Hello my Foodie Friends!
Flavors, taste, and smell are part of another dimension of food. Our senses allow us to create a sense of comfort and bring us back to places and time that we hold dear. I love the smell of coffee being made. Growing up with many relatives, coffee was also in the center of the kitchen table and part of the conversations that were made. As a child, I have vivid memories of my parents, aunts and uncles sitting around a table after a big meal, laughing, and having a cup of coffee or espresso in their hands. I remember Sunday evenings involved all of the adult family sitting around the table playing Pinochle, and drinking espresso (with anisette in it) while all of the children were placed in front of the TV watching the Lawrence Welk show or Judy Garland movies. In the background were the relatives yelling at each other in Italian. Along with the espresso, homemade Italian cookies were served (which all of the kids would sneak into their pockets since they we were only allowed one which was never enough). Each of my family would take bites of the wonderful sweets, sip espresso, and talk about the family. Maybe that is why I am crazy about coffee; it’s ingrained in me from childhood. There’s nothing better than the smell of espresso being brewed.
To make the espresso, our family always used a Bialetti stove top coffee pot. True coffee lovers know there’s more than one way to make a “cuppa” coffee, and they’ve tried them all: French press, drip coffee, cold brew, fancy espresso machines, and so on. One of the most humble and effective machines for making a strong cup of coffee is the stovetop espresso maker also known as the moka pot. The moka pot, or macchinetta del caffè, which literally translates to “small coffee machine,” is a stovetop machine that moves boiling water, pressurized by steam, through ground coffee to make a delicious brew. The Moka produces a rich, authentic espresso in just minutes.
The aluminum pot features Bialetti’s distinctive eight-sided shape that allows it to diffuse heat perfectly to enhance the aroma of your coffee. The story of the stove-top espresso maker begins in 1918 when Alfonso Bialetti, returned home to Italy from France, where he had been working in the aluminium industry for 10 years, and set up a workshop making metal household goods. Near his factory in Piedmont, Bialetti watched women washing their clothes in a sealed boiler with a small central pipe. The pipe drew the soapy water from the bottom of the boiler and spread it over the wet laundry. Bialetti decided to try and adapt this idea to make a coffee machine that would allow Italians to have real espresso in their homes. In 1933, an Italian inventor named Luigi De Ponti patented the design for Alfonso Bialetti, and the company is still making stovetop espresso makers with the same basic design. Bialetti’s classic moka pot is so reliable, that it remains the best stovetop espresso maker you can buy. Today, the Bialetti Moka fills many households and celebrates more than 80 years of classic design elegance and technological simplicity. The Moka Express has become iconic for the stove top espresso maker and has allowed millions of consumers to enjoy great Italian coffee.
Making stovetop espresso:
1. Rinse the pot out with hot water, including the underside of the ‘jug’ part of the pot where coffee grounds will stick to the filter.
2. Make sure the threads on the jug and the reservoir section are clear of grounds, or the two parts of your pot won’t join properly and your pot can start to spit and hiss when it’s on the stove.
3. Fill the reservoir with water up to the fill-line. If your pot doesn’t have a fill-line, or you can’t see it, fill the reservoir to about half an inch below the safety valve.
4. Place the basket in the reservoir and spoon coffee grounds into it. You want the coffee to be quite loose, so don’t tamp it down – coffee expands when it gets damp, so it needs a bit of room to do this. Fill the basket about three-quarters full.
5. Screw the jug part of the pot back onto the base, and put the pot on a low heat on the hob. If you turn up the heat too high, the coffee will boil in the pot and taste bitter.
6. The Moka Pot takes about five minutes or so to make the coffee. Many people recommend taking the pot off the heat as soon as it starts to make gurgling noises, but if you use a very low heat, you may find that removing the pot too soon leaves the reservoir half full and the pot half empty. Using a low heat means that the coffee never boils, so you won’t have to worry about the coffee tasting bitter.
At Compliments to the Chef, your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store located at 33 Railroad Place, we carry both the Bialetti Moka Espresso pot and Bialetti stainless steel pot. The stainless steel stove-top pot has a sleek contemporary design with ergonomic heat resistant handles. You can use these pots anywhere. Take them on vacation, camping trips, or to a friends’ house. As I sit and have my morning cup of coffee or espresso, those incredible memories of family members past and present bring me back to a time that was precious. Remember my Foodie Friends; “Life Happens in the Kitchen,” at the kitchen table playing, talking, and sharing with each other.
Take Care,
John & Paula
