[kefabean]

They are indeed hypnotic to use, cheap and quite practical.

The trouble is I've never been able to get coffee to taste as good out of one of these compared to almost any other method of making coffee - eg. filter, espresso, French press. I'm not sure whether it's my technique, the grind I use, or something intrinsic to the process itself.

[md_]

I wouldn't say it's you. Moka pots aren't great, though they are convenient-ish. ;)

As https://coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/5197/is-the-moka-... says, preheating the water might help if your results are overly bitter.

[chongli]

There is absolutely a technique to it. Watch Moka Pot Voodoo [1] by the Wired Gourmet. The key to getting good taste is to carefully control the temperature of the coffee puck and flow rate of water through it. Pre-boiling the water in the bottom chamber before dropping in the coffee basket and screwing on the lid solves the first problem: keep the coffee from overheating. Moving the Moka pot on and off the heat in order to maintain a gentle, steady flow solves the second.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-PeYeiqPLU