Here’s How to Know When Your Moka Pot is Done: 5 Top Tips Inside

How to know when a Moka pot is done? 

It’s vital to know when your Moka pot has brewed coffee and it’s ready to be served, otherwise your coffee might be burned and taste too bitter. What are the signs that show you your coffee is ready? Stick around, I have compiled a comprehensive guide on how to brew coffee with a Moka pot the right way. I also share a bunch of top tips along the way.

Let’s dive right into it.

Key takeaways: 

• A quick way to tell you Moka pot coffee is ready
• 5 tips on how to make aromatic coffee with a Moka pot
• Frequently asked questions about espresso made with a Moka pot

How to know when a Moka pot is done?

The brewing is done when the colour of the liquid coffee coming out of the tower on the upper chamber changes from dark to light and there’s also some slight sputtering. This means that your coffee is ready. It’s key to take the pot off the stove, otherwise, you’ll end up with burned coffee.

When is the right time to take the Moka pot off the heat?

If you master this bit, you’ll make great espresso every single time.

The secret to doing this right is to pay attention to the Moka pot and especially when it starts sputtering.

Let me explain.

You don’t want to take the pot off the heat too early cause a lot of water is going to be left in the lower chamber and you won’t brew much coffee. But at the same time, you don’t keep the pot on the heat longer than it should cause it’ll burn the coffee.

It’s vital to find the exact time that you need to lift the Moka pot off the heat. This comes with experience; don’t be disappointed if you brew bitter coffee the first few times. 

A great rule of thumb is to lift the Moka pot off when within the first 5 seconds when it starts sputtering. 

Coffee lover shares his experience on brewing with a Moka pot:

I use my moka pot every single day. I have no issues with just setting the base on my tea towel, pouring the hot water into the base, wrap the towel around the base, and screwing the top on. It really is super simple to use and not much more fuss than screwing the base on without a towel.

-TheBlueEdition

5 Tips on how to brew great espresso with a Moka pot

Let’s go over a number of top tips to help you do the timing right and brew delicious coffee.

1. Open the lid

A simple yet effective way of taking your Moka pot off the heat is to keep the top lid open and pay attention to what’s going on. You’ll be able to see when the coffee starts flowing; at the beginning, the coffee is going to be dark and it will start getting less dark and then it will start sputtering which is the right moment to lift off your pot. 

But before it reaches the sputtering point, it’s vital to close the lid, otherwise, it will start spilling coffee all over the place giving an extra task to clean around your oven.

2. Counting the time won’t help

It sounds logical to assume that if you count the time, you’ll be able to brew aromatic espresso. 

But the thing is there are different factors that affect the time needed for brewing. 

These are: 

• Starting temperature 
• Ratio
• Roast
• Grind size
• Stove setting
• If your Moka pot is clean (learn how to clean your stainless steel stovetop espresso brewer)

So, as you might have guessed it’s difficult to say that you’ll only need x amount of minutes to brew. This way you would brew great coffee sometimes, but other times it would be just burned. 

3. Place the pot on the edge of the stove

This is another way you can implement to not burn your coffee.

All you need to do when coffee starts flowing from the tower and its colour starts becoming lighter simply place the Moka pot on the edge of the stove, so it won’t be heated so much and you’ll slow down the process.

This way you won’t just wait for the right moment to take it off when it starts gurgling. In practice, you’ll virtually eliminate the possibility of burning your coffee.

But I’m afraid this method is only applicable to certain types of stoves (mainly electric ones), meaning that if you have gas stoves it’s impossible to implement this method.

4. Turn off the stove before the brewing is done

This is another simple tip that will help you brew great coffee. 

All you need to do is once the coffee starts flowing you can turn the stove off and let the Moka pot brew with the remaining heat. You need a bit of practice to get a grasp of it since you don’t want to turn the stove too early cause you’ll end up with less amount of coffee. So, if you want to give this a shot you need to experiment a little bit. 

This is applicable with electric stoves but it’s difficult to do this with a gas stove. 

5. Master the process

It’s good to master the process, especially at the beginning.

Let me explain.

It’s wise to follow the exact same steps every time, so if you start with relatively hot water when brewing, stick to it every time. Use the same grind size and roast every time to be able to predict better when your coffee is going to be ready. This will make you more confident with brewing excellent espressos every single time. But keep in mind that every time you change a factor (say you change the grind size) the process will change and you’ll need to adapt to it. 

The table below summarises the five quick tips on brewing with a Moka pot: 

Tip:	Why it matters:
Keep the lid of your Moka pot open	You’ll make sure you lift the Moka pot off the stove the right moment
It’s NOT wise to count the time	The time needed varies and depends on different factors including grinding size and stove setting among others.
Put the stove on the edge of the stove	Coffee is brewed slowly and the odds are it won’t be burned
Switch off the stove before coffee is brewed	Because the stove remains hot, the coffee will still be brewed
Master the process	Every time you brew coffee with your Moka pot is going to be easier until you’ll reach a point that you’ll make great coffee every single time

A Moka pot owner shares a couple of top tips:

What is it you don’t like about the coffee? I have had pretty good cups from the pot. I do use it fairly regularly, usually the 3-cup or 2-cup pots. I don’t really even have any particular hacks or anything, maybe the only being either heating or not heating the brew water before putting the pot on the stove. I assume preheating the water makes for a slightly hotter brew so I do it coffees that seem to need it. One thing to mention is I use a gas stove and keep the heat fairly low. I turn the heat off at about half way into the brew, or a bit before the pot starts gurgling, so that it never gurgls and I keep the lid open. With some dark roasts I’ve liked adding a couple of ice cubes into the server while brewing, in hopes of keeping the brew less hot. Lately I’ve also diluted the coffee (light roasts) with 50% more water. So if I get 120g out of the 3-cup pot I’d add 60g of water (either heated or room temp). This makes for a nice faux filter coffee when I’m feeling lazy.

– ojt

Let’s wrap it up 

How to know when a Moka pot is done? Since you now know go ahead and brew aromatic espresso to treat yourself. And once you get the hang of how to make great coffee with a Moka pot, you can always make a cappuccino, latte or even a macchiato. 

FAQ

Let’s go over some questions on the topic that often come up. 

Why does my Moka pot whistle? 

This sometimes happens when brewing but it doesn’t necessarily mean that your coffee is ready. Most of the time this tells you that the gasket is either not cleaned or fitted properly and as a result, it forces your Moka pot to whistle. Make sure you clean and fit the gasket properly in the Moka pot. 

How can you tell when the gasket of your Moka pot needs replacing

When the rubber is worn down it typically means that the gasket needs to be replaced. It’s quite common to happen, especially if you brew too much coffee every day. The good news is it won’t cost you much to replace it. 

Can you leave the Moka pot on the stove after the brewing is done?

The short answer is: No 

It’s wise to lift off the Moka pot and place it somewhere else, ideally, you need to put a cloth underneath it so it won’t make any marks on the furniture on you place it. If you leave it on the stove and there’s still coffee in, the odds are that it will keep heating this coffee and its taste is going to turn bitter.

What is the Moka pot’s maximum capacity?

The good news is that there are different sizes of Moka pots you can go for from 1-cup (2 fl. oz.) to 12-cup (25 fl. oz.). If you consume a lot of coffee on a daily basis is a good idea to go for one that has a relatively big capacity. If not, you can just get one with 1-2 cups.