparation that becomes your favorite.

Picture | Jamesjsimon, Jordan Smith, Rama

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