Aldi "Premium Stovetop Espresso Maker" - worth a punt?

TwoWheeledTim

Aldi have an espresso maker on offer tomorrow. Seems to be a new item, can't find any reviews from previous runs.

Worth a punt for €10.99 or best avoided?



https://www.aldi.ie/premium-stovetop-espresso-maker/p/703483367046000

Mr Magnolia

It's a moka pot. Have you ever tried this type of coffee? Can be tricky to get right. Are you planning on using preground?

Hodors Appletart

it's not espresso

TwoWheeledTim

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

It's a moka pot. Have you ever tried this type of coffee? Can be tricky to get right. Are you planning on using preground?

I tried it years ago, mixed results but wasn't using quality coffee at the time.

I either use a French Press for a group or Nespresso pod for a single cup. I've a cheap electric burr grinder I use for the French press so was thinking this should be better than the Nespresso pods with fresh ground coffee, also less waste.

Hodors Appletart

I'd be wary of the build quality at that price too

you might not get good enough pressure to get any halfway decent extraction

buy cheap buy twice

Bigbooty

It's stainless steel which is good considering most cheap ones are made from aluminium which ends up leeching into your coffee. That's not a good thing from a health perspective in the long run. It looks like a cheap Chinese clone of a Bialetti.

Alanstrainor

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

I'd be wary of the build quality at that price too

you might not get good enough pressure to get any halfway decent extraction

buy cheap buy twice

They are very simple devices to be honest, I don't think you can go too far wrong with this one for starts. I do have a Bialetti, which I found to be no better than the cheapy I had been using for years.

OP, it should be fine but as Mr Magnolia mentions these devices can be a bit of a pain to use in the beginning. It's easy to overheat them and ruin the coffee, but with a few youtube guides and some practise you should be able to get the hang of it.

boombang

It's not that cheap in comparison to the Bialetti. Think you can buy one in Dublin for c. €20.

Hodors Appletart

boombang wrote: »

It's not that cheap in comparison to the Bialetti. Think you can buy one in Dublin for c. €20.

which means it's almost 50% cheaper!

deemulryan

I bought something similar from aldi for cheap and tbh you get what you pay for really. Fairly cheap quality but does the job

Flesh Gorden

I might pick one of these up, have been using a little 2 'cup' aluminium Bialetti Moka pot for a good few years.

The trick for me, was to grind the beans to medium coarseness, put boiled water in the base and keep the heat at no more than 25%.

The result has always been consistent with no bitterness.

TwoWheeledTim

Bigbooty wrote: »

It's stainless steel which is good considering most cheap ones are made from aluminium which ends up leeching into your coffee. That's not a good thing from a health perspective in the long run.

Very good point. I'm going to pick one up if they have any stock, can't go too far wrong for a tenner.

TwoWheeledTim

Picked one up, lots in stock.

The quality mostly seems surprisingly good. The lid is the flimsiest bit but doesn't need to be strong, the rest is solid. The Top and base don't thread together too smoothly until you reach the rubber seal.

I cleaned it and put 2 loads through it, following the guidance from here.

Batch 1 - I had it on for ages (15min+) and was getting only steam. I think I hadn't fulled the reservoir up close enough to the valve and the top/base might not have been tight enough. Bumped up the hob heat to high and it spurted out some awful coffee eventually.

Batch 2 - Filled up fully and tightened well, started slowly producing coffee after about 3mins. Method seemed right but the coffee is very harsh. Lost a lot of the subtle flavours. I know some people will like this style (the father in-law!) but bit harsh for me.

The manual said to discard the first few runs anyway, so I'll try it another few times any.

One obvious thing I missed is it's not suitable for me to do a single cup. You have to fill the water and use enough coffee for 360ml of "espresso". So would be very wasteful for a single cup. It's also much bigger than I was expecting.

boombang

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

which means it's almost 50% cheaper!

Take a chance on something that could be poor relative to the standard benchmark product for the sake of the price of two bags of coffee?

Here's a case where I'd be inclined to buy once and buy right. You can easily buy new rubber seals for the Bialetti. I don't know if they'll fit the cheaper model.

TwoWheeledTim

Got a much nicer cup out of it this morning. I think I got refined the method much better, took about 5mins to brew and came through at a good pace. Interestingly I only filled about 75% full with coffee, end of a bag. Diluted it with hot water to a strength I was happy with.

It still has a slight added underlying flavour of the coffee you get after your meal at a wedding in the small white cups.... :P

Anyway I've decided to order an AeroPress for my morning coffee, should burn through less coffee for a single serving.

So €10 wasted you might say, or €10 saved from not experimenting with the Bialetti!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hodors Appletart

Aeropress is a much better option

Bigbooty

I'd recommend a clever dripper over an aeropress if you're looking for a step up. You'll get more consistent cups.

TwoWheeledTim

No longer relevant to the thread, but just to close out in case anyone in the same boat comes across this... the Aeropress along with a scales, burr grinder and quality beans is giving a great single morning cup and the easy clean-up is ideal.