Love making my morning coffee with a moka pot. (We have a fully-automatic espresso machine, a french press, a pour-over setup, and a drip machine, but deploying our trusty old-world moka pot named Paolo imparts a special character.)
And I was delighted to find cans of Cafe du Monde’s Coffee and Chicory at a little grocery/everything store in Waialua called Waialua Fresh. (My favorite place to buy papayas and apple bananas and butter lettuce and arugula and mint.)
Since the canned coffee is so coarse, and a bit bitter, there are a couple of “hacks” that I have found work pretty well:
- Fill the moka pot up to the safety valve with very hot water (just shy of boiling) which will help prevent over-heating the grounds during the brewing process, which will reduce bitterness.
- Go ahead and over-fill and tamp the grounds in the filter basket (normally a moka- pot no-no, but in this case it is needed due to the coarse grind)
- Use as low a heat on the burner as you can get away with (so the coffee comes out of the spout in a thick black drizzle), and remove it from heat the second it starts “gurgling” towards the end of the brewing.
- Even if you normally drink black, as I do, consider a little sweetener to counter-balance any bitterness. (I like condensed milk, which lasts forever in the fridge if kept in a lidded pyrex bowl.)
- (optional, but recommended) For a more authentic Cafe du Monde experience, enjoy your coffee while wearing Mardi Gras beads.
