Having made plenty of stovetop, I can assure our readers that coffee quality and freshness are critical- regardless of the method you choose to make your coffee.
I'd no more drink 9 month old supermarket tan bark out of a caffettiera than any other method of making coffee. Stale is stale and I choose fresh.
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Help! - Getting Stovetop right
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Bialetti 1 cup aluminium or 1 cup musa, I prefer the stainless musa since it cleans up easier. IMO the smaller pots produce a better result, the larger the pot the more chance of burnt bitter flavors. I boil the water in the bottom part before placing the filter in and screwing on the lid but be careful doing it.
I dont find fresh coffee to be critical or even preferable for pots, lavazza red is ol'reliable for me, just made the video below with some thats been in the fridge for months and got about as much crema as you would with any coffee in one of these.
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Thanks for all your advice. I thought that it may have needed to be used to full capacity but wanted confirmation. Can you make any recommendations for a single cup one?
I also knew that it wasn't going to taste great with stale coffee, but was looking to at least get it working properly before I focus on the taste.
I have seen some pictures of people creating crema with a stovetop but they must be far more experienced than I am.
I have read in many places that boiling water should be used to stop the coffee being burnt, so I'll try it with cold water if I get a single cup.
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Welcome CasualBrewer,
Sorry to say this, but you're doing everything wrong.
- Stovetops need to be used to full capacity. Sounds like you need to purchase a smaller one.
- The filter needs to be full
- They are best used with freshly ground, freshly roasted coffee. In general, no roast date = stale and >1 month from roast = stale
- Always use cold water
- The slower the extraction the better
- Keep the top section as cool as possible. Some even use a cold towel to assist.
By doing all of this, you will get a vastly superior cup, but forget about crema. It's not likely to happen with a stovetop.
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Help! - Getting Stovetop right
Hi,
I've recently received a cheapie stovetop coffee pot but I'm not overly happy with the results it's producing. It is a 6 cup pot, however I only need to make 1-2 cups at a time, so I have only been filling the basket about a third full and doing the same with water. I boil the water prior to brewing, and leave it to brew for what I would think would be enough time for it to use most or all of the water. Despite this, all I get is a very small amount of coffee without crema (I'm using storebought pre-ground coffee because I can't afford a good grinder so I don't expect to get any crema). The coffee isn't very strong and I am always left with quite a large amount of light coloured water in the bottom chamber.
Can anyone point out where I'm going wrong? I imagine that there is a multitude of mistakes here but, hey, I'm new to this!
Thanks!Tags: None
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