Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought this little pot to make convenient and decent homemade espresso. Yes, I know that it's only steam pressure, so it's not *really* espresso. But, used correctly this little pot does a great job. It produces a dark, concentrated double shot of espresso that satisfies. I generally pour this into a mug and add hot water to make a cafe americano (yeah, I'm not a purist).
But ... and this is a big but, using it correctly is not intuitively obvious. I searched the instructions, the internet and the Bialetti website in vain for guidance because I had problems. That is why I'm posting this review and writing up a set of instructions for using the Cuor Di Moka.
How the Pot Works: Bialetti built this pot with a valve in the stem that cuts off the flow of water from the bottom to the top at a certain point. The goal, as they state it, is to provide just the "heart" of the coffee. It's the certain point that creates the problem.
The Problem: Often I was only getting a tiny portion of coffee--something like half a shot of espresso, instead of the two shots that this little pot should produce. I cleaned the pot, thinking that it was clogged, but got no reliable improvement. I did, at one point, consider setting this pot aside as another mistaken purchase. But, further experimentation brought me to ...
The Solution: What I finally realized is that the certain point where the shut-off valve operates is based on temperature. A couple minor adjustments in how I set up and used the pot now allow me to consistently produce a full double shot of strong espresso. Heat is what causes the valve to shut off the flow of steam through the ground coffee into the receiving chamber. 1) Fill the bottom chamber with very cold water. It doesn't matter how full the bottom is because only half the water gets pushed to the top in any case. 2) Wash out the receiving chamber, and the stem inside which contains the shut-off valve, with very cold water as well. This is the real key. Starting with the valve very cold permits the largest volume of water to pass into the receiving chamber. 3) Use a moderately low temperature on the stove top. I use 4 (out of 10) on my stove. It generally takes 7-9 minutes for the Cuor Di Moka to finish at this setting.
Cold water. Cold stem valve. Low heat. By following these three steps I'm very happy with the coffee produced by this machine.
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Cuor di Moka is an innovative stove top espresso maker developed by Italy's premier coffee companies- Bialetti and Illy.Cuor di Moka has an original design and cutting edge technology.An innovative and patented pouring system called "controlled pouring" extracts only the best optimal coffee flavour.The design features a heart- that represents the 'cuor' or 'heart' of the coffee that is produced by the machine.Compared with a traditional moka of the same size, the new Cuor di Moka by Bialetti makes slightly less coffee because not all the water contained in the lower chamber passes through the filter, but only the amount necessary for extracting the best coffee blend, without any extraction dregs.The result is a coffee with excellent organic and flavorful characteristics.
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