Why does my moka pot coffee taste bitter?
Usually one of three things. You left it on past the gurgle: that sound means the water is spent, and Bialetti's instruction is to turn the heat off as soon as it starts, because what follows scorches the coffee. Or the heat was too high, which gives a burnt taste. Or you pressed the coffee down, which Bialetti tells you not to do: it starves the flow and makes the brew harsh.
How much water and coffee should I use?
Fill the boiler to the safety valve, never above it, and fill the basket with coffee, levelled off loosely and not pressed down. That is Bialetti's own method. The safety valve is a pressure release and the reason a sealed chamber of boiling water on your hob is safe; covering it with water compromises the one part whose job is to protect you if the coffee bed clogs.
Steam escapes from the join and the coffee never comes up. What is wrong?
Check first that the top is screwed down firmly and that no grounds are caught in the threads, which is the simplest thing to rule out. If it still leaks, suspect the rubber gasket. On any moka pot the seal between the upper chamber and the boiler hardens with heat and age and stops sealing. It is a small replacement part, sized to the pot, and changing it takes a minute and keeps the pot working for years.
Can I use it on an induction hob?
Not as supplied. Aluminium is not magnetic, so an induction hob will not detect the pot at all. Bialetti sells an induction adapter plate, a steel disc that sits between the hob and the pot, and with that it works. Worth checking before you buy if you have recently changed kitchens.
Why can I not use washing-up liquid?
Bialetti says to rinse it with water only, and warns that the dishwasher can damage the pot and affect the taste. The unlined aluminium interior takes on a thin film of coffee oils that is widely held to improve the flavour, and detergent strips it back to bare metal. Dishwasher detergents are also strongly alkaline, which attacks aluminium directly: the chalky grey bloom on a dishwashered moka pot is the metal corroding, and it does not come back.
Does it make real espresso?
No, and the name is a convention rather than a claim. True espresso is forced through the grounds by a pump at far higher pressure; a moka pot uses only the steam pressure a sealed boiler can build. It does not produce the crema or the syrupy body of a pulled shot. What it makes is a strong, dark, full-bodied coffee that many people prefer to either espresso or drip, and that works beautifully with milk.
