Moka Pot, 12-Cup

Name: Moka Pot, 12-Cup
Ingredients: 60 g Coffee, a level basket, not tamped; 600 g Freshly boiled water, 10× the coffee weight, filled to just below the safety valve; An AeroPress XL paper filter; A towel for handling the hot base

by Matt KennardPublished September 22, 2026

James Hoffmann's method scaled to a 12-cup, with boiling water in and a paper filter on the grounds.

Grinder: Fellow Ode 2 On your grinder
Grind setting: 2.1 On your grinder
Dose: 60 g
Water: 600 g
Ratio: 1:10.0

Dialed for a Dark roast. What to change if yours is lighter or darker.

Hot Moka pot Pot Stovetop Morning For a crowd What roast levels means

Jump to recipe

The moka pot punishes two things: heat that comes on too fast, and a grind that's too fine. This is James Hoffmann's method scaled to my 12-cup, and it fixes both. The water goes in already boiling, so the coffee spends less time sitting on the flame, and the pot comes off before it sputters.

Grind

Start at 2.1 on the Ode 2, one tick finer than my AeroPress setting. Thin or sour means go finer, to 2.0. Bitter, or barely flowing, means go coarser. Lighter roasts want finer, darker roasts coarser.

Water

I weigh the coffee and multiply by ten. The basket decides the dose and the water follows from it, which is why this scales to any size of pot. Keep it below the safety valve whatever the maths says. Roast changes it: a lighter roast can take the full fill to just below the valve, since it needs the water and the heat to extract properly, while a medium or dark roast does better at about two thirds to three quarters, because it extracts faster and turns bitter if you push it. Expect some water left in the boiler at the end; the pot is built that way.

Credit

Method adapted from James Hoffmann's Ultimate Moka Pot Technique.

Ingredients

60 g Coffee, a level basket, not tamped
600 g Freshly boiled water, 10× the coffee weight, filled to just below the safety valve
An AeroPress XL paper filter
A towel for handling the hot base

Brew process

Dose

Boil the water, and grind while it heats.
Dose

Fill the basket level. Tap it to settle, but don't tamp. Wipe the rim clean, then lay an AeroPress XL paper filter on top of the grounds and wet it so it sits flat and seals.
Pour

Holding the base with a towel, fill it with the boiling water to just below the valve. Seat the basket and screw on the top.
Extract

Set it over medium-low heat with the lid open, so you can watch.
Extract

When coffee starts to flow, turn the heat down or off. The heat already in the base finishes the brew.
Stop

When the stream turns pale and starts to gurgle, take it off and run the base under cold water to stop it. The sputter at the end is where the bitterness comes from.
Serve

Stir in the top chamber and serve. Add hot water if you want it longer, or pour it over milk.

If it's not right

What you see	Why	What to do
Bitter and harsh	It sputtered, or the heat was too high.	Pull it sooner and cool the base straight away.
Thin and sour	The grind is too coarse.	Grind finer, to 2.0 on the Ode 2.
Slow to flow, or choking	The grind is too fine, or the grounds were tamped.	Grind coarser. Never tamp.
Muddy or silty	The paper shifted or was not flat.	Wet it and seat it before screwing on the top.

Beans for this

These numbers were written for a Dark roast. That is what the temperature and the time below assume — it is a setting, not a fact.

Nothing written up for this brewer yet. The guidance below still holds, whatever is in the cupboard.

If your bag is lighter or darker than that

60 g to 600 g is about 1:10. Everything below is relative to this recipe's own numbers.

A lighter roast than this recipe

Temperature: Go hotter. A lighter roast is denser and gives up less at the same temperature — take it to the top of the range, or just off the boil.
Time: Give it longer. Another fifteen to thirty seconds of contact, whether that is a slower pour or a longer steep.
Grind: Grind finer, one step. Light roasts under-extract before they over-extract, and sour is the failure you will meet first.
Dose: Leave the dose alone at first. If it is still thin after the other three, add a gram or two.

A darker roast than this recipe

Temperature: Go cooler. A dark roast is brittle and gives up everything it has immediately — back off five degrees or let the kettle stand a minute.
Time: Cut it short. Stop the brew at the first sign of it slowing down; the last of the drawdown is where the ash comes from.
Grind: Grind coarser, one step. Bitter and hollow is the failure you will meet first, and coarser is the fix.
Dose: You can use slightly less and lose nothing. A dark roast tastes stronger than it is.

The roast it was written for

Temperature: The temperature on this recipe is written for exactly this roast. Start there.
Time: The time is the time. Change it only after you have tasted it once as written.
Grind: Grind is still the one thing worth moving. Everything else in the recipe is fixed so that it can be.
Dose: The dose below is what these numbers were dialed at.

More on what the words mean: light, medium and dark roasts.

Comments (0)

No comments yet.