years of travel And the hobby of repair has given me a special appreciation for simple tools. Pen and paper is still the simplest way to write. A cast iron pan is the easiest way to cook food. And the Moka pot is the easiest way to make coffee.
What I love about the moka pot isn’t just the results it provides. I love its flavor, especially when paired with a nice dark, chocolatey, smoky roast, but the Moka Pot is about much more than flavor. It’s also about sheer simplicity and a design that has endured for nearly a century.
simple beginning
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
The exact origins of the moka pot depend on who you ask, but it was first created and popularized by an aluminum maker named Alfonso Bialetti and his son Renato, who began mass producing them the same year. Today, Bialetti Industries still produces the Moka Express. The iconic logo image of a short, squat, heavily moustached man is actually based on Bialetti.
If you want some idea of Renato Bialetti’s commitment to the instrument that made him famous, consider that when he died in 2022, his ashes were buried in a large moka pot. He’s not the only person who respected this design. The moka pot is on display in museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art. Its iconic octagonal shape makes it one of the most recognized coffee brewers in the world.
A moka pot is a pressure-powered stovetop (or campfire top, although this requires attention) coffee brewer that works like a percolator. The Moka Express is made up of four parts, divided into two chambers. There is a reservoir of water below which is heated on the stove. In this, you put the brewing basket that holds your grounds. The top consists of a long tube in the center containing a holding chamber. At the bottom of the top piece, there is a metal filter surrounded by a rubber (or silicone on some models) gasket. Screw the top and bottom together.
As the water heats up, it moves upward, through the grounds basket, and eventually out of the hose. The extraction remains above ground and the metal filter keeps everything in place. It is very simple.
<a href