Coffee Percolator (stove top)
Last Post 07/09/2014 12:52 AM by Justin jmdirt. 11 Replies.
Author Messages
jmdirt

Posts:775

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07/06/2014 09:30 PM
I'm going to buy a stove top percolator. Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone use a Bialetti Moka pot?

I was going to buy an electric percolator, but it seems that the element only last about a year no matter the brand.
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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07/07/2014 12:52 AM
If you can find it, get a stainless steel pot. The Bialetti SS pot is excellent. I bought my 3 "cup" (actually one large American cup) 10 years ago and use it near daily. The weak point is the gaskets which are natural latex (?). Far better are gaskets you make yourself from 1/8" silicon food quality gasket sheet. Look up gaskets locally and call around. I found a big distributor and they gave me one square foot scrape gratis. Hang on to your last gasket as a pattern or measure the inside and outside dimensions before use. When you have used it once, you will not be able to take it out and either replace it or get dimensions that mean anything from it.

Ping me if you have any questions.

Those mocha pots make real Italian coffee.

Ben
Ride On

Posts:537

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07/07/2014 06:07 AM
You can make coffee on a stove top? Who knew.
jmdirt

Posts:775

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07/07/2014 10:32 AM
Ben, The Bialetti Moka is aluminum. I wonder how that compares to the SS version for coffee quality.

http://www.amazon.com/Bialetti-Express-6-Cup-Stovetop-Espresso/dp/B000CNY6UK

Is this what you have?:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/bialetti-reg-venus-stainless-steel-espresso-makers/3242262

THANKS!
THE SKINNY

Posts:506

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07/07/2014 10:52 AM
back when i was brewing beer, there was the argument over ss vs aluminum for cooking your grain. i personally could never taste the aluminum flavor that was supposed to be present. some people can, i guess. i think it's the same argument with bottles vs cans. i was just happy if i didn't get poisoned.
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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07/07/2014 11:27 AM

Posted By Justin jmdirt on 07/06/2014 09:30 PM
I'm going to buy a stove top percolator. Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone use a Bialetti Moka pot?

I was going to buy an electric percolator, but it seems that the element only last about a year no matter the brand.


We've got that one, the alu one. Its the one the Italian inlaws use so it must be good, right?
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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07/07/2014 12:38 PM
jm, Bialetti makes the same pot in SS. Hard to find and two or three times the price but worth it. I also have a Spanish SS pot but I broke the handle after a hand injury and couldn't screw the top on with using the handle.

I think about running hot steam through and acid in an aluminum vessel and Alzheimer's which runs n my family.

Ben
jmdirt

Posts:775

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07/08/2014 11:15 AM
I remember reading about AL cookware contributing to Alzheimer's many years ago, but I haven't heard anything about it since.

My wife came home with a Hamilton Beach electric percolator that she got for a good price at BB&B so I guess we'll see how that works.
smokey52

Posts:492

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07/08/2014 06:31 PM
I think this thread got into the wrong topic. It should be part of "The Coffee Shop" topic.
There is a difference between percolators and espresso makers. Percolators have localized boiling at the base, which is channelled up the stem, bounces off the top, and percolates through the basket filled with ground coffee beans. Espresso makers have a sealed lower chamber. Steam at the top of the lower chamber forces the super-heated water though the finer ground coffee beans, and the water (now coffee) settles into the upper chamber. For after-dinner espresso, you can add a bit of anisette (eg, Sambuca).
If you think your coffee tastes like mud, remember it was ground this morning.
Ben has a point with respect to aluminum. It is a potential contributor to Alzheimer's. I avoid ant-acids with aluminum components. Aluminum foil is okay, but aluminum cookware is not in our household.
smokey
jmdirt

Posts:775

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07/08/2014 09:02 PM
Smokey, I started out looking to get an electric percolator, but in looking around the www I got onto moka pots. You are correct about the different process of each. Espresso snobs on the www die in a pile if you call the product out of moka pots espresso (caffeine snobs are worse than bike snobs!) I was going to get a moka pot like Ben's, but then my wife, who knew I wanted a percolator, came home with one.
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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07/08/2014 09:19 PM
jm, moka pots and the coffee from them have been referred to as stovetop espresso a long time. Solidly in use 30 years ago. I'll bet a lot of those snobs were still in diapers then.

Ben
jmdirt

Posts:775

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07/09/2014 12:52 AM
Ben, even the manufacturers of moka pots refer to them that way. The hipster snobs have $1,000 espresso machines so a $60 moka pot just isn't cool to them! Thanks for your advice, if the electric percolator doesn't work out, I'm going to get a pot like yours.


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