More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Moka Pots

I do love my Bialetti Moka Express. But every few years, it stops working. The actual mechanics of a Moka are pretty straightforward, so every time it stops working, I think "oh, just clean it out, change the gasket, we're done here."

But it never works like that, and I usually just buy a new one after a new gasket doesn't stop Moka from sputtering a sad little trickle instead of flowing smoothly. (Yes, I could buy a fancy espresso machine but my kitchen is small and I'm stubborn.)

This time around, I bought the gasket, and that worked for a while, but then Moka sputtered again.

"I know," I thought. "I'll get a new funnel! It's because I smack the funnel against the trash when I empty the grinds, and I've knocked it out of shape so the seal isn't firm."

That was a nice idea, but a new funnel also didn't work.

I looked online for a new Moka, but I couldn't figure out how to find the right size. Mine is a six-cup Moka, but I've got a six-cup Moka in Jersey City, and that is weirdly a smaller size. Rather than delve into what is going on there, I just went to YouTube for help resuscitating the one I have.

There sure are a lot of opinions on Moka pots on YouTube.

In the end, I followed one guy's instructions on how to disassemble the pot in ways I hadn't considered before--I had to use a wrench. I learned about the great debate of soap vs. no-soap for the Moka pot. (Hint: You can believe the guys who say soap is necessary to get the accumulated oil out, or you can believe the guys who say to fill the boiler with vinegar once a week and run a cycle. I did both.)

I also learned to fill the boiler with water, put in the empty funnel, and hold it firmly with a knife to confirm it's working. And finally...the key turned out to be I had to circle the funnel rim twice with teflon tape, the scrunch it up tight under the rim.

I went way farther in deep on Moka pot techniques than I expected to, but now my old, oversized 6-cup Moka Express works as smoothly as the day I bought it.

I did not go as far as the guy who used a Dremel to polish his Moka pot. Maybe next time.

Brought to you by the department-of-absurd-deep-dives from the sometimes-the-internet-doesn't-suck division of my laptop.