The trick with a moka pot is starting with hot water in the base and keeping the heat low. Both shorten the time the coffee spends being heated, and that is what stops it tasting burnt.
Fill the base with just-boiled water up to the valve, not above it. Cold water means the whole assembly sits over heat for minutes while it comes up, and the coffee bed is being roasted for that entire time. Use a cloth, the base gets hot fast.
Fill the basket level and do not tamp. A moka pot builds only one to two bars, nothing like an espresso machine, so tamping simply chokes it and pushes the pressure relief valve towards venting.
Keep the heat low to medium, leave the lid open and watch. When the flow turns from a steady honey-coloured stream to a pale, spluttering hiss, take it off the heat straight away and cool the base under a tap. Everything after that splutter is bitter, and that final harshness is what most people think a moka pot tastes like.
Too much heat for too long. Start with hot water, keep the hob low and pull it off the moment the stream turns pale and splutters.
No. It builds only one to two bars of pressure, so tamping chokes the flow and can push water out through the safety valve instead.
Medium-fine, slightly coarser than espresso. Espresso-fine grind will stall it.
No. It brews at one to two bars against about nine for espresso, so it is a strong concentrated coffee rather than a true espresso, and it does not produce real crema.
Hot water and a rinse. Detergent strips the seasoning from aluminium and leaves a soapy taste, and the gasket should be checked and replaced roughly yearly.
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