How to make Italian coffee
with the Moka

• Unscrew the top portion of the moka.
• Fill the bottom with fresh water up to the level of the valve or a little over it.
• Insert the filter basket into the base and fill the filterbasket with coffee. The grind should be fine, but not powdery, about the same as for a fine filter drip. It is very important that you do not pack the coffee or tamp it down. Simply smooth it with the back of a spoon. Also, the water should not seep through the strainer when you insert it.
• Make sure you do not get any grounds on the outside rim of the container. There must be a perfect seal at this point or else the water will spew out once it begins to boil. Just wipe any excess grounds off before assembling the pot.
• Assemble the pot. Screw the pot onto the base by holding the pot itself, not the handle.
• Set the pot on a burner set at medium-low heat. After a bit you there will be a slow trickle of coffee coming up into the pot. The espresso comes out as mostly steam toward the end of the brew.
• Brewing should take about 5 minutes. If it takes longer, try raising the heat a little next time. Brewing has completed when all the water has been percolated into the top.
• Once there is no more liquid coming up into the pot, remove it from the heat and allow it to sit for 30 seconds.

Use a spoon to stir the coffee, then pour about 2 ounces into an espresso cup. Serve immediately if you want to drink espresso. If you prefer American-style coffee, pour about 2 ounces of the espresso into an 8-ounce cup and fill the rest of the cup with boiling water. Stir before serving.

The number of cups you can make per pot depends on the size of the moka pot you use. We like our coffee strong though, so we use the 6-cup pot to make 4 cups of American-style coffee.