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.
