The Bialetti Moka Express is the best and cheapest way to make a great cup of espresso-like coffee.
Posted on 09/02/2007 10:19:45 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Absolutely NOT! Drip brewing destroys the taste of coffee -essentially BOILS it away. Also leaches more caffeine out of the grind than steam. Check out www.coffeegeek.com or howstuffworks.com for more information.
I spent $1200 on a Saeco semi-commercial machine eight years ago and it still pumps out great coffee, espresso or european style coffee’s everyday. I would replace that machine in a heartbeat - good thing is that same quality machines can be had for $600 or so today.
We are in the process of building a house and I am half considering a Dacor coffee system that will be plumbed into a filtered water system. It does everything from one cup of coffee at a time, bean grinder inside, to espresso, cappuccino, blah, blah, an integrated milk dispenser, etc. $3100.00. I love coffee. Everyone in my family loves coffee. But $3100.00 worth??? I don't know...but I really am considering it...
It does not “boil” the coffee. But the time the water drips threw the coffee the temp is about 190 degrees. It has to boil to force its way threw the pluming but does not drip at 212.
Grid has more to do with caffeine than water temp.
French presses are fantastic but I still say for everyday drinking a drip with a good grind is the way to go.
French press coffee is okay. Personally, I think it’s overkill for the average coffee drinker.
Just spend around $10-15. on a Melitta drip-o-later, and heat your water in a kettle. What kills coffee in most automatic drip coffee makers are heating elements that don’t deliver water at the proper brewing temperature. A Melitta filter cone will also let you grind your coffee a skotsh finer than for conventional auto-drip.
I was taught when using a Melitta to let the water *just* come to a boil, wait a couple seconds, splash the grounds with water, wait 10-15 more seconds, and then fill the Melitta cone with hot water.
I’ve never received complaints about my coffee, except that people conditioned to weak coffee tend to find it a bit strong for their tastes. If I’m making eight cups, I usually put six of the Melitta coffee measures into the filter cone.
The only other pitfalls to a Melitta filter cone are the Melitta carafes, and finding Melitta #6 cone filter paper. The carafes tend to break. I’ve lost a number of Melitta carafes over the years, but fortunately Mr. Coffee makes some replacement carafes that one can balance the Melitta cone upon. I’m still using the same filter cone I bought 15 years ago or so...
Hadn’t looked at coffeegeek.com before my last post. Even so, this bit from one of the “Howto” guides on that site is germane to this discussion:
“...for paper, I highly recommend the Melitta FlavorPore paper filters - they let more coffee oils flow through.”
The single cup Melitta filter cones are about $4 or so at a local market, or surf to the Melitta website. Click on “Manual coffeemakers” to see their selection.
F or the press type method it depends on the grind. If you can’t get that right, don’t bother. I suspect that is why the controversy of the press method.
Other tips: Drip coffee is very wasteful because the water isn’t generally near hot enough even when the coffee maker is new. Once they get calcified up (hard water) the problem is even worse. Its not the drip concept that is bad but the implementation. Even cowboy coffee rightly has its’ adherents. The trick here is to bring the pot to a boil for an instant but thereafter relegated only to a very slow simmer, well away from any flames or excessive heat. About six to eight hours isnt too long at all. In this case the long settling times make for a very smooth cup, but we live much more hectic lives these days, I guess.
there isnt anything snobbish about wanting good coffee, it has only been in recent years that depression-era/wartime expedients like canned or instant varieties went the way of powdered eggs and cornflake bars.
There is a subjective aspect to operating a blade grinder. If you want an even grind but don't want a bitter flavor, you have to tap the switch on and off repeatedly. The longer you let those high speed blades whirl, the more bitter the flavor will be
I have been using a French press for the last several months, and I like it. You can find any number of coffee blogs that’ll go on at terrific length about how to use one. You get a little sediment in the bottom of the cup, but the coffee is perfectly hot, very good, never sour.
Think about it for a little bit. The finer the coffee grind, the more oils will be released.
Smaller coffee grounds have more surface area than larger ones, like one might use for percolated coffee.
Likewise, finer-grained gunpowder burns faster than coarser. Same principle — more surface area.
The Bialetti Moka Express is the best and cheapest way to make a great cup of espresso-like coffee.
I use this to make “Cuban Coffe” as they call it in Miami. 4 scoops of sugar and a few drops of the fresh coffe, stir until the sugar is dark brown and mushy, then pour the cofee in. By doingthe sugar stir thing in the begining, it gives the coffee some “head”. My whole office comes running when they hear that cafetera perculating. Drip coffee is like drinking water. How could you guys drink that stuff? Worse yet. How can people pay 3-4-5 bucks for coffee flavored water at starbucks?
Your home must smell wonderful....
I use a pulse type action with my blade grinder. Maybe a total of 3 or 4 seconds. A bean or two may not even be ground. I fill the lid of the grinder about 3/4 full. Dump the coffee in the press and pour the hot water in. Very important to give it a stir before placing the plunger in place (not touching the coffee.) I give it 4-5 minutes before mashing the plunger. Just experiment until you find what works.
However, I am hopelessly nostalgic about percolators, even though there is an overwhelming consensus among coffee aficionados that their coffee stinks. If your whole childhood recollection of "mornings" is suffused with the smell and gurgle of a percolator, it is hard not to have affection for them.
I think the best "non-conventional" way to "brew" coffee is similar to "sun tea." A recipe advocated by Lynne Rosetto Kaspar on her radio program, The Splendid Table, is an 11 oz. bag of ground coffee poured into 11 cups of water and left for 11 hours. It is a bit of a mess but the result is an espresso-strength coffee with great rich flavor and NO bitterness. You can dilute it for "Americanos."
I am thinking of getting a 48 oz French press and a couple of extra beakers to facilitate this basic process. The "sun coffee" (no sun required...just leave it on the kitchen counter) keeps well beyond a weak in the frigidaire.
I fussed and fussed...and spent a lot of money but never felt that I achieved a result to justify it all. (I stopped just short of fitting a PID controller to my Silvia for precise temperature control...these coffee-obsessed people are true lunatics!)
But I have now decided that my best "espresso," or coffee for any purpose, has been produced from an 11 oz bag of preground JFG prepared by the the 11-hour method which I described a few posts above.
I went to Switzerland a few years ago and could not believe how many homes had built in machines plumbed to the water supply - absolutely wonderful.
If you like coffee at all and can afford it - do it. You will quickly wonder why you had any doubts at all. My next machine will be built in.
Oh man, I can't tell you how good it smells when the beans roast. I do it on the patio, though. Too much smoke. Also, if you do the darker espresso roasts, some roasts such as "Spanish Roast" are just short of a call to 911 before they combust. Lots of smoke, but a great flavor for the right bean.
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