Haha, sorry! By no means I’m an expert but the taste of moka pot coffee in my experience has always been how you describe it, rough. Never quite like an espresso. I like using the machine but I don’t love the coffee it makes. This is what I do: cleaning the pot regulary, boiling the water in the base first and then screwing the top, lower the heat when the coffee starts coming out and adding a filter seems to help.

Oh, I just read its your first one… Yes, it’s a difficult brew.

I find it difficult to adjust to the induction stove in general. Maybe one of those plates you use with the regular aluminium pot? The stove manual do not recomnend using those.

I know. I did not clean my first one but after watching some internet gurus I started cleaning it regularly (not every batch). I even remember the line “even if alfonso bialetti himself rises from the grave to tell you to not clean your moka do not listen to him” haha Truth be told I don’t even like cleaning my french press.

What type of manual espresso so you have? I find regular espresso machines too expensive for me but I was thinking of getting a flair.

I prefer pour over taste but this is my favorite brewing experience. I didn’t use it as often because I don’t like cleaning the pot and now we switched to an induction stove and I can’t use it.

We keep a giant jar of instant coffee because my wife doesn’t like my coffee. She likes her coffee super weak so a giant jar should not be necessary but from time to time I run out of coffee beans and will drink instant instead and go thorugh it super fast. I also like instant for iced coffee because I usually forget to prep the cold brew.