Today’s post is compliments of Paula Jones, a food writer who blogs at bell’alimento. I love her site for many reasons – she’s fun, lively, and the food is amazing! Plus her photography is gorgeous and she’s constantly making me hungry. 
I’ve asked her to write a guest post here at Wasabimon because I know you’ll love her as much as I do. So without further ado…
Hi! My name is Paula and I am the recipe developer & food writer for bell’alimento. Bell’alimento (Italian for “beautiful food”) is a fresh food blog specializing in Italian cuisine (but we do on occasion, venture outside of our box every now and then). Our philosophy is that beautiful food doesn’t have to be complicated. Simple can be good, even extraordinary!
When Stephanie asked me if I would like to do a guest post on Wasabimon I was honored. I love the snappiness of her site & her recipes and stories always keep me coming back for more. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to write about, and settled on espresso! I’ve been quite a night owl lately and have been relying more and more on my morning espresso to get me going. I thought I’d share how you can enjoy the perfect cup of espresso each morning in your own kitchen. Yes, gasp! It’s truly possible to have an amazing cup of espresso without going to Starbucks or the like.
So you might ask, is this going to cost me an arm and a leg to purchase a fancy schmanchy high tech machine that I’ll have to hire a barista to use? Well you CAN purchase one of those machines, but the good news is you don’t have to. All you’ll need is a Moka Pot (here’s a link), some water and coffee (preferably Italian, well what did you expect me to say? LOL).
Above is my Moka Pot that I brought back from when I lived in Italy many many many years ago. She’s not as shiny as she used to be, but she still works like a champ!
To give you a little history: The Moka Pot was created in 1933 by Alfonso Bialetti. His stove top espresso maker revolutionized the preparation of espresso coffee, and is still the most popular way of making espresso at home. Especially in Europe. For those interested in the technical part: the coffee is prepared by creating steam pressure in the bottom chamber that forces hot water up through ground coffee and into the serving chamber. The steam pressure produces a smooth and creamy coffee with a distinctive frothy cap. Me, I just like to know that it makes an ah-mazing cup of coffee that even a novice can prepare!
Okay, if you’ve never used a Moka pot I’m sure you’re thinking, this can’t be as easy as that? Well it is and I’ll show you:
How to Make Espresso in a Moka Pot
Step 1: Unscrew the bottom chamber from your pot and remove the filter. Fill bottom chamber with cold water (to just below the steam release valve). Okay, so far not too complicated, right?
Step 2: Replace filter back into bottom chamber and fill it with espresso GROUND coffee. Level it off (no need to pack it in) and screw the top chamber onto the bottom chamber.
Step 3: Place the pot on the stovetop with low to medium heat. When the pot makes a sweet gurgling sound (this could take 10-15 minutes – but hey, give it a chance, it’s so worth it) the brewing is complete.
Okay, I really don’t recommend that you lift the top while it’s working it’s magic, but I wanted to show you. Ah, look at that espresso. I want you to know that I risked life, limb and lens for this photo. Okay, maybe not life LOL.
Now for the hard part. Okay not really, but do carefully remove the pot from the stove. It will be HOT so have a kitchen towel or oven mitt handy. Pour into your cute little espresso cups and serve! Espresso is usually served in 1-1/2 – 2 oz servings.
I hope you’ll agree that this is one ah-mazing cup of espresso! Here’s a cup for you until you can run out and pick up a Moka Pot of your own!
Thanks again to Stephanie for letting me stop by! It was such a pleasure!
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Love this post and all things espresso! I wasn’t sure that a home Krupps coffee grinder would get the right consistency for espresso, but I think with the moka pot it could. If you have an actual home espresso machine that could prove to me a bit more difficult. Although I will admit that the one I had/have (I don’t use it anymore) never could take a tamped shot (it worked better with pre-packed pods). Very cool!
Why don’t you use your home espresso machine anymore??
Paula, how old is your Bialetti moka pot? I have the exact same one, and I’m trying to figure out if it’s an antique.
We came back to the States from Italy in the late 80′s so it’s been a round for a while
Nice post! A couple of small notes:
Moka pots work best with coffee ground a bit coarser than “espresso” grind- you want particles about 15% larger. The holes in a moka pot’s filter are not as fine as those on a pump-driven espresso machine (due in part to the much lower brew pressures involved), so with espresso-ground coffee, you end up with a certain measure of coffee grounds (called “fines” by coffee geeks) in the cup.
For example, my burr grinder (a Nemox Lux) does a good pump-machine espresso grind at its “10″ setting, and perfect moka pot grind at 8 or 9. Illy even sells a slightly coarser “Moka” variant of their popular pre-ground coffee (which is ok, but I’d always recommend something fresh-roasted locally, ground less than a minute before brewing)
I love my tiny (2-cup) Bialetti pot- it’s a beautiful piece of engineering, and an easy (and fun) way to get that “one more shot” into your day. Yum. Wow, sorry Stephanie, I totally geeked out!
Hey thanks for this! Your geekery is appreciated
Nice post — always wondered about those tiny little pots. Now I guess I need to run out and get one so I can enjoy some espresso.
YUM!
Hi Christy, thanks! Paula did write a lovely post.
Amazon has a great deal on moka pots… you can get them from 1 cup size all the way up to 12 cup. I’ve never used anything bigger than a 3-cup size, though! Here a link:
Discount on Moka Pots
Paula, I bought one of those at World Market. I should use it more but I might actually bring it to Italy once I settle myself in. Great post cara!!
Baci!!!
DEVI! E’ quando vengo a vederti puoi farmi un bel espresso
Baci a te!
I love this post. My mother used to make coffee in one of these every morning. But she didn’t like her esperesso black, so she also had a stovetop steamer that she would use to steam milk for cappucinos.
Thanks for bringing back happy memories of her. I use a press pot for my morning Joe but I’m thinking I may need to get one of these babies.
I need a way to steam milk at home. There’s a think that will actually do it on the stovetop?
You could use one of those plunger-type frothers (on cold milk, then you microwave the froth) or one of those tiny Aerolatte-style whippers.
Some folks just buy a super-crap $19 espresso machine and just use the steam wand alone.
Here’s the classic Italian-style stovetop model. My dad has one. It’s neat.
http://www.amazon.com/la-pavoni-50ss-Stainless-Stovetop/dp/B0016OOEZG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1246992101&sr=8-1
Huh, thanks. Kinda pricey… maybe I’ll take your advice on the cheapo espresso machine for steaming milk.
There are actually many different ways to steam milk at home. You may find this page useful – it lists various different ways to steam milk without an espresso machine:
http://www.espresso-machines-and-coffee-makers.com/how-to-steam-milk.html
Errr, technically, it’s not espresso unless you can produce about 8-9 bars of pressure. Without it, there’s no crema. That’s what separates espresso from your basic filter coffee, etc.
While I enjoy what comes out of a Bialetti off the stove top, what it produces is not espresso.
Greg, thanks for this. I appreciate your input. For all intents and purposes let’s consider this a “quick home espresso,” different from what comes out of an espresso machine but still very good.
I always have a nasty experience when trying to make just enough espresso for one person w/this coffee pot. It ends up burnt tasting and, well, nasty. Do you have to fill the grinds to the very top to get an awesome cup?
Hi! Oh, yikes! Yes, I always fill my coffee up to the top (not packing it in too tightly just up to the top) Also if you’re not already, remove the pot from the heat as soon as it stops percolating. Hope that helps
thank you for your info on making espresso in a moka pot it was very helpfull and informative after searching the net ran into this info after reciving the above unit form a person in the service had no idea how to proceed and low and behold you were right true espresso for half the cost
thanks david and ronnie dorisi .
Hi David,
Glad you found this helpful. Moka pots can be a little confounding without instructions!