Moka Pot

The Moka Pot is probable the item most associated with the brewing of a cup of coffee. It's distinctive design, usually encompassing eight sides, and made from aluminum, is easily recognised the world over.

The Moka Pot is designed to be used on a stove pot, and brews the coffee via a technique of water being pressured by heat and turning into steam. The man responsible for issuing and gaining the original patent is one Alfonso Bialetti.

Alfonso Bialetti was, as the name suggests, an Italian. Bialetti was a native of the region of Piedmont, which is in the North of Italy, and touches on the boarder of France. Bialetti originally worked in the French aluminum industry, and brought back his experience to Italy.

He set up a workshop in Crusinallo, Piedmont, and within fifteen years he had invented the Moka Pot, the exact year being 1933. It was officially referred to as the Moka Express, rather than the Moka Pot. It is still made by the Bialetti company, the design remains the same, and is recorded as being the most recognised coffee pot in existence.

The Moka Pot is a national icon in Italy, and can still be found in most Italian homes. It would be fair to say the Moka Pot is most widely used in Continental Europe, rather than in the UK and North America.

The advantage to brewing coffee with a Moka Pot is the level of pressure generated. Higher than with many other techniques, it provides and a strong and invigorating cup of coffee. In that regard the results are much closer to an espresso machine than the modern day automatic drip makers.