Have you had your stovetop espresso today? Have you had any espresso cappuccino beverage today? No, okay, well you’re in for a very yummy treat. We’re going to get all the coffee paraphernalia that we need in order to make some delicious stovetop espresso. This whole process is what I call a manual way of making delicious coffee. I say it is manual because you don’t really need any electricity in order to enjoy this type of espresso beverage. Of course today we will be using electricity because we are using a stovetop espresso maker and the stovetop, being part of an oven will require electricity. But this same process with the same items that we’re using today can make you an enjoyable doppio espresso or even coffee when you’re out camping. All you need is a heat source… like a camping fire 🙂
The real name for a stovetop espresso maker
The stove top espresso maker is a stovetop machine that is more accurately called a Moka pot. You’ve seen them I’m sure. You can buy a Moka pot or stovetop espresso coffee maker at Amazon pretty inexpensively. An example that I just linked to is the Bialetti 6 cup stovetop espresso percolators. These percolators, at least the stainless stell stovetop espresso makers are more expensive than the aluminum ones. Expect to pay between 50 and 100 dollars for a decent stainless steel espresso percolator. And look at it this way, you’ll only need to buy one as it will last you the rest of your life. As an aside, the Bialetti Moka pot or Bialetti stovetop espresso maker is the original in that it was Bialetti that first patented the Moka pot as we know it.
An aluminum stovetop espresso machine can be had for about half the price of stainless steel Moka pots, but I don’t recommend them. I don’t cook in aluminum and I’m just a little concerned about eating or drinking from anything that has been cooked or come into contact with aluminum. For me, the risks associated with aluminum and brain damage or Alzheimer’s are just too great for me to save a few dollars on buying aluminum versus stainless steel cookware. However, the choice is yours.
Recommended size for your stovetop espresso maker
I would recommend you get an espresso Moka pot at least 4 to 6 cups in size. When they talk about cups they’re talking espresso shot glass cups as in 2 ounce servings.
Now I love the flavor of the coffee or espresso that comes from brewing my espresso coffee beans or even my 100 Kona beans on a stovetop espresso maker. Now not everyone would agree with me and in fact some coffee snobs feel that espresso brewed under the stove top espresso maker method is inferior. I’ll leave that up to you to judge. If you’re keen on learning more about how the Moka pot works you can check out this link at Wikipedia.
Now that you have your Moka pot you need some good wholesale coffee beans or bulk coffee beans if you’re looking to save some money but you definitely can’t use chocolate covered coffee beans for this! I recommend an authentic Italian coffee bean like Lavazza Blue or Lavazza Rossa, also available at Amazon for around 15 bucks a pound or so.
For brewing espresso with a Moka pot you don’t need an espresso tamper or for that matter very many espresso machine accessories. Just a spoon really will do well. You’ll need to grind your beans to the appropriate coffee grind setting and I like to use a burr coffee grinder for this. Something like a Dualit coffee grinder, KitchenAid coffee grinder or even the Cuisinart coffee grinder all offer burr coffee grinders. Now I’m not going to tell you what grind to use, the finer the coffee grind the more crema and the stronger will be your stovetop espresso that you enjoy, so play around with it.
Now you fill the base of the stovetop espresso maker with water. I like distilled water as it doesn’t interfere with the coffee flavor profile. Then you add the ground espresso beans to the filter basket and you don’t have to worry about tamping this down at all. You can, and again the more tamped down the espresso is the more flavor will be extracted. I like to use around 2 tablespoons of ground espresso beans per serving. That’s just a guideline and feel free to adjust according to taste.
Put the filter back into the base of the stovetop espresso maker and screw on the top of the Moka pot. Place the stovetop espresso coffee machine on the smallest stovetop element and bring the heat to high. In about 4 to 5 minutes you will be enjoying some of the best stovetop espresso that you have ever tasted in your life 🙂