- Jul 11, 2001
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My Vev Italian moka pot has served me 40,000+ cups of brew, i.e. since the middle 1980's. It's not one of those aluminum ones with a polygon cross section, it's stainless steel with circular cross sections.
Seeing a whale of positive sentiment for French press, I ordered one off Amazon a week ago and have used it once only. I'm not sold on it. Now, it's 34oz and is therefore probably the go-to device if I have company, my moka pot makes less than half what the French press maker produces at max. But for myself, I'm wondering if the moka pot isn't the better idea.
The Secura French press I have, they say you can reduce the steep time if you pour in boiling water and discard that before you brew. After that, you put in your coffee, pour in hot water (not boiling), stir a bit and let it sit, say, 4 minutes to steep, then do the press maneuver and pour. All that would seem to take close to 10 minutes. Then, cleaning the machine is a question. The instructions indicate thorough cleaning. Posts here have said a basic rinse is sufficient. A cleaning of the screen might be necessary at least occasionally, and that would depend on your grind.
Now, for my moca pot I buy 2lb bags of organic coffee beans (dark, whatever, I'm not a fuss budget for beans), I grind the whole bag at once. I pour 1/3 (10.7oz) into my Osterizer blender at high speed and with an inverted glass, keep pressing down until not only all beans are ground, but the grind gets pretty darn fine. I do that two more times, and what I have fits neatly in two quart plastic containers. I put one in the fridge and I work with the other, which is left on a counter for my daily brews.
I discovered a couple weeks ago that my moka pot works quicker if I use a somewhat coarser grind, so I intend to ease up on my grinding technique to achieve that. The French press evidently requires a not-so-fine grind (even a somewhat coarse grind) or the screen gets clogged (I got 2 extra screens with the Secura French press).
Years ago I modified my moka pot technique. I didn't like what I thought was a silly screen they supplied to put on top of the coffee. I don't use that. What I have done is develop a system where I cut those large Melitta filters into 4 smaller filters that just fit in the bottom of the top portion of the moka pot, nicely when wet. That provides good filtering of any particles that would otherwise wind up in the brew. I double up on my custom cut filters and reuse the pair for several days (e.g. 10 cups, possibly, but I use use them until they either break or the coffee starts taking too long to brew because the filters are clogged).
Anyway, cleaning my moka pot is relatively simple and quick and I do that while I boil water for my subsequent brew, when I get around to making the next cup (probably 12oz of coffee/cup). I put coffee in the moka put coffee holder (about 2 tablespoons), pour in boiling water to the pot bottom, screw the thing together and monitor the pot to insure that not too much pressure builds up (i.e. lower the flame when coffee starts coming into the top)... the pressure release valve can become useless if it's had to deal with excessive pressure too many times. Finding those valves is difficult or close to impossible these days unless you buy another moka pot and use it's valve (which I've done a time or two).
Comments? Is a French press better? If you use French press, do you bother to preheat it with boiling water before adding the ground beans? Can moka pot be as good? Should I actually buy a coffee grinder? I don't want to get too dang complicated...
Seeing a whale of positive sentiment for French press, I ordered one off Amazon a week ago and have used it once only. I'm not sold on it. Now, it's 34oz and is therefore probably the go-to device if I have company, my moka pot makes less than half what the French press maker produces at max. But for myself, I'm wondering if the moka pot isn't the better idea.
The Secura French press I have, they say you can reduce the steep time if you pour in boiling water and discard that before you brew. After that, you put in your coffee, pour in hot water (not boiling), stir a bit and let it sit, say, 4 minutes to steep, then do the press maneuver and pour. All that would seem to take close to 10 minutes. Then, cleaning the machine is a question. The instructions indicate thorough cleaning. Posts here have said a basic rinse is sufficient. A cleaning of the screen might be necessary at least occasionally, and that would depend on your grind.
Now, for my moca pot I buy 2lb bags of organic coffee beans (dark, whatever, I'm not a fuss budget for beans), I grind the whole bag at once. I pour 1/3 (10.7oz) into my Osterizer blender at high speed and with an inverted glass, keep pressing down until not only all beans are ground, but the grind gets pretty darn fine. I do that two more times, and what I have fits neatly in two quart plastic containers. I put one in the fridge and I work with the other, which is left on a counter for my daily brews.
I discovered a couple weeks ago that my moka pot works quicker if I use a somewhat coarser grind, so I intend to ease up on my grinding technique to achieve that. The French press evidently requires a not-so-fine grind (even a somewhat coarse grind) or the screen gets clogged (I got 2 extra screens with the Secura French press).
Years ago I modified my moka pot technique. I didn't like what I thought was a silly screen they supplied to put on top of the coffee. I don't use that. What I have done is develop a system where I cut those large Melitta filters into 4 smaller filters that just fit in the bottom of the top portion of the moka pot, nicely when wet. That provides good filtering of any particles that would otherwise wind up in the brew. I double up on my custom cut filters and reuse the pair for several days (e.g. 10 cups, possibly, but I use use them until they either break or the coffee starts taking too long to brew because the filters are clogged).
Anyway, cleaning my moka pot is relatively simple and quick and I do that while I boil water for my subsequent brew, when I get around to making the next cup (probably 12oz of coffee/cup). I put coffee in the moka put coffee holder (about 2 tablespoons), pour in boiling water to the pot bottom, screw the thing together and monitor the pot to insure that not too much pressure builds up (i.e. lower the flame when coffee starts coming into the top)... the pressure release valve can become useless if it's had to deal with excessive pressure too many times. Finding those valves is difficult or close to impossible these days unless you buy another moka pot and use it's valve (which I've done a time or two).
Comments? Is a French press better? If you use French press, do you bother to preheat it with boiling water before adding the ground beans? Can moka pot be as good? Should I actually buy a coffee grinder? I don't want to get too dang complicated...
I thought you were a French press guy. You went on about it in previous threads. Interesting. I made a pot of my moka brew this AM. Takes me about 12 minutes. I think a FP would take a few more. I'm going to experiment with not grinding my beans so fine for my moka pot. It will speed up the process... moreso that of brewing, but also the process of grinding it to some extent. I want to figure out if it will make the brew weaker. Part of my thinking in grinding it fine is not just the get stronger brew (which I'm not sure is true) but that there will be less air in the containers in which I store my 2lb of just-ground coffee. Less air in there would, I'd think, decrease the extent to which the coffee is oxidized in storage. All that is kind of theoretical for me, I don't know that there's a basis in fact!
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