Bialetti Venus 6-Cup Stovetop Espresso Coffee Maker - Stainless Steel Moka Pot for Home, Office & Camping - Perfect Italian Coffee Brewing

I love these stovetop coffee makers and have had the original aluminum one for many years. But more and more research showing its pretty bad to ingest aluminum (which is why pop cans are now lined) and I'm sure boiling water would pull the bad stuff out of those.So I searched for stainless, but early rusting in the cheaper ones sounded inevitable, and I've witnessed that in other cheap 'stainless' products I've bought, so was willing to fork out a little more dough to get a quality product that would last hopefully as many years as my previous (poisonous) aluminum one.After much use over a few months, not indication at all of cheap stainless that is going to show rust spots, which I was thinking if they showed it would be in the boil pot. Nothing, all good, so 5 stars.It is pleasing to the eye, the bottom and top screw together and seal well, the handle seems super solid and doesn't get hot - I can pick it right up from the stove and pour bare handed. I do, however, consciously place it so flame and heat isn't coming up the side where the handle is.If you aren't familiar with is method, a few points:- They make good strong coffee, NOT espresso. To me and all of Europe - espresso is a very dense 'shot' with creama on top. You won't get that out of this. What you will get is a deep, dark, strong cup of coffee- However, they measure output in 'cups' which is misleading - they maybe mean small espresso shot cups, but not a cup of coffee. So this 6 cup has the output of one regular sized cup of coffee...so every morning I fill the boil pot and that produces the exact right size full cup of Joe for me.Buy it, try it, another good option for coffee lovers that like to mix up different brew styles.I have used Bialetti aluminum Moka Express pots for years and have been a huge fan of Bialetti. When I decided to upgrade to stainless steel, I didn’t even consider another brand. Unfortunately I was in for a very unpleasant surprise.The first time I used it to brew the discard batch to season the device, I used relatively high heat, which isn’t recommended for best taste, as it extracts bitterness. Since this one was not for drinking, it didn’t matter. The coffee brewed relatively fast but the process was very different from Bialetti aluminum pots: the aluminum Moka Express quietly shoots up the coffee and sputters only towards the end; Venus sputters loudly all throughout producing coffee, while also producing steam that escapes through the lid hinge near the handle, where water leaks down the handle. The brewing process was also accompanied by putrid burned coffee and metal smell. The coffee was done in approximately 7 minutes.The second time I was brewing coffee to drink. I used the same grind as the first time but lower flame, same as I normally use on my aluminum Bialetti. And… nothing happened. It boiled for 17 minutes with a strong burned metallic odor, but no coffee came out at all. I increased the flame, but still nothing happened. I finally turned it off. The smell was horrid. When the pot cooled off, I disassembled it to find some of the coffee on the bottom wet, while the top portion was dry. Somehow the water couldn’t get through, and it was neither a fine grind, nor was it tamped down.The third time I added slightly less coffee and increased the flame. The coffee was done in 8 minutes, but the unit overheated and the coffee in the top chamber was bubbling. The coffee had a bad burned aftertaste.The fourth and final time (I returned the unit afterwards) I took the pot of the gas a little sooner. I had way less coffee and it wasn’t burned, but it still had a bad aftertaste.My conclusion about Venus is that you can either have burned coffee, or no coffee at all. I suspect it may have something to do with two things: (1) the diameter of my burner, and (2) the diameter of the filter and coffee chamber pipes in Venus. I’m sure it also has to do with the size of coffee grinds, but given that it’s never been an issue with my aluminum moka pot (only flavor gets impacted), I will not focus on it. All I know is that my Bialetti aluminum brews coffee EVERY time regardless of the grind size or gas burner diameter, and the coffee is good, in contrast to Venus, which brews bad coffee and only sometimes. I wonder if my unit is defective somehow.(1) American gas stovetops tend to have larger diameter burners than European ones, and even the smallest burners have flames too far apart. I found with my Bialetti aluminum pot that the closer to the center the heat is concentrated, the better the outcome, which is why it works so amazingly on a camp stove. I suspect lack of more concentrated heat contributes to not enough pressure buildup to shoot up the water.(2) I disassembled both the aluminum and the Venus coffee pots to compare the design and found that not only is the filter basket stem smaller in diameter in Venus, but the pipe that the coffee shoots through is a narrow long straight tube in Venus, while it has a large-base conical design in the aluminum Moka Express. That would explain why it's so much harder for the water to pass through. Please refer to the attached photos to see the difference.Summary of pros and cons:PROS:1. Beautiful, aesthetically pleasing design.2. Ergonomic to hold and to pour, much more than its aluminum counterpart.3. Stainless steel.4. Despite of not having a spout, it pours nicely without spilling.CONS:1. My particular unit is not able to produce coffee on medium or low heat on a burner with a large diameter (yet still within bounds of the base). It can produce coffee on high heat, but then the coffee burns and has a bad aftertaste. It has a bad aftertaste even if it doesn’t burn. It may be a design flaw – see more details above.2. The steam condensates around the lid hinge and water keeps dripping down the handle during the brewing process.3. The top chamber has a bizarre and impossible to clean design (see photo). Unlike the aluminum Bialetti that has a flat chamber around the middle spout, Venus has a shape that’s a mirror image of a filter basket with crevices between the protrusion and the unit walls. Given that there is almost always some sludge on the bottom, I see it as a disadvantage for keeping it clean.I would not recommend this unit. With varying conditions I can always make better or worse coffee with an aluminum Bialetti Moka Express, whereas Venus will SOMETIMES make coffee if the stars align, and the coffee doesn’t taste good. This is not acceptable to me.There is nothing quite like coffee made in a "moka" stovetop coffeemaker. It's thick and rich and I'm convinced it hits the bloodstream faster than that from my espresso maker or french press. It's strong enough not to get lost in a little bit of milk and is our go-to coffee type when making tiramisu.There are a few things to consider about using one.>First use ever or after not using it for a while, make a few pots not to drink, but to feed your compost or garden or simply to toss out if you must. It will get the rich flavor going in the pot.>Don't wash it with soap. The washer in the filter area will absorb the flavor of the soap and remove that seasoned flavor from your coffee and it will take a making a few pots to get it out.>The directions on the box were translated by someone who doesn't speak both languages very well and the instructions in English are lacking and a good setup for failure. Do yourself a favor if you've never used one and watch a couple youtube videos on making coffee in a moka pot.>If you're using it on a gas stove and only have large flames, it may be helpful to add a flame diffuser. It evens out the heat and keeps the flame from burning your handle.Bottom line: If you like strong coffee, you will very likely enjoy this moka pot.I was quite happy with this Bialetti coffee maker for about a month... until it started to RUST. INSIDE. My return window is closed, I cannot return it, so here is my review - don't buy it unless you love taste of RUST in your coffee!Now I am extremely disappointed, I still have my first aluminium Bialetti pot, it makes perfect coffee for 10 years, but it is unusable with my new induction stovetop.I paid the extra $ to have a quality product of a good brand, but it's not. I was thinking Stainless is better then aluminium, but where you put water it's not stainless, it's coated whit unknown product and after a while it rust. Made in China, I found the same product for less then 15$ ... so avoid this one, don't pay for the brand when the quality is not there.I am really disappointed with this coffee maker from Bialetti. I know their quality has gone down over the years and their mocha pots are now made in India or made in china. I should have read the reviews about rust in the stainless steel. Rusting problems common and its not a high quality easy to clean coffee maker. This has been a really awful purchase as it has not worked on Induction stove for me. I have a newer Samsung induction stove, and I think because this mocha pot does not have a flat bottom it does not heat at all and its really been awful. What a waste of so much money. Look elsewhere don't waste your money. Sorry Bialetti, this is my last purchase from you. I wanted great coffee but I just got hot water and no coffee from my mocha pot. Bummer.The lid broke off while I was gently cleaning the moka pot. Very disappointed as I've owned the classic Bialetti pots for a long time and they were very good quality. My new home has an induction-only stovetop so I purchased the Venus as it indeed works on induction. Unfortunately, the quality is nowhere near the original. The hinge is plastic and the lid snapped off.I have an old Bialetti that i used it for years but when i moved the new house had an induction range and the old Bialetti would work. So i ordered this Venus model as it was rated as working on induction. Well just let me put it simply- is not. Maybe other people saying that is working on their induction are a little more lucky than me or have a better range but for me it was useless.I had to return it the next day. The return thorough Amazon went fast and got my money shortly. Just make sure you write down your Canada Post tracking number just in case there are any problems saying that the product wasn't received.