Mokka Pot is like a girlfriend ...
Wait... what?
Turns out that this sexy (ahem) pot with a high pressure valve does have an attitude and we DO have to get to know it better before it start to produce good coffee for you to enjoy...
And to be honest, I AM still learning, after a near disastrous learning curve when "seasoning" it to be ready for service.
If you have remembered on my previous post when God sent me a (pre-loved) coffee machine through a good sister in Christ?
Turns out that it no longer wants to serve after around 6 cups of espresso. 🥲
The machine first refused to heat up ready for brewing, into overheating too quickly till it refused to function for malfunction heat sensor and short circuit transformer (that heats the water)
And I had to say good bye to it
But I have literally bought a whole bag of ground coffee from IKEA because of it, so how am I supposed to use it?
I have tried French Press but because of the coffee grounds are so fine, it contaminates the brew coffee with the ground sipping through the mesh; and because it is a glass French press, it chills quickly and I do not fancy cold coffee and not strong enough.
So within my limited budget, I was searching for another machine that could do the same...
(although I did waste on the reusable pods from the Dolce Gusto machine, and to have another machine that works is still too expensive. Plus, I have my reserves on Krups now) ... Sigh...
Which led me to this 40% sale for this Mokka set. I have always thought that Mokka was "Mocha" coffee, which was ridiculous why we need a special ground Mokka for coffee with cocoa?
Then I realised this is actually a whole different machine, which supposed to also produce good espresso, and if done properly with good fresh coffee, there's créma too, based on the advertisement.
Fortunately with the sale, I could afford this $19 USD worth of the tiniest serving Mokka pot, as I wasn't sure if I would love to use it for the long term. The good thing is that this pot actually is detached from electronics, and it can be done over the stove as well. But since it is 21st century, a portable hotplate would be reasonable since it comes as a set.
1. The mistakes! Water level must be below the pressure valve!
According to the instructions, before the pot is ready for coffee brewing, it has to be cleaned from impurities due to the fact it was made out of aluminum, and to avoid metal poisoning (according to the instruction) at least 3 rounds of cleaning is needed.
It mentioned for a 150ml pot all it required was 100-150ml of water for the first round, but I didn't realise that this pot, actually cannot contain more than 100ml since the pressure valve is the bench mark!
Foolishly I thought since I am "washing" the pot, I might as well put to 150ml, and boy I regretted instantly when it boils! Because it was about to burst, with water sipping out from the middle body section and the boiling was super violent (below 5 minutes)
Lesson to learn: not all instructions are fool-proof.
Maybe the manufacturer (most likely from China, because it is all written in Mandarin) have used the same instruction card for all Mokka pot sizes sold from it.
2. Don't watch some stupid influencer "hacks"
I thought since it was just "washing" the pot, I might as well just use less coffee
I strictly remembered that mokka pots cannot use pressed ground coffee as its pressure is totally different from espresso machine, however I stumbled across a series of "tik tok" advertisements for the Mokka in the online selling platform is that you can "gently press a bit" to make sure it is levelled.
That was a GREAT mistake!
struggling to produce coffee... you will notice that there's some water spill at the surface of the hot plate stove
Once again, even after making sure the water level was at its maximum "mark" (based on the valve), the pot still "vomited" coffee at the middle of the body, not to mention that it was so dirty and the coffee filler was totally pushed till out of place.
Good thing I am not supposed to drink this coffee...
Yes, during the "cleansing" process, all these coffee must not be consume for health and safety purposes.
Furthermore because I followed the timer, the pot becomes too hot and pressured I had to wait at least 40 minutes before I can twist open it to refill the water for the 3rd time in the cleansing ritual....
3. Make time to watch through the explanations
this is the 3rd round of cleaning, re-brew of the used coffee
So after learning a lot more through thanks to YouTube, I managed to find out when to take it out when it starts to boil, but I am still not very well verse with it. But finally, it no longer "bleeds" in the middle, neither does it violently over boils because I got to observe how fast this pot reaches "boiling point"
I was so overwhelmed after the 3rd rinse, I decided to call it a day and try again tomorrow
4. Making things right with plenty of observation
Based on what I have noticed, from coffee level to boiling points, I have decided to attempt calmly this round: Not pressing the coffee ground, and observing the best water level that produces the coffee density that I preferred.
I must say... I think I finally got it! No spills, and the pantry was filled with coffee aroma (not as great as an espresso though)
The water was boiling properly, I see créma, and I thought it was going to be perfect.
But still, it tasted sour!
According to the gurus on YouTube, I still haven't gotten the perfect heat as I might have over "pressed" the coffee with too hot water.
Apparently, the boiling point has to be done within 30-60 seconds depending on the amount of water, but hey, at least I can mask the sourness with milk and it still taste pretty good.
The more interesting part is that, if I take instant coffee, I usually could finish the cup of coffee in probably an hour, while a properly brewed coffee, despite it was already turned cold, I didn't need it and was sipping slowly for the whole day.
That actually is quite significant because a real good coffee should have satisfied the sleepy brain instead of craving for more.
So even though it looks like a waste of every 15g of ground coffee, it could "last longer" if it is kept warm in flask.
The best part to show that I succeeded using the Mokka pot correctly is that the coffee filler wasn't out of place, and it looked perfectly fine with no spilled coffee grounds into the water storage below. A clean brew.
Now I just need to time myself properly and compare again.
That, would probably be tomorrow, before my "weekend coffee fast" on Sabbath
What about you?
Do you like experiments like this, or instant coffee is just the way to go, save time and cost?
I know @macchiata 's first reaction is definitely brewed coffee over instant!
And speaking about the "girlfriend" analogy
Here is the funny explanation about the Mokka pot's behaviour on YouTube Shorts below:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4r5USjCfULQfe
Enjoy!
Until Then
Stay healthy, stay curious and learn new things, and stay happy!
If you would like to give some encouragement outside HIVE with some fiat backing, please feel free to visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/littlenewthings
You can also support me in HIVE
