Old Italian Moka by Alessandro Paiva

Though espresso machines with all the latest bells and whistles are popular kitchen appliances these days, they are not your only option for home espresso brewing. Depending on how familiar you are with making espresso, you may not realize that there is a much simpler (and cheaper) kind of espresso machine.

It’s not even really a “machine” if you want to get really technical, but just simply a stove-top pot. They’re called espresso pots, or moka pots. A little like a tea kettle, it’s about as low-tech as you can get.

An espresso pot looks like a small kettle with a spout, but with a narrow waist in the middle. The most recognizable model is made by Bialetti, and has a distinctive multi-sided shape. It would look at home with any typical modern decor.

So how do they work? The pot has basically 3 parts: the bottom chamber for water, a filter funnel for your coffee grounds in the middle, and the upper chamber for your finished espresso screws on top. No moving parts at all. With the water chamber filled, and finely ground coffee tamped into the funnel, you just place the pot on a heat source. A stove burner works perfectly.

As the water heats up, it is forced up from the bottom chamber up through the coffee grounds in the funnel. The brewed espresso accumulates in the top chamber, ready to pour when your brewing is completed. Elegant, nearly silent and doesn’t require a handbook to learn how to use it.

Now the espresso pot doesn’t produce as much pressure as most electric machines will, which does mean a less strong cup of espresso. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be ignored as a potential kitchen gadget you could come to love. They do come in many sizes too, from the little one-cup to larger 8 or even 10-cup espresso pots.

Related posts:

1. Stovetop Espresso Maker