L.

This is how I make coffee for myself at home:

1. Prepare the pot.
   1. Dissemble the moka pot and wiggle the safety valve.
      Hopefully, they were cleaned the last time the pot was used.
   2. Fill the funnel with grounds.
      The grounds don’t have to be flush with the top of the basket, but too much air in the basket may cause coffee to spout and spatter from the tower. Don’t pack the grounds, though—that would impede the flow of water.
   3. Bring the water to boil in a kettle.
      I was recently gifted an electric kettle, which expedites the process, but a stovetop kettle works fine.
   4. Warm the moka pot base on the burner.
      Not much; just enough so that the temperature of the water doesn’t plunge when you transfer it from the kettle.
2. Get the pot to the burner.
   1. Use an oven mitt to move the heated base to a pot holder.
      Once the base is off of the burner, it’s important to move quickly, taking care not to touch the hot metal.
   2. Fill the base with boiling water.
      Don’t exceed the fill line lathed into the interior of the base. Good lighting is key.
   3. Quickly (but carefully) slot the funnel into the boiler.
      Grounds on the lip can prevent a tight seal, so be sure to wipe those away once the funnel is settled.
   4. Holding the boiler with the oven mitt, screw the collecting chamber onto the base.
      Make the seal tight, or else water will leak out once the boil resumes.
   5. Move the assembled moka pot onto the burner and open the lid.
      I usually opt for high heat at this point, but might taper off to medium once the boil has been restored.
3. Extract the coffee.
   1. Watch and listen.
      As long as the water temperature didn’t drop precipitously between the kettle and the burner, the extraction process shouldn’t take more than a minute.
   2. Remove the pot from the heat as soon as coffee begins to fill the collection chamber.
      The coffee should emerge as a stream, hugging the exterior of the tower, not spout outward.
   3. Close the lid at the end of the extraction.
      You can tell the extraction is ending when the previously steady stream of coffee begins to sputter out of the tower.
   4. Pour the coffee.
      Some guides recommend holding the base of the moka pot under a stream of cold tap water to arrest the heat, which is probably good advice if you’re serving the coffee to guests, but I’m not; this coffee is for me, and I’m arresting the heat by drinking it as soon as humanly possible.
4. Final steps.
   1. Cut with oatmilk.
      Not much—this isn’t a latte. The finished drink should be about one-third to half as much oatmilk as coffee.
   2. Pour a bit of water in the empty collection chamber.
      I wait to clean the moka pot until after my coffee—it’s too hot to clean at this point anyway—but a splash of water in the bottom prevents any residue from drying into a crust.

Notes

• The general theory here is that direct heat can cook the grounds, giving them a burnt flavor. That hazard is compounded by their contact with the lower half of a moka pot, which is designed to conduct heat efficiently. To avoid cooking the grounds, we introduce them to heat as late in the process as possible, bringing up the temperature of the water separately and then returning it to a boil as quickly as possible once the moka pot is assembled.
• Some people recommend leaving the residue on the bottom of the pot after pouring the coffee—the idea being to enrich future brews with a layer of flavor, like the seasoning on a cast-iron skillet. I don’t recommend flavoring your coffee with rancid coffee stains. Buy a bolder roast if you need more flavor.