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Moka Pot Safety And Cleaning
How to safely brew with a Moka pot and keep it in top shape?
Published December 10, 2021
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Susan Rov
Coffee experts@The Coffee Lab
Have you ever had a Moka pot explode all over your kitchen?
Trust me, you’re not alone. It happens to the best of us.
While Moka pot is an easy brewer that you can use to make an espresso-like coffee within minutes, you need to follow some basic safety and cleaning guidelines so that you can prevent any kitchen disasters.
Although cleaning and safety sound like two different aspects of brewing, when it comes to your Moka pot, they are interconnected.
Whether you worry about your Moka pot exploding during the brewing process or you think that your coffee doesn’t taste right, both issues can be fixed by cleaning your brewer property and following some safety tips, which we will cover in this article.
Read on to find the best practices that will guarantee that you will never need to clean the mess caused by an exploded Moka brewer again.
What Is A Moka Pot And How Does It Work?
A Moka pot is a traditional brewer invented in Italy in the 1930s by Alfonso Bialetti, with Bialetti Express still remaining one of the most iconic Moka pot brands.
This little handy device can brew concentrated coffee similar to espresso, without the need to invest in an expensive espresso machine.
Although it can only generate around 2-3 bars of pressure, compared to 9 bars produced by an espresso machine, it still utilizes a pressurized system to brew your morning cup.
While Moka pots are fairly common, when it comes to this old coffee maker, how to use them is important and can make a difference in terms of safety as well as taste.
Moka Old Coffee Pot: How To Use?
A Moka pot consists of three chambers, one for water, the second one for your ground coffee beans, and the third one for the finished beverage.
To brew a coffee with a Moka pot, first, you have to fill the bottom chamber with water up to the safety valve and put it on the stove.
The heat applied to the water generates steam and increases the pressure in the chamber, slowly forcing water through the ground coffee, creating a concentrated brew in the top part of the brewer.
Although the process sounds pretty easy, it is important to follow some basic safety instructions in order to avoid any accidents.
Moka Pot Safety Tips
Don’t tamp the coffee grounds too hard
While a gentle tamp that evens out the surface of the coffee grounds works fine in a Moka pot if you apply too much pressure, as you would with an espresso machine, this can cause micro grounds to get stuck to your pot, blocking the water flow.
Don’t overfill the water chamber
Only fill the bottom chamber to the safety valve to avoid spills or overflow.
Keep an eye on the safety valve
If the valve gets blocked with coffee or mineral build-up, this can cause that there is too much pressure in the chamber, and the coffee can’t flow freely through the brewer, causing it to explode.
Don’t overfill the coffee pot filter basket
Using too much coffee in your Moka pot could cause accidents. I recommend using around 15-17 grams of coffee for a 4-cup Moka pot, which is around 2.5 tablespoons.
Don’t put it on heat without any water
I hope this one goes without saying but just in case…
Wait until the brewer cools down before you start disassembling or cleaning it
Don’t burn yourself, the Moka pot can get very hot!
Keep the chambers clean of old coffee grounds to prevent accidents
Cleaning your Moka pot every day as well as descaling it once in a while will help to prevent coffee and mineral build-up in your brewer.
How To Clean My Bialetti Moka Express: Everyday Cleaning
Here are some of the everyday cleaning tips to maintain the best condition of your Moka pot brewer.
- Remove the coffee grounds after every use to minimize the coffee and residue build-up
- When it cools down, disassemble the pot
- Clean the pot after every use with hot water
- Don’t use any aggressive chemicals for cleaning and avoid putting it in the dishwasher, these cleaning chemicals could damage the protective surface of the pot and scrub off the coating which prevents your coffee from tasting metallic
- Rinse each chamber in the hot water, focusing especially on the areas where the coffee passes through
- If you want to enhance the cleaning process, use products or tablets that are designed especially for cleaning coffee machines
- After cleaning, make sure each part is completely dry before putting it back together to avoid oxidation
Bialetti Coffee Maker Cleaning Instructions: Descaling
If you use your Moka pot to brew coffee every day, acids and oils from coffee will build up and leave a residue on your brewer, which is why you also need to descale it occasionally.
The frequency in which you need to deep clean your Moka pot will depend on your use as well as the quality of your water, having to clean it more often if using hard water for brewing.
The good news is that descaling your Moka pot is easy, requires no special chemicals or equipment, and you can easily do it at home by following these simple steps.
- Fill the bottom chamber with water to the top (more than you would use for brewing coffee).
- Add two tablespoons of household white vinegar. This will clean, disinfect, and cut through the mineral build-up in your brewer without damaging its surface.
- Let it sit for 2-4 hours. I recommend leaving water in coffee maker overnight.
- Pour out some of the water the next day.
- Brew the water on the stove, without the coffee, of course, and let the vinegar solution run through the brewer.
- After the cycle and when your coffee pot cools down, disassemble the brewer, rinse it with hot water, dry well, and put it back together.
- Congratulations! You’ve just descaled your Moka pot.
Moka pot is a handy little brewer that is easy to use and brews a concentrated cup of coffee similar to an espresso.
Keeping the coffee pot clean by following these every day as well as descaling instructions will not only prevent any kitchen accidents but also ensure that your coffee tastes delicious every day.
About the author
Susan Rov
A retired barista who turned into a writer. I love discovering coffee flavors and learning more about the magic bean.
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