Brikka 2 cups

Genius
I have been using the old Bialetti Moka for decades. They are very serviceable, consistent coffee makers.

I bought a Brikka a couple of years ago and after a few initial hiccups, I have been delighted with the results. The only difficulty with the Brikka is that it is more temperamental in use.

1) You cannot use more than 100ml of water. That is absolutely essential. Any more and it will spill all over your stove. Use a measuring cup and get it right (there are actually star marks on the inside of the chamber anyway).

2) Brikkas don't like very fine ground beans. Medium is about right for a Brikka. Any finer than that - like espresso grade - and it tastes bitter.

3) Don't ever use soap to clean the top chamber. Rinse it out with tap water and let it dry naturally. You want to season the pot. Keep the seals free of residue or they will leak under pressure.

4) Get it off the stove as soon as the valve pops or the steam will get to...

Excellent coffee
I love good coffee. I had purchased a Krups home espresso machine that I really liked. It made great coffee as long as it was working or the steam wand wasn't broken. Eventually I was having to reload 2 to 3 times to pull my morning shots and this became very frustrating.

My dear wife had purchased a Primula stove top espresso pot and on a lark I fired it up one morning and found that the coffee it produced was really quite good. I began using this little pot every morning and was delighted at the simplicity of making my morning capuccino.

I was browsing Amazon and came across the Bialetti Brikka and I liked the idea of the valve on this liitle pot. It seemed like a good idea to give the water a little resistance and allow some pressure to build, so I thought I would give it a try. I have been very pleased with this purchase. The simplicity of producing a really good cup of coffee is probably what I appreciate the most. No more fiddling with my pump machine,...

Solved The Exploding
First 10 batches sprayed espresso all over my kitchen. No one has figured out why this happened so I went through every possible scenario to solve this issue.
Here's the foolproof method after repeated trial and error:
1. Wash and remove any debris from the Brikka.
2. Only put water up to or slightly below the line in the base.
3. Use reg ground coffee, NOT espresso grind and fill up to half of the coffee holder. Too fine means trouble, too much ground coffee means trouble.
4. Make sure absolutely nothing is on the rubber seal or the rim of the metal base or ground coffee holder.
5. Put on low heat (I have a gas stove so the blue flame is really low).
6. Wait 6-8 minutes. Once the espresso pops into the top carafe, immediately turn off the heat.

The resulting espresso tastes great with no burnt flavor but only amounts to a small shot. There is a little crema on the top but I think that may be due to the freshness of the beans/grind not the...

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