There's a new genre of TikTok content going around, and it's the rare corner of the internet that's actively trying to stop you from buying something. It's called deinfluencing, and lately its favourite target is the home espresso machine, specifically the $1,000-plus, twelve-dial, steam-wand kind that's been sitting in your Amazon cart since March.
The pitch, repeated across thousands of videos: put the machine down, pick up a moka pot, and save yourself about $950. As a three-generation coffee family that's been roasting since long before "content" was a word, we have opinions. Mostly: they're right. Let's get into it.
Wait, What Is "Deinfluencing"?
If influencing is "buy this, it changed my life," deinfluencing is its slightly cranky older sibling: "you don't actually need this, and here's what to buy instead (if anything at all)." It's part of a broader wave of anti-haul, underconsumption-style content, creators doing more with what they already own, or spending less to get the same result, instead of stacking up gadgets that end up at the back of a cupboard.
Home espresso machines are notorious for combining a steep price tag with an even steeper learning curve, dial in the grind wrong and a $1,500 machine will happily produce a cup that tastes like hot, bitter disappointment. The deinfluencers' argument is simple: you can get most of the flavour payoff for a fraction of the cost and counter space, and the moka pot is exhibit A.
Enter the Moka Pot: Coffee's OG Underdog
The moka pot isn't some new TikTok invention, it's a nearly century-old Italian stovetop design, patented in 1933, and it's been quietly making rich, concentrated coffee in kitchens (mostly Nonnas', historically) long before anyone filmed themselves doing it.
Here's the (very short) science bit: you fill the bottom chamber with water, load the middle basket with ground coffee, and put it on the stove. As the water heats, steam pressure builds and pushes the water up through the grounds into the top chamber, where it collects as coffee. No pump, no boiler, no app pairing required, just heat and pressure, doing what they've always done.
Worth being upfront about one thing: a moka pot doesn't make true espresso. Real espresso machines force water through the puck at around 9 bars of pressure; a moka pot works at roughly 1–2 bars. What you get instead is something in its own lane, thicker and stronger than drip coffee, with a bit of that classic espresso-style crema-adjacent richness, but a genuinely different animal to a café shot.
TikTok calling it "espresso" is a bit of a stretch. Calling it really good, strong coffee for not much money is completely fair.
Moka Pot vs. the $1,000 Machine: What You're Actually Trading
Let's lay it out honestly, because we'd rather you make an informed call than just take the trend's word for it.
What you give up going moka: the ability to pull a genuine 9-bar espresso shot, built-in milk steaming, and the sheer theatre of a machine with more buttons than your washing machine.
What you get back: a $55–$125 device instead of a four-figure one, a five-minute learning curve instead of a six-month one, something that fits in a single drawer, and zero descaling schedules to forget about. For a daily strong coffee at home, not a cafe recreation, just a genuinely great cup, the moka pot argument holds up.
How to Actually Get Great Coffee From a Moka Pot
This is the part most TikToks skip past in favour of the aesthetic pour shot. A moka pot is simple, but it's not foolproof; here's how not to end up with a bitter, muddy cup.
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Grind size matters more than people admit. You want medium-fine — finer than a plunger, coarser than a true espresso grind. Think "table salt," not "flour." Too fine and you'll choke the pot and pull out bitterness; too coarse and you'll get a thin, weak cup.
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Use hot water in the base, not cold. Boil the kettle first and fill the bottom chamber with hot (not boiling) water. Starting cold means the coffee grounds sit over direct heat for longer than they should, which is where a lot of that "burnt" moka pot reputation comes from.
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Don't tamp the grounds. Fill the basket and level it off with a finger - no pressing, no packing. Moka pots aren't built for that kind of resistance.
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Low, steady heat, lid open, listen for the gurgle. Medium-low heat on the stove, not high. When you hear a hissing, spluttering gurgle, it's done - pull it off the heat immediately, even if there's a little water left in the base. That gurgle is the "your coffee's about to start tasting burnt" alarm.
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Give it a stir before you pour. The coffee at the bottom of the top chamber is often a bit stronger than what came through last - a quick stir evens it out.
Which Roasting Warehouse Blend Actually Works Best in a Moka Pot
Not every roast is built for this brew method. Because moka pots extract hard and fast under pressure, delicate light roasts can turn sharp and one-note — you want beans with enough body to stand up to it. Here's where we'd point you:
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Espresso - dark, chocolatey, a hint of aniseed. Built for exactly this kind of high-pressure, concentrated brew, moka pot included.
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Evolve - our house dark blend, honeycomb and chocolate with a berry note. Full-bodied enough to handle the moka pot's intensity without turning harsh.
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Happy Days - rich and nutty, a reliable everyday moka pot workhorse.
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Premium - our medium roast, if you want something a touch more balanced and citrusy rather than full dark-roast intensity.
Save the light roasts like Daydreamer for your pour-over. They're built to show off delicate, fruity notes that a moka pot's brute-force extraction will mostly just flatten.
Get Set Up (For Less Than a Tenth of That $1k Machine)
Good news for anyone deinfluenced and ready to act on it: we sell the actual moka pot the internet keeps talking about. The Moka Express by Bialetti is the original, the classic, the one basically every moka pot video is either using or copying — available from $54.95 for a 1-cup right through to $124.95 for the 9-cup, depending on how many people you're caffeinating.
Want to skip the decision fatigue entirely? The Bialetti Stovetop Starter Pack ($98) bundles the pot with coffee to match, so you can go from "watched a TikTok" to "drinking genuinely great coffee at home" in the time it takes the kettle to boil.
FAQ
Is moka pot coffee the same as espresso? Not quite. Espresso machines use around 9 bars of pressure; moka pots use roughly 1–2. The result is a strong, concentrated, espresso-style coffee, closer to espresso than drip coffee, but a different brew method with its own character rather than a true substitute.
What grind size should I use for a moka pot? Medium-fine, finer than a French press, coarser than espresso. Roughly the texture of table salt. Most pre-ground "moka pot" or "stovetop" labelled coffee is already dialled to this.
Why does my moka pot coffee taste bitter or burnt? Almost always one of three things: the heat was too high, you left it on the stove past the gurgle, or you started with cold water in the base. Hot (not boiling) water in, medium-low heat, and pull it the second you hear that hissing gurgle.
Can I use any coffee beans in a moka pot? You can, but medium to dark roasts generally perform better, they've got the body to hold up under the moka pot's intense, fast extraction. Very light roasts can come out sharp or sour by comparison.
Is a moka pot actually cheaper than a home espresso machine long-term? Significantly. Beyond the upfront cost gap (roughly $55–$125 versus $1,000+), moka pots have no pump or boiler to service, no descaling subscriptions, and effectively nothing that breaks beyond a rubber gasket you can replace for a few dollars every year or two.
Deinfluenced and Ready to Brew
The internet's not wrong on this one — a moka pot won't replace a café espresso machine, but for strong, rich, no-fuss coffee at home, it's genuinely hard to beat for the price. Grab a Moka Express or the Stovetop Starter Pack, pair it with one of our darker blends, and see what all the deinfluencing was actually about.
