Made Espresso On A Stove
October 27, 2011 Filed in: Cooking
"Espresso is to Italy, what champagne is to France"
--Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
A few months ago, J bought a stovetop espresso maker (also called a moka pot) at Ikea. I had no idea you could do this before, but like the espresso makers used by your favorite baristas, it passes hot water pressurized by steam through finely ground coffee.
I took the moka pot apart and hand washed it.
I filled the bottom container with water up to the socket.
A straining funnel goes on top of this and this is where the water goes through when the steam pushes it up.
I ground up some coffee making sure the grinder was set to extra fine.
I filled up the funnel to the top with my ground coffee.
The water container screws back onto the bottom of the pot, and the whole thing goes on the stove. I set the burner on a low setting and waited.
It took a little while, but eventually, the pot started making noise as the pressure of the steam was pushing the water through the coffee above it. I waited until the noise stopped a few minutes later and was left with a pot full of espresso.
I poured out a couple of cups for us to drink. Delicious.
Making espresso this way is pretty cool. It takes a little longer than a regular espresso machine, but it makes more and costs way less. For a single serving, it's not practical, but if you are sharing it with a small group, it definitely works. Also, if you're making affogatos, it makes a lot of sense to do this instead of making one shot at a time. I recommend giving this a shot or two or three....
Related Item:
Bialetti 6799 Moka Express 3-Cup Stovetop Espresso Maker
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