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Comment by qalmakka | Hacker News Reader

Every day, twice a day, I grind my coffee and put my trusty old aluminium Bialetti Moka pot on the hob. It's my ritual, and no crappy pods can ever take that away from me. As long as I remember to swap out its rubber gasket, I know for a fact that this pot will neither break nor stop functioning. It's one thing of beauty, the Moka pot. A great feat of ingenuity.

The only thing that saddens me a bit is that when (not if) I will switch to an induction stove I will have to buy a new steel pot, or switch to an electric one. Until then, she's my mainstay.

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> I will switch to an induction stove I will have to buy a new steel pot, or switch to an electric one

Or buy an induction plate adapter. I have not used one, so I cannot tell how practical they are, just saying they exist.

I came here to say this. I tried the adapter very briefly, and it's very convenient (especially if you already heat your water before putting the grounds in).

I have always heard people warning about adapters, because they have a tendency of causing discolouration on black induction hobs due to how unevenly they heat up. I guess that switching to a stainless steel pot isn't the end of the world, it's the only thing made out of aluminum I own.

You're not worried about Alzheimer's disease? Even if there is no current moka pot-specific evidence (there haven't been a lot of studies), why take the chance?

You could argue that basically everything has the potential of being harmful in the long term. Red meat, gas hobs, living in a polluted city, plastic, ... People are exposed to so many substances that we actually know for a fact they are either carcinogenic or bad for our health, and yet most don't do that much about it. If you start cutting out of your life even things that are not demonstrated to be bad for you, you're left with basically nothing. One thing is to have actual evidence that something is harmful, one other is to follow any suspicion that is waved around.

We know aluminum is harmful and implicated in multiple serious health conditions. The only unknown here is the degree of aluminum leeching from the pot to the coffee. For something you do twice a day, this is a different kind of preventable exposure to risk than eating red meat or living in a polluted city.

IMO one would be a fool to accept this risk, even if small.

Okay what are you going on about ? Care to source this ?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21157018/

First of all, thank you for sourcing it. I don't have access to the paper, but the synopsis is very interesting.

I do however find it very weird. For example, how far-spread is Alzheimer's in Italy, where the Al intake must be through the roof. If this was to be believed, then all italians would have AD. (I am fully aware that logically, this is not correct, and that they could perhaps have developed some sort of immunity).

The same could be said about soda/beverage cans. Their use is so widespread that virtually everyone in America should have AD.

The scientific argument may have some truth to it, but I still find it weird that it's not "evident" in populations where Al intake would be through the roof.

>soda/beverage cans

They are coated inside.

My 2 cents:

- Al is a known neurotoxin

- Al does not, typically, rust, despite being far more thermodynamically favorable than Fe because a kinetic barrier, AlO2, forms stopping further oxidation

- AlO2 is an extremely durable coating. Extremely inert. It's crystal lattice constant is similar to Al's to it does not flake

- Al does rust in salty environments.

Conclusion:

The moka is fine. Just don't use vinegar or salt water to brew your coffee.

Rest easy:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5388725/

> Additional human inner aluminum exposure through the proper use of aluminum moka pots is negligible. Even under the worst-case scenario of washing the moka pots in a dishwasher, the uptake amounts to only 4% of TWI [total weekly intake]. The manufacturers expressly warn not to clean the aluminum moka pots in the dishwasher.

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