Bialetti percolator

Over 220 millions machines sold. Industrial design icon, presented in museums of modern art and design all over the world. One of the symbols of Italy. Bialetti percolator is a device produced for over 80 years. It allows to quickly and easily make a good coffee. 

Invented in 1933 in Italy. Inventor Luigi de Ponti patented percolators project, working for Alfonso Bialetti, industrialist producing kitchen equipment. At first sales were slow. Up to 1940 only 70 000 percolators were sold, but future years sales were constantly growing and elevated Bialetti comapny to the position of kitchen accessories producing leader. The most important factor that contributed to this success was the owners son – Renato, who in 1946 took control of the company.

He decided to reduce the amount of accessories that the company offered (Bialetti produced pots, pans, cutlery and any other kitchen equipment), he also initiated a large scale marketing company, including the still new television spots. „l’omino con i baffi”, which means „short  man with mustache” became a symbol of the company. It’s a caricature of Alfonso Bialetti, who keeps his hand rised with a gesture of extended finger, that translates „one espresso, please!”. Soon after a highly advanced Omegna factory has been built, it was capable of satisfying the rapidly increasing demand. At the beginning of 21st century, the total sale of Moka Express percolators was estimated at over 220 millions copies.

 

Bialetti percolator is very easy to understand. It consists of three main elements: bottom water container, filter and top container, into which coffee is liquified. The water poured into bottom container should be hot (or at least very warm), thanks to that coffee won’t be gradually heated, which is not good for it, but instead will immediately start brewing. Ground coffee is being put into the filter, that is then placed on the bottom container.

The coffee shouldn’t be whipped or pressed – you can just level its surface and be sure that it’s not on the edge, that is later pressed against the top container gasket. The last element is the top container. It’s being tighten to two other elements of the percolator, after that you can put it on the burner. If you use hot water, as I do, the brewing will start very quickly and the coffee will liquify in the top container. 

What to look out for?

amount of water: the safety valve located in the bottom container sets the maximum limit. It should never be poured with water!

amount of coffee and its grinding level: the amount of coffee is up to you. I usually fill the whole filter, equally with the sieves edge. I don’t press it, but gently level its surface. The important part is the grinding level: it can’t be too finely grinded as it will clog the sieve. On the other side, too coarsely grinded coffee won’t brew in the right way and will result in a very low quality coffee. The coffee should be grinded more coarsely than for pressure coffee machine, but more finely than for an AeroPress. If you have a grinder, you will find the right grinding level after a few tries

turning of the burner: after the coffee starts to liquify in the top part of the percolator, the burner should be either turned of or the fire should be significantly reduced.

induction hob – if you have it at home, the standard Moka Express won’t work with it. You should choose a model, that is designed for induction hobs.

What will be the result?

Capacity of different Bialetti percolator models is determined by amount of espresso, e.g. 6 espresso. Basic espresso is 25 ml (I already wrote about it here), which means that the mentioned model can brew around 125 ml of coffee. Personally, I don’t think that Bialetti is a good choice for making espresso, but it’s great for making big black coffee. The brewing method conditions what coffee beans you should use to a certain extent. It’s better if you use dark (Italian) roasted coffee as it will result in a classic, strong black coffee. The coffee I usually use for my Moka Express Brazilian Santos. It’s a good arabica, which if dark roasted and brewed in a percolator, gives a slightly bitter, strong, nutty-chocolate notes. It’s worth to mention that this kind of coffee also composes with milk very well, so if you don’t consider yourself a grand conservative person and don’t think that milk for coffee should only be heated with steam from the nozzle up to 68°C, then you can freely experiment with coffee from Moka Express.

  • Ethiopia – the homeland of coffee

    I don’t think that most of europeans know much about Ethiopia. It’s commonly known that it’s an African country, it’s probably hot and poor. However, it’s worth noting, that our thoughts during morning coffee, can turn to this African country. Ethiopia is not only one of the largest coffee producers in the world, but it’s also the place where coffee originated from. All of our coffee knowledge starts from the legend of goatherd Kaldi, who supposedly lived in the 9th…

  • French press

    French press, also known as press pot or coffee press, is one of the simplest devices for home coffee making. If you use high quality, fresh roasted and ground just before brewing coffee beans, you will gain the highest quality black coffee, which you won’t have to be ashamed of, even in front of elegant guests. In my previous articles I wrote about making coffee with classic devices like Bialetti percolator, Chemex, or Aeropress (which is known for roughly 10…

  • Espresso, cappuccino, latte, americano… What differs coffee from coffee?

    Espresso, cappuccino, latte, americano… Surely most of you know which coffee to choose for yourself. But what are the differences between other coffees? Espresso – everyone knows. Latte has a higher amount of heated (but not frothed) milk than cappuccino. Americano is a ,,big black coffee”. But what to choose when you can see coffees like flat white, Romano or Marochino listed in the menu? Gamble and pick randomly or just take cappuccino that you know very well? This short…

  • The Italian job – a few words about espresso

    In my previous article I wrote about different coffees, most based on espresso. This time I would like to focus only on espresso as it’s the most important factor, which affects the final result of cappuccino, latte or any other espresso based coffee. Espresso should have 25 ml volume. It’s served in a heated porcelain cup of 70 ml volume. There is a dense nutty-brown foam at the top, the foam gives the coffee a sweet taste. Middle part of…

  • Where does coffee come from?

    Where does coffee come from? The answe for this question seems easy: from the shop, cafe, roastery… But have you ever wondered where is the beginning? How does coffee look in its natural development stage? If you ever wondered about these question while drinking your coffee, this article is for you. Coffee is cultivated for over 1000 years. The homeland of coffee is Ethiopia. According to a legend, goatherd Kaldi discovered coffee trees. One day he noticed that his goats…

  • How to recognize a good quality coffee?

    Most people who drink coffee tend to limit themselves to determining whether it is good or not. In the case of people dealing with coffee professionally, such terms can not say much. Coffee beans are the second most traded commodity on world exchanges (crude oil is the first). The entire industry, from growers over brokers and roasters, to coffee shops and sometimes home coffee drinkers, had to develop some common methods of testing coffee and assessing its quality. In this…

  • Chemex

    It looks like a chemical laboratory installation element, James Bond makes his coffee in it and Illinois Institute of Technology (USA) considered it as „one of the best designed modern times items”. What is it? It’s a Chemex coffee maker! Glass jug with top widening neck and wooden handle fastened with a leather strap – a very simple, yet so charming and timeless device, that New York city’s Musem of Modern Art presents it at the permanent exhibition. Chemex was…

Exit mobile version