If you're reading this post you must be a moka-pot user, and already think it makes the best coffee.
ME TOO! But guess what? It doesn't! Using boiling water, or even just close to it, SCALDS the coffee!
I used a moka-pot for 10 years before I decided to invent a way to remedy the basic flaw in the moka-pot espresso coffee. Go ahead! Look for references for the proper water temperature range for making coffee. You'll find the most often mentioned data for espresso is "between 195 and 205 degrees F." Pour-over and press-pot always tell you to let boiling water cool first
And since everybody except Donald Trump knows that water boils at 212 F, it means your moka-pot can easily expose the grounds to water that's too hot. Pretty much always.
In fact, because the moka-pot tank creates a slight head of pressure to push the water through the grounds ("espresso" means pressure percolation) and against gravity, the boiling point is actually a few degrees higher (don't ask Donald to explain...)
Well, using an air pump isn't quite as simple as you (or even Donald) might think, but it solves the problem, AND it opens up a whole new dimension in your quest for the perfect cup of coffee: YOUR PREFERRED TEMPERATURE.
By taking the moka-pot OFF the stovetop, using water at a temperature YOU select (or at least below 205), and USING OUR PUMP, you can get your coffee they way you want it.
The first step is to use our pump to brew your coffee at a temperature low enough not to ruin the subtleties. At such temperatures, a moka-pot will not work, or at least it will not make strong coffee. Like anything with coffee, this can get a technical as you want.
There's just one EXTRA TRICK I'll show you that's applicable to ANY method you use: DON'T OVER-EXTRACT!
Regarding OVER-EXTRACTION: ALL moka-pot tanks hold too much water for the amount of grounds that will fit in the funnel.
- This means you can only make about 200ml of perfect coffee in a 6-cup pot (tank capacity is 300ml)
- This means you can only make about 300ml of perfect coffee in a 9-cup pot (tank capacity is 500ml)
It's the amount of grounds that will fit in the funnel that determines how much good-tasting coffee you can make, even if you grind it to stovetop fine.
If you use more coarsely ground beans, you will get even less of the desirable extract! If you don't follow this advice, even if you don't scald your coffee, that last 100 or 200 ml of water in the tank will extract nothing but bitterness from the spent grounds, because all the good stuff was dissolved in the first 200 or 300 ml; the rest is just water poured through spent grounds.
DON'T OVER-EXTRACT!