Customer Reviews

Bialetti 6800 Moka Express 6-Cup Stovetop Espresso Maker

5 star:		(186)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Every family in Italy owns one of these machines. Here are a few tips:
1. In Italy this is NOT called an espresso machine, but a Moka machine. An espresso is what you would drink in bar made with a steam or high pressure machine with the crema on top.
2. Smaller size Moka machine tend to make better coffee.
3. Never wash the Moka with detergents, just rinse it under tap water
4. You've gotta use it often for a good coffee.
5. If you haven't use it in a while, make a weak coffee ("lungo") and discard
6. DO NOT put the MOka in the dishwasher.
7. Use drinking water. Avoid tap water especially if very chlorinated
8. Never compress the coffee.
9. For a strong coffee fill the filter with ground coffee and make a small cupola that slightly protrudes beyond the rim. Do not press down.
10. For best coffee, heat at very low heat. It's ok if it takes 10min.
11. As soon as coffee reaches the top, remove from heat
12. Do not let the coffee boil
13. Use good quality coffee, not too strong, medium grind (try Illy for a good commercial brand)
14. Sip while still hot, enjoy!

About 12 years ago I was in Milan, and a friend gave me one of these to take home. I have used it nearly every day since (I don't take it out of town), so that should give you an idea of how sturdy it is. It is the best coffee maker I have ever owned. To compare, I also have a high-tech espresso machine with frother; a state-of-the-art automatic drip coffeemaker; a French Press; and a different style of stovetop maker, which, surprisingly, makes a different brew. But I ALWAYS go back to my Bialetti Moka 6-cup for the best espresso and lattes. You even will get a crema effect with this simple pot. For lattes, I simply fill half a coffee mug with milk, heat it in the microwave until it's hot, and then top it off with espresso. It's low-maintenance -- every once in a while I replace the internal rubber gasket, which costs a buck or so, depending upon where you buy it. If you like your coffee like the Italians and the Cubans, then you will like the brew this serves. I am loyal to this simple little pot, and hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Works great on the stovetop, works great when you're CAMPING..!!! No plugs, no cords, no nonsense -- fill the lower half with water to the indicated mark, put your grounds in the upper basket, join the two halves, wait for it to gurgle and you have EXCEPTIONALLY DELICIOUS espresso the way it ought to be made.

The device is simple and beautifully made. I'd recommend the six-cup version, the smaller versions just don't make very much espresso -- I mean, get the six-cup version if there are two of you, since that will make an adequate amount.

Really a brilliant product. I wish that everything was so well-designed and robust. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

***DO NOT OVERHEAT!***DO NOT OVERHEAT!***DO NOT OVERHEAT!***

There. I've done my good deed, and passed along the warning for the next person. Reading the translated-to-English directions, it's easy to miss this important cautionary note. In fact, it's not even IN the directions. It's written on the side of the box.

But fortunately, before my Moka Express ever arrived, I read another reviewer's cautionary note about avoiding HIGH heat (which can destroy the rubber gasket), so I didn't have any problem from the get-go.

And speaking of 'get-go' here's the deal. The FIRST time out (actually the second time, because the directions recommend that you dispose of the first batch), I had THE *BEST* ESPRESSO I EVER HAD. PERIOD. BAR NONE.

Using some Columbian coffee (that a friend had actually hand-carried from Columbia a few weeks ago), and setting my smallest burner (it's a ceramic-top stove) to just under "5" (10 being the hottest), the espresso that came out of this coffeemaker was INCREDIBLY smooth, and totally without the bitter taste that it can sometimes have.

If this is the result after using it ONCE, I'm looking forward to seeing how good it gets after I've had a chance to figure out the best combination of type of coffee/amount to use/fineness of grind/etc.

Also, for the price, it absolutely cannot be beat. The full pot yielded about six double-shots, so after just one use, it's almost half paid for!

I'm going to be drinking a lot more espresso. And cappuccino. And cafe-au-lait.

Oh well. Who needs sleep? It's overrated anyway! ;-)


-Jonathan Sabin

UPDATE... We put it in the dishwasher today.

DON'T make this mistake!

When we pulled it out at the end of the cycle, the shiny aluminum exterior had turned into a pretty ugly, uneven, dull finish. I'm sure it'll still work just fine, but it sure doesn't look as nice as it did before.

(ONE other review, among the 48 thusfar, mentions the dishwasher issue, but doesn't say why.)


UPDATE TO THE UPDATE... It's taken about 3 months, but a BUNCH of hand-cleaning has finally reverted our Bialetti to its former shiny state! It's STILL making the best espresso/cappucino I've ever had!

My wife and I have been spending a pretty penny at the local coffee shop, so I began looking for inexpensive home alternatives. Most of the coffee snobs claim you have to purchase a $200+ machine and $150+ grinder to have a decent cup of espresso. I turned instead to the frugal Italians. They did invent the stuff, afterall. My Bialetti Moka Express coffee pot came this afternoon. I was a little concerned that a $20 pot might not meet the high standards of the gourmet beverages wifey and I have become accustomed to. I was wrong. The brew made by this ingenious little pot is a little weaker than "pumped" espresso and lacks the foamy cap (crema) that all the snobs rave about, but mixed with some hot, frothed milk and a bit of chocolate syrup I couldn't tell the difference between Bialetti and Seattle's Best.

This rich brew comes from a tiny little aluminum contraption with no moving parts, no electronic gizmos, no pump handle and virtually no wait time or clean-up. You just fill, brew and pour. It's that simple. Its base only covers half of the stovetop's smallest eye and I expect it will be easy to store due to its diminuitive size. I've already had three cups of homemade mocha today, and I've only had the pot since noon! *jitter jitter* The point is this: If you're a coffee lover who is bored with Folgers from a Mr. Coffee drip machine or is spending way too much at Starbucks, the Moka pot is an inexpensive and easy-to-use alternative with excellent results.

If you want to make expressos quickly and without fuss, then the Bialetti line is the way to go. They are much cheaper than modern expresso machines which can set you back several hundred or even thousands of dollars, and yet make the perfect expresso shot as it has been made since the thirties in Italy.

It works by letting water boil in the lower half, forcing it up into the upper half through the coffee grain container in the middle. The simplicity explains the robustness of the device, made almost entirely of highly durable aluminium.

The result is a strong, dark shot of expresso which you can drink straight or with milk froth for a perfect capuccino.

I have had mine for over ten years, and it is still as good as new, with daily morning use.

Bought it at the suggestion of a friend's Italian wife and haven't looked back. It makes six espresso shots (for many Americans who just don't get it, that is the size of a shot, not the 7 Eleven jumbo coffee).

Operation is simple, fill it up to a little below the <safety> valve or it will explode as another reviewer discovered. If you use Illy beans (lower caffeine content so its less bitter) you will get a better cup, but standard supermarket beans are palatable as a base for lattes and so on. Get the beans finely ground and put in Bialetti but don't overfill or tamp them down, put on medium heat, and as soon as its done pour out the espresso from the Bialetti so it doesn't burn the espresso, which is especially important if you use the electric bialetti!

For a fraction of the price of Starbucks you can make espresso in your home like the average Italian family. The only problem you'll find with a six cup size is that you end up drinking it all yourself, so if you buy it for personal use, get a 2 or 3 cup size and avoid the caffeine jitters.

When I first searched Amazon for home espresso makers, I braced myself for a list of monstrous machines requiring a bank loan to afford. I certainly wasn't expecting to find a tiny stove-top pot for under 30 dollars. And look at all the five-star reviews! "The best", "The standard", "easy to use", "delicious", "affordable". I must have been missing something. Could this dinky Italian pot really brew an espresso comparable to the overpriced work of the baristas at Starbucks et al.?

The answer is yes. The espresso that the Moka makes obviously isn't quite the same product that a professional high-pressure machine puts out, but the taste and extraction process are very similar. I've had my 6-cup Moka pot for a few months now and I use it daily. My drip coffee maker worked fine but the results were mostly uninspiring, my French press was a pain to clean, and I needed a bigger caffeine jolt in the morning anyway. The Moka fits the bill. I'm consistently amazed at the amount of flavor this machine extracts from even the lousiest coffee grinds - I had only a can of pre-ground store brand coffee when my Moka arrived, so I figured I'd test it with that before buying some better beans. To my shock, it made a great cup of coffee. I ended up finishing off the can that week! And with fresh beans ground just before you brew, the results are superlative. It's also true that the pot makes better coffee the more you use it.

The fact that Bialetti has been producing this very model of espresso maker since the '30s, and that nearly every Italian household owns one, says something about its quality. If you're looking to make your own good home espresso, check out the Moka before plunking down cash for one of the all-in-one machines. It really does live up to the praise.

I have enjoyed coffee very much for 20 years now and say this little coffee maker is great. For the price, it's quite a bargain.

Overall construction shows it to be mass produced, for sure; there are a few edges that aren't perfect. I really could care less. All the pieces are solid and fit snuggly.

Function is just as I would hope it would be. There's not much that can go wrong with something so simple, though.

Bottome line, if you want an espresso maker and nothing else, this is your chance...

I've had this coffee pot for about a month and so far I'm very happy. I primed the coffee maker as suggested here by making and throwing away 3-4 pots of coffee. The coffee (espresso coffee ground for a moka pot) tastes excellent. However, unlike what one reviewer mentioned, I've not yet been able to procure any of that elusive crema.

One note: I've read random reviews online regarding this pot where some people experienced coffee leaks from the bottom part of the pot. One of the suggestions for fixing this was to tighten (or over tighten) the bottom part of the pot. Anyway, I experienced this leak a couple times last week and reading the reviews I thought I had to return the pot. However, I quickly realised my mistake. I had inserted the filter (that fits between the lower and the upper chamber) backwards. The filter is secured in place by the rubber seal and the wide portion of the filter ring should be facing up. I reversed the direction of the filter on the pot (I obviously had replaced it wrongly after washing this unit) and this stopped the leak. Now we're back to enjoying leak and mess free coffee.