Every morning in Zaragoza it hissed and spat while my father looked for his keys. It made strong, bitter coffee that everyone drowned in hot milk and sugar. I thought that was the pot's personality. It took me years to learn that most of the bitterness came from how we used it.
Why moka coffee tastes burnt
When you start with cold water, the pot sits on the flame for five or six minutes while the water heats. All that time, the coffee in the basket above is slowly cooking. That cooked, metallic taste is what most people dislike, and the pot is to blame far less often than people think.
Four changes
Start with hot water. Fill the base from the kettle, just off the boil, up to just below the safety valve. Hold the base with a tea towel when you screw the top on, because it will be hot.
Grind slightly coarser than espresso, about like table salt. Fill the basket to the top and level it with a finger. Never tamp it. Pressing the coffee down forces the water through too hard and burns the cup.
Use a low flame, with the lid open so you can watch. The coffee rises dark and slow. The moment it turns pale and starts to gurgle, take the pot off the heat.
Run the base under the cold tap for two seconds. That stops the brewing before the last, bitter part comes through.
From start to finish this takes about three minutes, about half the time a pot started cold takes. The cup is sweeter, thicker and much less bitter, and you will probably find you want less sugar in it.
The gurgle is the pot telling you it has finished. Listen for it.
Which coffee, and how to look after it
Grulla, our house espresso, is lovely in a moka pot, sweet and chocolatey with or without milk. Rinse the pot with hot water after each use and let it dry in pieces. Soap and the dishwasher both dull the aluminium. Replace the rubber seal every year; we keep spares behind the counter for the common sizes.
For a brighter cup, try the washed Huila with a splash of hot milk. It tastes a little like hot chocolate with berries in it.
When I showed my mother all this on a video call, she said nothing for a week. Then she sent a photo of her own cup, with no sugar.
Bring your pot in, any size. We will grind a bag of coffee for it while you wait.
Inés, behind the bar
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