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Comment by taffronaut | Hacker News Reader

The sad thing about moka pots is that they never break or wear out and no one can sell you a subscription for pods or filters. They have a quiet presence and reassurance which is drowned out by the clamour of commerce hammering at your door to sell you something slightly less messy and slightly more convenient at the expense of the planet and your soul.

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Still using the first 3-cup ½ Moka pot I bought after moving to Uni when 18yrs old, now serving me for the past 20 years O_O. Have "burned" it three times by forgetting it on the hob and being awaken by the burned smell of plastic. Always managed to get it back to life with a good scrub and a new set of spares.

Some 13 years ago, for the office I got a "modern" Elettrika Bialetti which is a normal 2-cup ½ standard Bialetti with a resistor on the bottom to make it electric. It uses standard computer cables to get power. It powered 11yrs of PhD, postdoc, and academic work.

Last update for my Mokas (~6yrs ago) is to get seals made of silicone. They last a lifetime and now I don't even need to change the seal every four months anymore.

I have a 3 cup Moka pot from them too, recently replaced the seal with a similar rubber one but I'd be very interested in trying out the silicone one as well, but it doesn't seem like a common occurrence - mind if I ask where you got it from? Was it an online store?

Online stores like Amazon or eBay have plenty of those (sometimes called also gaskets). The seal tends to become brown over time as the silicone absorbs some quantity of coffe in the process, but that does not affect the taste of coffee and the seal keeps doing its job impeccably (up until ~6 yrs at least, ymmv).

> 3-cup

The sizes of "cups" when it comes to coffee seems to be a bit chaotic.

It's wild. I believe the cup is somewhere between double espresso and Victorian teacup.

"3 cup" = 1 cup, "8 cup" = 3 cups

I've always found "Cup" as a measurement to be fun, in an engine of chaos kind of way.

Tasse - 120ml (4oz-ish), this is historically the base UOM of "coffee cup" originally encountered on coffee things. Often carelessly translated to "cup" in countries new to coffee, regardless of overlap with existing alternate meanings of "cup" as a measurement.

Demitasse - 60ml (2oz-ish), a cup for espresso.

Mug - Wikipedia says 8-12oz.

The USA definition of "coffee cup" as an amount one would serve themselves ranges anywhere from 8oz through over 20oz, depending on who you ask. USA-made coffee machine markings also vary, but are always smaller than consumers expect. Currently Black and Decker's "cup" is 5oz and Bunn's is 7oz, which means Bunn's standard 10 cup machine makes substantially more coffee than B&D's standard 12 cup machine.

Unless of course it is a cup of coffee in a recipe, in which case consider the provenance of your recipe and which standardized (or not...) version of a "cup" measurement is indicated before proceeding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit)

Similar experience here, I bought a aluminum one (knockoff I think) when I moved out from my parents, used that throughout higher education and just recently, almost 20 years later "upgraded" to a genuine Bialetti one.

But I somewhat dislike the aluminum ones as they tend to get somewhat yucky over time ... but Bialetti also sells a stainless steel one, the Bialetti Venus. Big fan.

Oh wow, that looks almost perfect. My complaint about the Mika is that it is a pain to clean.

as a digital nomad I struggle to fit everything into my bag and so the Bialetti is the item that always gets left behind as a "present" to who comes after me. I've been doing this the past 14 years now and like to think I'm the reason why this post finally made it into your reality / timeline :)

I used to feed my addiction via Nespresso capsules and am glad I stopped because it was really expensive but also:

> Recent research (PDF) conducted by a UK-based coffee brand found that, of the 39,000 capsules produced worldwide every minute, 29,000 of them end up in landfills -- https://bbia.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CAF26_52_Sust...

"K-Cup creator John Sylvan regrets inventing Keurig coffee pod system":

* https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/k-cup-creator-john-sylvan-r...

* https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35605927

Discussed in 2018:

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18718039

All true, of course, which is why I strongly recommend reusable cups like those from Solofill, my favorite. One of those charged with, say, Peet's Mocha-Java, makes a fine cup of coffee.

My flatmate keeps forgetting his moka pot on the hob and needs to buy new rubber seals pretty regularly.

And the great thing is Bialetti sells these parts for pretty cheap: https://www.bialetti.com/us_en/accessories/spare-parts.html

I love that products and companies like these still exist, sad indeed that they have such a hard time to survive.

The electric moka shuts itself off with the same system as a rice cooker and is extremely durable as long as it is an all metal exterior. I don't know why they are so hard to find.

I got in the habit of setting an alarm on my phone for 5 minutes after I put the pot on. Even if I think I'm going to stay in the kitchen and watch it, I set the alarm. It's amazing how I get distracted, forget that I put the damn thing on as if it never existed, then the alarm goes off and I think "oh yeah!! the coffee!".

Check my comment above about Silicone-made seals

To accompany the simple moka pot, buy a simple mechanical bell timer.

Brew time is pretty much precisely 6 minutes.

Set pot on stove, set timer. When bell rings, coffee is ready.

(A timer built into your cooker / microwave can also work, I find their alarms are not loud enough.)

It really depends on high you turn on gas/electric

Presuming high heat, it's pretty consistent. I've noted this across a dozen or more cooktops.

The surface area of the pot bottom is the limiting factor more than anything else.

Sure, low heat and widely-divergent hobs exist. Standards and conventions help ensure reasonable convergence.

In my experience it had more to do with how high the person making the coffee was.

Good point.

IDK why they use rubber whereas knock-offs use silicone gaskets which make a more tight seal (even if said knockoffs never really work).

The knockoffs don't function properly (burn and spit coffee) probably due to different dimensions - I invite anyone to explain what is so critical about the original design. Here's one that doesn't work: https://homla.com.pl/mia-mokka-zestaw-kawiarka-czarna-z-2-fi...

> what is so critical about the original design

Maybe material/thickness which acts as thermal buffer and prevents too quick heating?

I do not think so, the knockoff uses more aluminum than Moka Express.

Pods also aren’t the same. The coffee was roasted and ground a long time ago, and it’s about 6g or coffee, compared to 22g in a cafe “double“ espresso. You get better result buying a grinder and moka pot for the same price as the pod machine and also it’s a lot cheaper per gram.

That's making the assumption of buying beans as an alternative, but the pods are the coffee purchase. You can also buy reusable pods into which you can put your own grinds - but then you are explicitly responsible for grind size, choice of bean etc, at which point you might as well get an espresso machine. The pod machine is very quick, and pours a cup automatically.

Incidentally, I have a Gaggia classic machine, a grinder and bean, as well as a Nespresso pod machine. The Gaggia is more customisable, but also more work, not just how to pour a cup, but the work establishing consistency in the first place e.g. finding a good grinder, and the right setting, how much coffee in the basket and how much pressure to apply, when to clean and what mods to use etc etc etc

Compared to all that, pods are just as available as beans/espresso grind (maybe more so) and v easy. You don't even have to watch the machine while waiting for it to heat up and pour, and with the right pods the results aren't vastly inferior to the espresso, but much more consistent.

Yeah I come from a house using mokas and the Nespresso in comparison is much more idiot-proof: nothing to spill, (almost) nothing to clean, nothing to get burnt with, and the result is extremely consistent. Mokas and traditional espresso machines are much more temperamental, the latter don't even make decent cups until everything is warmed up properly - which is why bars literally throw away the first half-dozen coffees every day.

I get the environmental critique, and the Nespresso system is definitely more expensive, lock-in, etc etc, but DAMN it's so convenient and good enough for the everyday workload of a single or couple.

I have stopped using the aluminium ones which tend to go bad, very fluffy and rusty-looking. The Stainless steel models seem much cleaner over time and only need new rubber seals. Unless you forget about it on the hob and melt down the handle (don't do this!)

I for one nuked one by placing it in the dishwasher where it enjoyed a full wash cycle. The metal became irreversibly damaged, or discoloured / phased. The beautiful Bialetti pot was not so pretty any more. So I bought another one!

I was helping clear up at a friend's after she had a group of us round for dinner, and i put her moka pot in the dishwasher :(.

It wasn't clear to me whether the pot was no longer functional, or just whether the previously elegant aluminium surface was now rather ugly.

In my experience, aluminum left in the dishwasher leaves a residue that can be hard to get off completely. I'm not an expert on the subject, but aluminum is a neurotoxin and is harmful in large amounts, so I would be hesitant to continue to use it whether or not it's still functional.

Not sure why people don't use stainless steel versions of them, more durable, nicer, can be used on induction plates. Bialetti has excellent products for this (their pans, not so much).

Practically unkillable if taken a bit of care. At home I use it exclusively for making coffee.

“Migration of aluminum from food contact materials to food—a health risk for consumers? Part II of III: migration of aluminum from drinking bottles and moka pots made of aluminum to beverages” ⌘ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5388725/

Findings are that drinking coffee from a moka pot made by aluminum will result in a TWI (tolerable weekly intake) of 4%, and that washing the pot in the dishwasher sigificantly increases the aluminum concentration in subsequence brews.

Aren’t they just (nice) hunks of pure aluminum cast pieces? Pure aluminum surfaces are impossible to undo when chemically damaged but quite easy to sand down and refinish.

it happened to a friend of mine. Funny thing, his father was working at Alessi (also another moka maker) and we both come from the town where Bialetti started. So his father did not understand how his son managed to do such a mistake.

You never wash throughly a moka, it loses the taste of coffee and you have to start again. The first few coffees in a new moka are not good. You wash with water and fingers, no soap.

Came to know these devices after moving from Northern Europe to South few years ago. First two of these were destroyed when I repeatedly forgot to fill them with water - the plastic handle just melted before I realized my error. Seals usually last years even if you use the device several times a day. Apart from that, they indeed never break.

> The sad thing about moka pots is that they never break or wear out

I have a slightly different experience. I have 2 Moka pots, but both no longer seem useable after leaving it on the stove too long. Now anything I brew using them tastes burned. I've tried cleaning them, but I still haven't been able to get rid of blackish residue in the water reservoir base. Any tips on how to fix them?

A few months ago I gave a sturdy, 6-cup Bialetti to a friend as a present. He recently admitted that he managed to accidentally melt (!) the damn thing down, as he forgot to switch off the fire. I was curious if he really managed to melt the metal. But unfortunately he has not shared a picture of it; he was too embarrassed about it, and he just tossed it into the trash.

Some sibling comments mentioned replacing the rubber seal fixes the issue of burnt taste. I took a look at my rubber seals and they did have a burnt smell, so I'm gonna give that a shot. Thanks for sharing and good luck with your friend's Moka pot!

There's no more Moka pot; now he's on his own. ;-) I'm really surprised that my friend managed to melt the goddamned metal. I was wondering did the metal really melt? How long did he leave it on fire for the metal to melt? The bugger didn't answer these questions.

i think he obviously just melted the plastic handle, you just can't melt aluminium (let alone steel) with even a gas stove's burner.

A drill with a small hard sponge attachment could work? Using a drill with a sponge has been the only way I managed to clean my stove top within reasonable time when something particularly nasty has managed to get burnt there. Maybe a smaller version of it could work with Moka pot too?

Baking soda

Well, you still need to replace the rubber sealing ring.

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