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Average Customer Review:
 ( 271 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
200 of 203 found the following review helpful:
 A how-to, for the curiousSep 26, 2006
By Sheehan Moore
I got my Bialetti 6-cup about a week and a half ago. It took me a while to learn all the tricks of the trade, so I thought I'd piece it together here.
1. Rinse out the pot, preferably with warm water and not with any abrasive cloth.
2. Fill the bottom of the pot with water to the line. If you go over it, the pot might explode. Seriously.
3. Fill the middle filter with ground espresso roast (dark) beans. Grind them a little bit finer then auto drip grind, to about the grain of fine sand. Level off the filter, and put it in the pot.
4. Screw on the top hard. Don't use the handle to screw it, because it could snap off.
5. My stove goes LO, 1, 2, ... 8, 9, HI; I usually set it between 3 and 5. It takes 5-ish minutes to finish. Take it off the stove when you hear it gurgling and sputtering.
Things I've learned:
*If it's going to be mainly you drinking the espresso, consider a 3-cup. I usually make a double cappuccino in the morning, and the rest of my family uses no more than 3 shots total. I stick the left-over in a Tupperware container and refrigerate it (a practice sure to make Italians shudder) to mix with milk and sugar when I come home from work.
*You can open the top to watch the espresso come out, because it is really cool. Just be sure to close it before it starts sputtering, because it goes all over.
*Read an article in a magazine or something while you wait--just don't wander off, because the time between when it first comes out and when it's finished is brief.
Moka pots make great 'espresso,' plus they're cheap and quick. From what I've gathered, Bialetti's the best maker. So I definitely recommend this.
118 of 126 found the following review helpful:
This thing is awful! Don't buy itAug 24, 2007
By E. M. Van Court
"Van, emvc (at) lycos.com"
Unless you are ready to be ruined for any other coffee, and the three cup size will not be big enough! Decades of my life wasted. I've discovered real coffee so late in life, my only lament about buying this espresso pot is the tears shed over all those mornings I *could* have had REAL coffee...
Easy to use, a little time consuming to clean, handsome enough to leave out as a decoration. Unscrew the bottom, fill the bottom half with cold water, fill the little filter cup with fine ground coffee (note that "espresso" is a grind, not a roast), screw it back together, and put it on the stove top. In five minutes or less, you have the most incredible coffee ever. With the internal parts, it is not hard to clean, but time consuming, especially given the time it takes to cool off enough to take apart (the other reason to get a bigger one, the little one is too slow to reload).
The styling is a little retro, but handsome enough to lend a kitchen a quirky flair. Oh, but that's trivia next to the coffee that comes out of it.
I've been using a couple of Tchibo coffees in it with super results, and look forward to trying other fine grinds in it.
Don't do it, don't get this monkey on your back, don't ruin yourself for all those lesser coffee makers, and don't touch my espresso pot (we need alone time).
64 of 66 found the following review helpful:
The only drawback? You'll need a larger one for company...Aug 03, 2005
By Todd Hagley
"groucho75"
Recently picked up a 3 cup Bialetti Moka Express while on holiday and couldn't wait to get it home and broken in. I've tried stove-top Italian coffee makers before, and this model has not disappointed.
Sturdy and well made, this unit only has about five parts, all of them metal or heavy-duty plastic so very little can go wrong. This should last ages if properly cared for.
Just remember to keep it simple; fresh, cold water in the lower chamber (stopping *before* you get to the brass outlet valve) and fill the grounds basket with an espresso grind coffee (good excuse to buy more coffee) without packing it too tightly. Place on your stovetop ring and don't go anywhere. Wait a few minutes, and you have an excellent espresso to start the day or to add to steamed milk after dinner. I can't wait to have some with a cigar this weekend. I've been trying some Cafe Bustello the last few mornings and it's been great. Yeah, I know it's canned, but so are most of the coffees in Italy and Latin America.
The only problem I can foresee is needing a larger one for company, but unless you need gallons of espresso each morning, this is great for two to share.
44 of 45 found the following review helpful:
Making coffee the main eventApr 15, 2009
By JK
Just got a 6 cup Bialetti this week, love it.
First off, don't be deceived by the 6-cup description, this pot will only make enough to fill one larger cup as our land of supersizers knows of it. If you are looking for 6 true cups of coffee at a time, stick with your countertop brewer or go for a larger size. Also, you won't be able to make successive cups (for company or spouse) due to the pot being lava hot after brewing one cup. Someone said the smaller the pot, the better the brew, I can't confirm this, but I'll assume they know what they are talking about. I'm single, so this product is perfect for me.
Who this product is best suited for:
* Someone who can appreciate coffee for what it is by itself, including both taste and smell. I will cut a square of semi-sweet bakers chocolate and pair it with a small cup in the evening, it's become one of my guilty pleasures and the slightly bitter combination mixes oh so well. But I digress.
* Someone who likes strong coffee. Whether or not you join in the debate regarding whether it's true espresso or not really isn't important, it's a thick brew. With that said, it's not meant to be the equivalent of espresso that's steam piped through a machine.
* Someone who thinks of coffee as more than something to wash down their eggs and toast.
* Someone who doesn't need to drink it by the pot just to function in the morning.
* Someone who likes the simple things. There really is nothing that can break (other than the gasket ring that will need to be replaced periodically), no maintenance (in the Moka's case, less is better), no wondering if you should've bought the extended warranty. Reclaim your countertop.
What I wish I could change about it:
* I wish there was a method to pull the basket out without growing fingernails. Maybe a small post in the middle of the basket? That's the extent of my engineering suggestions.
* I wish it would cool down enough to clean it out by the time I needed to go to work. Beginning to end, you will need to have about 30 minutes to spare, or clean it when you get home from work. I don't wash mine, water boils in it everyday, so I don't see the need to sterilize it. If you are germaphobe, you might be better off without one of these, as washing it is discouraged. But I don't like warm, wet grounds being left in it at room temperature all day.
Important tips:
* Not sure if I'd purchase this if I had an electric stove. I suppose you could brew on an electric stove, though I can't picture it. Common sense says use the smallest burner with the flame no wider than the bottom of the pot. Negative reviewers have complained that the handle melted during brewing. Duh.
* Pull it off the heat before it gurgles, the foamy water is just that, let it draw up by itself for the last minute or so. I leave the cover open for the last five minutes, I only close it for the first couple minutes to warm the top of the pot. It doesn't come shooting out like an oil well unless you've done something wrong, it only dribbles out. I did neglect to screw it together tightly once and bubbles came out the sides, this might be dangerous given the physics of steam and pressure, but I was there to oversee what was going on and fixed it. Lesson learned.
* I'm not going to promote any specific type of coffee. I use whole beans that I grind myself, mine aren't specifically marketed for espresso. By the way, I think espresso is a grind, not a roast, but I'll leave that to the coffee officiandos out there to correct me, it's really not something I'm compelled to argue. I don't use ultra dark roasts, either, as a normal roast tends to produce strong enough coffee for me in this thing, and I'm a strong coffee drinker.
Whew. Thanks for reading, I can't think of anything else that hasn't already been pointed out by the moka veterans who've reviewed.
35 of 36 found the following review helpful:
 About AluminumOct 14, 2009
By Strohmian
There are a few reviews here spreading the word that Aluminum, the element this coffee maker is made of, is harmful. Having just read about this (in a science book, not some random web page), I feel the need to step in...: Aluminum is considered safe in cookware. The Al does not bind to the food unless it's acid (like rhubarb). The stigma dates from an incident that happened in the 70ies with dialysis machines, where the aluminum did bind to the blood and cause harm to patients. Also, the dementia claim came about because Al was found in Alzheimer patients' brains, but it was later determined that it was likely put there by the imaging process, not the cookware. In fact, if you're afraid of Al in your food, you should probably avoid spinach and processed cheese (ie. all cheese sold in the US). Source: Nature's Building Blocks
I have to say this though: if you put this pot into the dishwasher, it comes out like you could donate it to the Museum of Natural History: not only several shades darker, but also with nasty streaks and spots. However, once I got over the original shock of suddenly owning an 'antique' coffee maker, I keep on putting it in the washer, because I've found the coffee to taste better that way. I still wish there was a steel (or copper, if thermal conductivity is so important?) knock- off, but at least I know it's not harmful, only ugly.
I would also like to point out that the produced drink is not espresso, which the Italians have named and perfected to be made under pressure. Consequently, the produced black liquid can't match my Gaggia coffee maker's real espresso, but it's "pretty good", above drip coffee in my opinion. Of course, this makes it the nonplusultra camping coffee "machine".
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