What is the Best Grinder for a Moka Pot?

Lately I’ve been using my sweet Bialetti moka pot pretty regularly. I think that seasoning and playing around with the new mini kind of reignited my love for this method, and since then I’ve been letting the v60 sit idle more frequently while I try out various grinds and heat variations on my six cup moka pot. What I really like about the Bialetti is that once you find the right grind setting and have it properly seasoned it is actually pretty hard to screw up. No doubt, the hardest part about making good stovetop espresso is taking the time to get it seasoned – once that is done it’s a very simple method.

But today’s question is what is the best grinder for a moka pot?

A great question, and one for which I have no definitive answer. There are a number of good grinders that would work superbly for stovetop espresso and I think that any of the grinders we cover in our burr grinder reviews section should suffice for this kind of job.
However, there are a few thoughts that I have on the matter, and a couple of specific grinders that I think are worth a look at if stovetop espresso is your primary goal in your own home coffee lab (read: kitchen).

The Hario Skerton – obviously, I have pretty fond feelings towards this grinder, partly because of its price and partly because it is so much fun. It’s manual, has ceramic conical burrs, is really simple to use as well as to take apart and clean – and it doesn’t require too much effort even though it’s manual. However, like we often mention, it does take some serious cranking if you are grinding for a large group of people – like in a large french press or a Chemex. So I tend to think that the Skerton hand grinder does better for methods that require fewer coffee grounds altogether – making it great for the moka pot. Even if you’re using one of the bigger moka pots (like my six cup) it still doesn’t take much hand cranking to get sufficient grounds for a brew. And if you are using a smaller moka pot or a mini it won’t hardly take any grinding at all. The only drawback to using the Skerton is that it is harder to find a good, fine grind setting (takes some tweaking and practice) and takes more cranking rotations the finer the grind is set to.

The Gaggia MDF – this is the other grinder I would immediately recommend for stovetop espresso. While a little pricier than the Skerton it is phenomenal for fine grind settings and has an automatic dosing function. Stovetop espresso demands a fine grind setting to get a solid extraction – something that takes a little practice and a few under extracted shots before getting right – but finding the right setting will result in superb espresso that doesn’t take much time or effort to make.

Honestly, when it comes to making stovetop espresso, as long as you are grinding the coffee yourself you are probably in good shape. This is a very forgiving method of brewing coffee which is one of the reasons I’m so fond of it. It doesn’t take long to learn, and once seasoned, a moka pot will provide you a very consistent cup of strong, well extracted coffee. Just make sure you’re using freshly ground coffee and have already read up on how to brew with a moka pot.

Happy Brewing (and Grinding).