Moka Express

The moka is one of the tool used to make a coffee at home. Moka was invented on 1933 by Alfonso Bialetti and as every good story there are some controversial issues about the inventor. Indeed it is easy to find also Luigi de Ponti associated to the creation of the object. But, actually, after many hours of research I can say that the only real inventor is Alfonso Bialetti.

A Moka Express by Bialetti

There are many different kind of tools to make a coffee at home, such as: coffee plunger, ibriq, aeropress, hand drip coffee and much more. Among all these tools my super favorite is moka for at least 3 reasons:

• I like the taste of coffee made with moka
• Emotional bond
• I'm Italian

Now that I gave bit of introduction let's talk about of why I think is a example of good design.

Why I think moka is an example of good design

• Essential design: there are exactly all the essential pieces, no one more:
1. the bottom chamber (boiler) used to contain the water
2. the metal filter to contain ground coffee
3. the collecting chamber to collect the coffee ready to be drink
• Knob: on top of collecting chamber there is a little knob in plastic to allow the lifting of the cover and check if the coffee is ready without burining the fingers
• Handle: on side of collecting chamber there is a plastic handle very useful on order to handle the moka when it burns
• Spout: to pour easily the coffee into a cup
• Safety valve: in the boiler there is a safety valve to provide a necessary release in case the pressure should get too high. The safety valve is also a good indication for the user to know how much water pour in the boiler, indeed it's better to keep the limit of the water under the safety valve
• Material: it is in alluminium that is a light material and allows a quick heating
• Shape: it is octagonal to increase the grip also when the surface is wet, this is especially important because it needs to screw the collecting chamber onto the the boiler.

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