The Moka Pot and The Prototype
How a beat-up family heirloom is shaping the future menu of Quiet Nook Books
Coffee is in my blood, even though I’m not much of a coffee drinker. Don’t hate me!
Every Saturday morning when I’d wake up at 7am to watch cartoons, my grandmother would already be downstairs making a pot of coffee and smoking a cigarette. My dad would follow shortly after. Years later a boyfriend I had did the same. It felt like I jumped from one family to the next - all purists in authentic Cuban coffee, un cafecito.
It is your traditional espresso plus espumita, made from the first drips of coffee stirred vigorously into sugar. The rest of the pour is added to the espumita creating that iconic Cuban flavor. It is the base for all other espresso-based drinks, like the cortadito and cafe bombon. It’s what makes it unique compared to the espresso you find at any other shop outside of the ventanita cafes in Miami or on vacation in Varadero, Cuba.
Some time in my early teens, I learned that my grandfather, my mom’s father, whom I knew only briefly, was a coffee farm owner in his hometown of Jinotega, Nicaragua. During a visit I made to Nicaragua shortly before he passed, he took me all over the farm to see how the beans were sorted, weighed, and packaged. It was an experience I definitely did not appreciate as much as I should have then, but I certainly do now.
So you see, I’ve grown up watching my family use their moka pot to make cafecitos. Some days I’d get the opportunity to help them. Other days I’d only begrudgingly drink it to stay perky enough to finish analyzing those spreadsheets. And today, I’ve learned to make my own.
Quick detour!
When I first met my husband over 10 years ago, he would drive almost an hour to come see me every day because we lived on opposite sides of the county. He’d have to drive back home most nights because his job was in his town, so I started making cafecitos using the moka pot my grandmother gifted me when I moved out. He loved them!!! Kept him awake for the drive. Actually, he told me it wasn’t his first time trying a Cuban cafecito because he had a friend who also made it. Naturally, I felt very competitive; I was sure mine was better.
I started making it for him when he arrived, before he left, and after dinner. The biggest compliment he gave me was one evening when I got home late from work and hadn’t made coffee yet. He told me that he knew I hadn’t made it because usually, the delicious coffee smell started before he even got to my door. It made me proud, but it also reminded me how coffee brings people together.
I realized long ago that for my coffee shop dreams to come true, I’d need to evolve. Taking my family recipes commercial would require a bit of a learning curve. You see that moka pot I’ve been talking about? My little Bialetti, where I freehand add water just below the knob and fill it with coffee to the top? That moka pot makes perfect cafecito every single time, yet no “real” recipe has ever existed it.
Well………that’s not going to fly in a business. Teaching my recipes to an employee are a thing for another day, but the real problem is I can’t bring the moka pot with me. An espresso machine is the most effective way to scale, and I know it can be done - every ventanita cafe in Miami has a La Marzocco sitting on their counter. The bummer is, I’ve never used one!!!!!!
So here I am excited that yesterday I unboxed my first espresso machine. The goal is to start with this “prototype” to understand the process, weighing the ingredients until the right mix gives me what my Bialetti has given me for decades: a perfect shot of cafecito.
This will prepare me for when the real engine of the Nook arrives in shop. It seems silly to be this excited about something that many people already have in their homes, but it is new for me. This move will help me get one step closer to making my dreams happen now.
Before we open the Nook later in 2026, I’ll be a pro (or at least not just a hobbyist). Ready to tackle the engine. Come back and check out my recipes as I start to transition them from the moka pot to this new prototype.