Moka Pot Brew Guide

2-5 minutes (depending on the size of the pot)

Moka pot coffee has been around for nearly a hundred years—and with good reason. Who doesn’t love a bold-bodied cup of Joe? Follow these steps to brew your favorite roasts with your at-home Moka pot: 

First things first, prepare all necessary machinery. Unscrew the bottom portion of the pot and set it aside. Then, heat water using either an electric or stovetop kettle. Once it starts to boil, remove it from heat.

Using a burr grinder, grind your chosen beans at a medium to fine setting. To keep each cup tasting fresh, you should only grind enough coffee to fill the brewing basket to the top. Exact measurements depend on the cup size of the pot. 

Fill the bottom portion with hot water until it reaches right below the safety valve. 

Insert the filter basket into the bottom portion of the brewer. Fill with the desired grounds, tapping it gently against the counter before to even out the layer. Level it off with your finger and brush away loose grounds from the edge of the basket.

Carefully screw the bottom and top together again, making sure the filter and rubber gasket are secure. Avoid over-tightening. 

Turn the stovetop on to medium-low heat on a small burner. When placing the Moka pot on the stove, ensure the handle is not over the open flame and the top lid is flipped up. 

After a couple of minutes, the Moka pot coffee begins to brew. As the water in the bottom compartment begins to boil, the pressure will force the coffee to percolate up into the top section. Remove from heat once the coffee begins gurgling or sputtering out of the top spout.

Stir the freshly brewed coffee in the upper chamber with a spoon or other mixing utensil. This simple step will help combine the strongest part of the brew with the weakest to create a balanced cup.

Pour into your favorite mug and serve immediately to enjoy your delicious Moka pot coffee.

Like any other brewing method, certain elements can negatively affect the taste of coffee. If your cup of Moka pot coffee has an off-putting, bitter taste, it’s time to explore a few potential reasons. 

The first cause could be the quality and freshness of your beans. A bitter taste is a clue that your chosen bag of coffee is stale or over-roasted. To avoid this, make sure you always use beans within their shelf life.  

The second cause for bitterness is user-error. If you just bought your beans, you’re likely keeping the pot on the stove for too long or using an extra-high temperature. To fix this, turn down the heat and turn off the stove a little earlier.  

Everyone has their own preferences for their dream cup of Java, so technically, any roast will work in a Moka pot. Many Moka lovers recommend using complex medium roasts or rich dark roasts, as the bubbling percolator method can bring out nuanced flavors. As long as the coffee is ground coarser than an electric espresso machine and finer than drip, you will make a delicious brew.  

Coffee shop lingo can get confusing, especially when people often refer to the Moka pot as a stovetop espresso maker. But, in reality, Moka coffee and espresso are quite different. Technically, a Moka machine cannot produce a shot of espresso, as it does not provide the same pressure that espresso machines need. 

But, if you’re looking for a home-friendly alternative to your favorite café’s double shot, Moka pot coffee can be a good substitute as it does produce a concentrated amount of coffee. Just add a little steamed milk, and you’ll have a delicious version of latte, cappuccino, or cortado. The options are endless. 

With many different brands and manufacturers, every Moka pot is different—and so are the ratios. In general, the perfect ratio is around 1:10. For example, if you’re using a classic 6-cup pot, you would use 30 grams of grounds and 300 milliliters of water. It may take a little experimenting to get the perfect cup—but isn’t that half the fun?

Although preheating the water can seem unnecessary, since the Moka pot is heated up on the stove, it’s actually one of the most vital steps. If you were to fill the bottom portion with cold water instead of hot water, it would take much longer for the water to heat up and extract the coffee, resulting in a weak flavor. This could also result in the Moka pot getting so hot that it essentially “cooks” the grounds, adding a metallic taste to the final cup.