The mocha, coffee maker or coffee machine has always been the symbol of Italian coffee, hot and boiling, made on the stove in its own kitchen.
Then came the capsules and pods to change even domestic habits . Italians do not renounce a good homemade coffee and, if the mocha purists are still numerous, more and more lovers of pods and capsules increase.
We often don't think about it, but our habits, even the simplest ones like making a coffee, have a big influence on many factors that do not only concern our life or that of our family, but also, on a broader level, the economy. and ecology .
Take the Bialetti case, for example, the well-known manufacturer of the famous moka "coi baffi", recently announced a big drop in revenues and a contraction in sales that, according to experts, could have to do, at least in part, just with the advent of alternative systems for preparing coffee at home.
The advantages of moka
But do we really want to put the mocha aside? The moka is cheap, ecological and makes a delicious coffee . Naturally it must be a quality moka, made of a good aluminum alloy, which does not release toxic substances, and maintenance must also be regular and care must be taken to change the seals periodically .
> Moka is cheap: a good cup of coffee made with mocha costs on average less than coffee in pods or capsules . Even the coffee maker itself is not very expensive, with a price that is, around, between 20 and 50 euros.
Of course, in the market you can also find inexpensive espresso machines, but where is the quality? Often they are plastic boxes, made in China, which hide materials that are not really beneficial to health. The issue of quality semi-professional machines is different, but they are rather expensive.
> The moka is ecological. The coffee grounds, in fact, are completely compostable ; not to mention the fact that we can use them as fertilizers for our plants .
The capsules, on the other hand, contain coffee inside a non-organic casing, made of plastic and aluminum and are generally two-component because they hardly include the materials of which they are composed and, consequently, in the vast majority of cases, they are not recyclable and represent the least ecological choice when it comes to coffee .
Pods are more ecological than capsules because they contain coffee in a paper wrapper and are often (but not always) disposable in the wet.
There are also new-generation capsules produced in completely recyclable and compostable plastic, but they are still a clear minority.
> The moka makes great coffee . It is very easy to make an excellent coffee with the mocha, on the market you will find mixtures for moka of great quality and a good coffee machine gets the most from the coffee even when it is not freshly ground.
Not to mention that the capsules are a potential vehicle of phthalates (a chemical that allows plastics to be moldable and more flexible), a subject that is often discussed and, if it is true that there is no conclusive scientific evidence, it is also true that suspicion and doubt about health remain.
