Bialetti Mukka Express Vetro cappuccino/latte maker

[Joe Pyrat]

Picked this up at Williams-Sonoma it's a Bialetti Mukka Express Vetro cappuccino/latte maker.  You place milk or Half & Half if you are making a breve latte in the upper part and water in the lower.  the button on top goes down for cappuccino and up for a latte.  It takes less then five minutes on my gas range and makes a pretty good breve latte.  Clean up is fairly easy.  Cost was $99, but you can probably beat that elsewhere.

[Amgine]

I have a Bialetti espresso maker, which is great on the boat. Does your unit also do just the espresso?

Great secret for people who love flavoured syrups. They're easy to make, and can be stored aboard.

1 unit sugar
1 unit water
as much flavourant as you like (e.g. 1.5 teaspoon vanilla)

Bring sugar and water to boil, reduce heat to strong simmer for at least 5 minutes. Cool to lukewarm. Add as much flavourant as you want (you'll want to experiment a bit with this, start light and add more until you get what you like.) Pour into sterilized container. Use within 2-3 months to sweeten and flavour coffee, tea, add to soda water for Italian sodas, etc.

If it starts to smell a bit beery, pour it out and sterilize the container again.

[Joe Pyrat]

I haven't tried to do just espresso yet, but it would probably work if I just leave out the milk.  I put water in the pitcher part when I was initially breaking it in and it made a passable cup of coffee.  I would worry that the espresso being forced in from the bottom would erupt out of the top if there was nothing there to slow it down, but maybe not.  I'll give it a try one of these days.

[Amgine]

Maybe a bit of water and call it an Americano.

Looks good on your stove though. I'll have to take a look for it. I've been using UHT and evaporated milk to make latte and breve that are usually stone cold on the boat (at home I have a microwave!)

[Joe Pyrat]

They recommend using it at least three times before you start making coffee you will drink so I made Americanos for the first three pots.  Tired one and it wasn't bad.

I have discovered that the unit needs to be cleaned immediately after use or clean up is more difficult and that the cappuccino/latte button has a tendency to not stay up (latte position) rignt after washing.  I has also seen reports of leaks around the seal between the black base and silver base on the pot.  I have had this seal leak once but was because I had some grounds on the seal.  The latte is not as hot as those you get at a coffeehouse but it is hot enough to be good.  So far I'm liking the unit.