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I switched from a French press to a moka pot for my 5am shifts and the cleanup alone won me over | Coffee Enthusiasts - Free To Speak

susansingh•29d ago

I switched from a French press to a moka pot for my 5am shifts and the cleanup alone won me over

For about two years I used a French press every single morning before work. The coffee was fine, but the cleanup drove me nuts. I'd be standing at the sink at 5am scraping wet grounds out of the bottom, and if I left it too long the sludge stuck like cement. Last spring a regular at the bar told me his moka pot takes ninety seconds to rinse, so I grabbed a cheap 3 cup one at a shop in Sacramento for $28. First few tries were rough. I burned it twice and got this bitter, almost burnt taste. Turns out I had the heat way too high and I was tamping the grounds down, which you should never do. Once I let it run on low and just leveled the coffee off with my finger, it came out rich and strong. It's closer to espresso than drip, so I cut it with a splash of hot water now. Rinsing the three pieces takes me under a minute, and there are no soggy grounds to wrestle with. Anyone here made the same switch, and did you bother with a paper filter on top of the basket or just drink it as is?

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christopherh7929d ago

Man, the moka pot cleanup is the whole reason I stick with mine. I made the switch about a year ago and I still get a little happy twist in my gut when I just pull the three pieces apart and rinse them, no scraping, no sludge, no guilt about dumping a huge wet puck in the trash. On the paper filter thing, skip it. A standard Aeropress filter trimmed to fit will catch some grit and make it taste a touch cleaner, but it also strips out a lot of the oils that make moka coffee taste like moka coffee, so you end up with something closer to drip and that kind of defeats the point. If you're grinding fine enough that you get sludge in the cup, fix the grind first, not the filter. Low heat and level the bed with your finger is exactly right, and honestly that finger level trick is the one thing I wish somebody had told me on day one instead of me tamping like an idiot for a month.