Page 56 - How It Works - Book Of Amazing Answers To Curious Questions, Volume 05-15

What is a moka pot?

A simple but ingenious design that brought barista-style coffee home

he moka pot, also known as a chamber where it is ready to laundry. Their primitive washing
stovetop espresso maker, uses be poured. machine consisted of a bucket of
Tbasic physics to achieve a The pressure built up in the pot’s soapy water that was brought to the

perfectly brewed cup of coffee. It chambers reach only 1.5 bars, boil over the fire. The water was
consists of three chambers; one for nowhere near the nine bars achieved pushed out of the tube and onto the
water, one for the coffee grounds and in traditional espresso makers. dirty clothes. Bialetti developed a
one for the fi nished blend. Nevertheless, the simplicity of its similar technique for the coffee pot
When the moka pot is placed on the design and ability to produce and his design remains much the
stove, the water heats up and quality cups of coffee made it a hit same to this day. Since its fi rst release
generates steam. This increases the in households. in 1933, over 300 million pots have Born out
pressure in the bottom chamber and It was invented in the 1930s by been sold around the world and it
pushes the water up through the Alfonso Bialetti, who was said to be remains a staple among coffee of fascism
coffee granules and into the top inspired by observing his wife doing enthusiasts everywhere.
Bialetti’s pot emerged
during Benito Mussolini’s
Inside a moka pot regime, when Italy was in a
stage of militarisation and
How pressure is used to produce its imports and exports
the perfect cup of coffee were tightly controlled. The
bauxite ore necessary for
aluminium were native to
Italy, and so were favoured
by the fascist regime over
other imported metals.
Accordingly, moka pots
were made from this
‘national’ metal, and so
were cheap and quick to
produce. Additionally, the
Italian invasion of Abyssinia
(modern Ethiopia) in 1935
Time for a cup brought with it the African
A characteristic country’s rich coffee
sputtering sound can be plantations. This fuelled
heard as the last of the an already coffee-
water boils through into
the top chamber – the obsessed country with
signal that the coffee is even more of the precious
ready to serve. beans and the patriotic
pot was the perfect
vessel to cook them in.
In the post-war period the
pot found international
Escaping the success in Central Europe
chamber and the wider Latin world.
Once the coffee is fully
saturated, the water
continues to boil up
through the metal fi lter Under pressure
and into the top funnel.
Absorbing the boiled
water, the coffee gradually
expands, which builds up
yet more pressure inside
the middle of the pot’s
two chambers.

Moving on up
Preparation As water in the bottom
After filling the bottom chamber boils, heated air

chamber part of the way expands and built-up
to the top, the ground pressure forces water
coffee is placed into a through the funnel and into
separate cradle and the coffee in the middle.
screwed tightly between Mussolini’s regime saw the trade
the two chambers. of coffee and metal ores become
tightly controlled

56 How It Works