Bialetti

Bialetti began in 1919 as a workshop in Crusinallo, a hamlet of Omegna in the province of Verbania, where Alfonso Bialetti made semi-finished aluminium parts. The workshop grew into Alfonso Bialetti & Co. and started designing finished products of its own.

The one that mattered came in 1933. The Moka Express, named after the Yemeni port of Mokha, put an eight-sided aluminium boiler, a basket and a collecting chamber on the stove and made strong coffee without a machine. Pushed by Alfonso’s son Renato, it made the company one of Italy’s main producers and found a place in most Italian kitchens. From 1958 its advertising, including slots on the television programme Carosello, used a pencil drawing by Paul Campani of a man with a moustache. He is still on the logo and on the side of the classic Moka Express. According to the company, the pot is in the permanent collections of the Triennale di Milano and of MoMA in New York.

The business changed hands in 1993, when Francesco Ranzoni, whose company was Rondine, bought Alfonso Bialetti & Co. from Faema; the two companies merged five years later. Bialetti Industrie opened its first own-brand shops in 2006, listed on the Italian stock exchange in July 2007, and moved into capsule espresso machines in 2010. In 2014 it brought out the Moka Induction, with an aluminium top on a stainless steel boiler, so the shape could work on induction hobs. It also sells ground coffee for the moka pot under the Perfetto Moka name.

What they are good at. The moka pot, in every size from one cup to eighteen, backed by original spare parts for the pieces that wear. Spares are most of what makes a moka pot last decades.

What to know before buying. The classic Moka Express is aluminium: hand wash only, and no induction without an adaptor plate. The steel and induction models cost more and exist for that reason. The brand also puts its name on espresso machines and coffee; the moka pots are the reason to know it.

Who it suits. Anyone who wants a strong stovetop coffee from something with no electronics. The moka pot method page explains how it brews, choosing a moka pot compares sizes and metals, and the Moka Express first look covers the classic 3-cup.