Cheese and Pears

Coffee (caffé)

Posted on Feb 17, 2009 10:25:37 AM

Is this, strictly speaking an Italian food recipe? Yes it is. Italians didn’t invent coffee and sure are not the only ones who enjoy it, but boy we are fussy about it!

With coffee places at every corner, a good espresso in Dublin is now easy to find, and expensive, as an espresso macchiato would cost you 2 euros. I guess coffee is still seen as something exotic, and fortunately enough, I tend to forget how cheap it is in Italy (“90 cents” said the barista last time I was in a bar in my hometown.  “Are you sure?” I replied). Anyway, the place in Dublin where I had the best coffee is Butler’s Chocolate Café at Blanchardstown Centre.

If you’re at home, use coffee maker, which we call moka (if you’re reading from Europe click here). You can find all sizes: from single cup coffee makers to twelve. If you already are a proud owner of this interesting device invented by Alfonso Bialetti, you should already know  how to use it, if you don’t, here you can find extensive instructions. In a nutshell it’s:

water in the base + coffee in the strainer +  top part + fire

Well, there’s more actually, these are a couple of things you want to know:

• use filtered water. The coffee will taste better, and and the moka will last longer
• it doesn’t matter if you like strong stuff, don’t push the powder in the strainer or the coffee will taste awful
• the moka needs to retain the coffee flavour, so don’t wash it with soap, EVER!
• for the same reason, if you only use it less than once a week, make one test coffee first, and throw it away
• change the gasket and the filter when it’s brownish, that’s becasue it’s burnt
• when the base pot is covered with limestone it’s time buy a new moka
• with a low flame, the coffee will brew slower, enhancing the flavour. A higher flame though, will give you hotter coffee, which is part of the pleasure
• keeping the lid open while it’s brewing will let the steam go away, but you wanna close it when the coffee is starting to come out, or it will spatter all around
• spend a little more and get decent stuff. Here in Dublin I buy Lavazza, and if we were not in recession I would definitely buy Illy
• no instant coffee, please
• if this coffee maker just isn’t your cup of tea, you can go for other types of coffee makers, like a small coffee machine or one of the best electric coffee makers.

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