The problem with traditional moka pots is that they can not be used on induction stoves. As people move from gaz to induction, they abandon Bialetti and Alessi gadgets.
Bialetti (and others) manufactures also stainless steel ones, not sure why would one buy aluminium ones (when we phased out aluminium from basically all other cookware).
I am super happy with mine, close to a thousand coffees made with 0 maintenance, for 5% of the price of a good coffee machine. And the only waste is coffee grind itself.
We have an aluminium Bialetti, but I really hate the feel of the aluminium after a while; I touch it with my fingers but I feel it in my teeth, I honestly can't stand it, just thinking about it puts my teeth on edge.
Long story short, we bought a stainless steel version, and I love it so much. Probably made 3,000 coffees with it, and it's almost as good as the day we bought it. No a single part replaced or damaged.
Really happy to hear they are coming back from the brink.
Yes, just get a steel one. Aluminium ones feel unpleasant to the touch and they don't survive the dishwasher. Two of mine have been killed that way. (To be clear, it's not me who put them in the dishwasher).
From what I've seen, stainless steel Bialettis (what you need for induction) are not the original "made in Italy". Not that it is necessarily a bad thing, but there is little point sticking with the Bialetti brand if you want an induction moka pot.
I've found that you have to use less heat on them so that the coffee extracts slower than the traditional bialetti and the "knockoff" that I bought was about as good. With similar heat I coudl tell just by the color it wasn't extracting the same
Generally you want to use as little heat as possible when brewing with a moka pot. The most common issue people have with them is bitter coffee caused by burning their ground. The usual advice is to boil the water before filling and chilling as soon as the pot starts bubbling.
From my point of view, if what you are looking for is a very finicky way of making coffee, you have two options: a cheap moka pot or an expensive coffee machine. Then again, I do have a Silvia. Finicky has a certain appeal.
> The problem with traditional moka pots is that they can not be used on induction stoves.
Wrong. Any kind of ferromagnetic sheet of metal (ie even your random iron pie pan) will pick up induction. I regularly use a standard moka pot on my induction stove.
The traditional ones are aluminum and therefore need an adapter to use on an induction stove which can be a simple ferrous sheet. The gp was quite obnoxious about saying that though.
Well then TIL that my moka is not a standard one... It was bought recently tho (like ~5 years ago), so perhaps it's gone standard to put some ferrous thing at the bottom, idk.
