moka coffee

i love coffee made from a moka pot and have a couple different sized stove top pots at home. the moka is a clever little brewing device.

you fill the bottom chamber (A) with water, you fill the funnel with ground coffee (B, and below), and twist on the top part (C), which is the brewed coffee collector.

when the moka is placed on the flaming stove, the water boils and the resulting steam creates pressure that pushes the water up through the funnel, soaking the coffee grounds. the pressure continues pushing the coffee-infused water through a metal filter above the coffee funnel and up through the spout, so that the coffee bubbles over and is collected in the upper chamber. when the lower chamber is almost empty (this only takes a few minutes), you hear a gurgling sound, which is the indicator that you should remove the moka from the heat source.

why am i telling you all this?

because yesterday, i saw an electronic moka in the office of a colleague at the university of sydney and was astounded by the brilliance of the modern innovation. why hadnt i thought of that before? i made a comment to him, and he instantly (re)gifted the moka to me!

now it is sitting on my desk and, to be honest, i'm worryingly excited about it.

not only does it produce a great cup of near-espresso-quality coffee, it has a transparent upper chamber so i can watch the goodness as it bubbles out into the collection unit.

happy happy joy joy.