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We are new owners of a Espress Nero four cup Moka Pot by Vev-Vigano. We have followed instructions from print sources, on-line articles, and YouTube videos and have yet to see reference as to why the pouring pot is only half full while the boiler still has water in it when the pot starts to gurgle.

Why does some water remain in the bottom chamber of the moka pot after brewing?

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    You may have gotten a down-vote because of your title. I'd rephrase your title in the form of a question to see if you can get a better response from the community. Also, in the body, what I do, is set up my question then ask it on a new line as clear and concisely as possible.
    – Dan Beaulieu
    Apr 11, 2015 at 23:31

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This is deliberate.

In a moka pot, the downward spout of the funnel does not reach all the way to the bottom of the pot. Brewing will stop once the level of water in the pot falls below the bottom of the funnel (if you carry on brewing after this point, you'll be making coffee with the superheated steam, which will be burnt and bitter).

I'm not sure why this is how it works, but I guess it's to prevent the pot from boiling dry, and retaining a thermal mass in the bottom pot to help it cool down again.

Moka pot animated image from user Alborzagros

Original image from Wikipedia article on moka pot, thanks to user Alborzagros!

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  • To expand on your "prevent the pot from boiling dry" point: This could be especially useful/important if you use a steel pot on an induction stove. If you somehow forget about your pot while the stove is turned on, you would otherwise quickly get the same result as with an empty pot: A red glowing pot and some not-so-nice smell... With some residual water, you have more time to notice that.
    – anderas
    Oct 26, 2015 at 11:32
  • @anderas Afaik, induction stoves have a safety cut-off to avoid boiling pots dry and (eventually) melting them - so they are one of the safer stoves from that aspect!
    – fredley
    Oct 26, 2015 at 11:33
  • This is from experience, I forgot the water, turned on the stove and turned around to prepare some other stuff. After not looking at the pot for some time and wondering why the coffee took so long that time, the safety cut-off indicator beep made me aware of the fact that my pot was glowing red....
    – anderas
    Oct 26, 2015 at 11:39
  • @anderas Wow, take care!
    – fredley
    Oct 26, 2015 at 11:42

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