How to Use a Neapolitan Flip Pot
Naples brewed coffee this way for a century before the moka pot arrived. No pressure at all: you heat water in one half, turn the whole thing upside down, and let it fall through the coffee.
At a glance
- Coffee : water
- 1:10
- Active time
- 3 min
- Total time
- 11 min
- Makes
- 2 small cups
- Serve
- Hot, often with sugar
- Kit
- Cuccumella
Ingredients
Note: Grind matters less here than in a moka pot, because there is no pressure to choke. Err coarse if you are unsure.
Method
-
Fill the water chamber
Put the water in the half without the spout, filling to just below the small steam hole in the side. That hole is how you know it is boiling.
-
Fill the filter basket
Spoon coffee into the perforated basket, level it, and screw the perforated cap on. Do not tamp.
Slot the basket into the water chamber and push the spouted half on top.
-
Heat until steam escapes
On a low flame, with the spout pointing up. When steam whistles out of the small hole, the water is boiling and it is time.
Take it off the heat before you flip.
-
Flip it
Grip both handles with a cloth and turn the whole pot over in one confident movement, so the spout now points down.
It is hot and it is full of boiling water. Do it over the sink the first few times.
-
Wait four minutes
Water now falls through the coffee under gravity and collects in the lower chamber. You can hear it.
Lift the top half off when it stops and pour. A paper napkin folded into the spout is the traditional lid, to keep the heat in.
Drip 4 minutes
Why this works
There is no pressure anywhere in this pot. The flame only boils the water; the brewing is pure gravity drip through a metal basket, which puts the cuccumella much closer to a French press or a phin than to the moka pot that replaced it.
That is why the cup tastes different from stovetop espresso. It is lighter, cleaner, less syrupy and considerably less prone to bitterness, because nothing is being forced through anything. It is also why the grind is forgiving: there is no bed to choke.
The steam hole is the only timer the pot has, and it is a good one. Water boiling at sea level will push steam out of a small opening audibly, and that is your signal that the chamber is at temperature. Flipping before it whistles means lukewarm water through the coffee.
The design dates to early nineteenth-century France and took hold in Naples, where it stayed the standard until Bialetti's moka pot arrived in 1933. It survives because the coffee is genuinely good and because it is nearly impossible to burn.
Variations
- Sweet, Naples style: sugar in the cup, a spoonful of the first dark coffee whipped into it, then the rest poured over.
- Larger: the pots are sold in several sizes. Keep 1:10 whichever you have.
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Questions
Is the flip dangerous?
It deserves respect. The pot is full of boiling water and the metal is hot, so use a cloth on both handles and turn it over the sink until the movement is familiar. Take it off the heat first.
Cuccumella or moka pot?
The flip pot makes a lighter, cleaner cup and is almost impossible to make bitter. The moka pot is faster and makes something stronger and more syrupy. They are different drinks.
What if no steam comes out?
Either the water is below the hole, or the hole is blocked with scale. Check the level first, then poke the hole clear with a pin.