I really love Cuban coffee, but since I live in a small town, in a cold weather climate state, if I want Cafe con Leche at home, I have to make it myself. After a ton of research, including reading reviews and watching YouTube videos, I decided to get the 3 cup Bialetti. You can't go wrong with the price, and it seems to be a very sturdy little coffee pot. It's very easy to use, and after some experimenting, which has been fun and delicious, here are my suggestions/instructions on what I have personally found to work the best. These are just my personal suggestions, use them if you wish, or feel free to do something completely different!!!!- First things first, for the sake of technicality, please be aware that this coffee pot doesn't technically make espresso. True espresso is made by forcing very hot water, through the ground coffee, by use of very high pressure. This little unit doesn't build up enough pressure to technically create true espresso. What this unit is going to produce is approximately 2 times the strength of drip brewed coffee, with a very high level of oils from the grounds. And unlike espresso machines, which create a layer of golden crema on top of the espresso, this machine isn't really going to do that either. There will be a little bit of golden brown foam on the top, but not really. So for any espresso purists out there, while I commend you for your appreciation of fine espresso, this unit is not for you.- Always use good water. If you have bad water (ie: hard water, chlorinated, rusty), use bottled water. You are trying to pack a lot of flavor into a small amount of liquid, and bad water will make bad coffee.- Fill the water chamber to just below the valve. Please don't overfill it.- I currently am using Cafe Bustelo in the can, but will be experimenting with other brands like Pilon.- For the 3 cup version, I spoon in coffee by the teaspoon, leveling the coffee with each spoonful. When the basket is full, add a little extra coffee on top to create a mound. Total amount I put in ends up being about 4 heaping teaspoons. Make sure the threads are clear of any grounds, and screw the top on. This will compact the coffee down on its own.- Before you place the pot on the stove, make sure that the top portion is firmly screwed on to the bottom. If it is not, the pot will not brew properly, and you will lose moisture and steam pressure from between the threads.- Never use high heat for this coffee pot. I have an electric range that is about 12 years old or so, and I use one of the small burners, and never turn it past 5. It takes a little bit longer to do it this way, but makes a huge difference. High heat will cause the coffee to have a burnt, bitter taste.- I cannot emphasize enough the importance of keeping the heat low. You have to be a little patient during the heating process, but the difference in the flavor is worth the extra time!- Until you become really familiar with exactly how the pot will work on your stove, I would recommend not walking away. It takes a bit of time for the water to heat enough and build up the pressure, but once the coffee starts coming out into the top chamber, its going to go fast.- Resist the urge to keep lifting the lid of the pot. It's hard to do because its pretty cool to see the coffee filling up the top chamber :) I left my lid open the whole time I made my first batch, and lost some coffee in the process. The coffee will kind of spurt and splatter around during the brewing process, so you can imagine what my stove looked like afterwards.- The first few spurts of coffee that come up will probably have an almost syrupy appearance. This is GOOD! You want this! If the coffee doesn't look like this, and/or its pretty pale, you don't have enough coffee in your filter basket. If the coffee is pale, its still ok to drink, but treat it like you would a regular drip coffee. It will not taste like espresso at all.- Each pot sounds a little different, but learn to tell when the bottom chamber has no more water in it. The sputtering noises in the top of the chamber will increase in volume a little as the water chamber empties.- As soon as the bottom chamber is empty, immediately remove the pot from the heat source. If you let it sit on the heat, it will burn the coffee. This is bad! Burnt coffee is nasty!!!!- If you are dividing the coffee between multiple cups, make sure you either gently swirl the pot a few times, or stir the coffee gently before you pour. You want to make sure that the inital thick liquid from the first few moments is evenly distributed throughout the liquid. If you don't, the last cup you fill will contain a much larger portion of the oils from the coffee, and will be stronger than the other servings. I recommend NOT sharing the espresso, and drinking it all for yourself! It's too good to share!!! :)At this point, you can drink it straight if you wish. If that's what you would like, stop reading now............If you want to do a little more with it and make it even better, keep reading. Like I said before, I love Cuban coffee. I love how strong and rich tasting it is, BUT it is a little sweet for me. I mean, it's got a LOT of sugar in it. So I do mine with a little less sugar than traditional, though I do like a genuine version once in a while.-While the coffee is starting the brewing process on the stove, I pour about 1 cup of whole milk into a glass measuring cup and add about 2 1/2- 3 teaspoons of sugar.- Microwave the milk and sugar until very warm, but not scalded or boiling.- Remove it from the microwave, and use a milk frother to mix the milk and sugar and to make some foam. This is not necessary of course, but I like a little bit of foam.- Pour it into a large mug or coffee cup (I use a 2.5 cup travel mug) and when the espresso is done brewing, pour it into the milk and stir gently.That's it! Easy and delicious, and a great way to cheer yourself up on a snowy, gray day!!!! Enjoy!I make myself a triple espresso every morning. Here is the way to get a real, legit espresso from a Bialetti, rather than just a strong, tiny cup of coffee.1. Grind the beans to powder, much finer than a typical espresso grind.2. Gently press the powder into the coffee holder. Don’t pack it in with all your strength, just enough so that it’s not loose.3. Put the Bialetti on very, very low heat. It should take 8-13 minutes to finish, depending on your stove. I used to be able to do a cup in 8 minutes, but I moved, and I have to use a “heat diffuser” to get an appropriately slow heat. Do be careful to time it, as you don’t want it to keep “cooking” longer than absolutely necessary.If you do this, you will get delicious, legit espresso, so thick you can cut it with a knife.Other methods, even the one described by the Bialetti company won’t get a full, true espresso, as the amount of pressure needed to push boiling water through the coffee grind within just a minute can’t be accomplished without a real machine. This method makes up the difference by forcing the water through a finer grind and a slower brew time.This is the first time in my life I have a coffeemaker. I feel very happy. It is useful, easy to use and clean. I rwcommend it.I was brought up with Bialetti when I visited my family in Trieste. This coffee maker is a cult, a true religion in Italy & all homes & families have one--at least 99% of them to be sure! It is well made & should last for years & years before you need to replace it. Bialetti Moka Express 3 cup serves 3 cups of espresso, but to be perfectly fair, it does make one perfect cup of coffee for one person--a smaller cup--not the mug-size amount. In Italy you can get ground coffee just for these makers & it should be pressed in. I live in USA now & I use regular Folgers coffee you can get at any grocery store. I don't press the coffee in--just enough to give me a kick but not enough to send me to the ER. The beauty of this coffee maker is that you don't have to buy filters or spend a fortune for a terrific cup of coffee. Skip the Keurig & get this! You just have to replace the rubber ring when it gets worn out & you can get replacements on amazon--price is less than $4 today. I wouldn't make my coffee in anything else. DO NOT USE espresso coffee for espresso machines! The best grind is what you get in Italy. Don't risk getting Italian type coffee here in USA because it is not the same quality unless it is made in Italy. The normal grind is just fine--I personally get Folgers Classic Roast or Folgers House Blend. I suppose the French Roast is just as good an idea. You can search for the vacuum packed coffee that is made IN ITALY, but why go thru all that trouble when our American coffee will do just fine? I am more than happy with Folgers & the grind is just fine! I would suggest using filtered water! We once got espresso coffee in a can that was made by Italian-Americans & we took it back to the grocery store for a refund because it was burned black! That is NOT how they do coffee in Italy!!! To play it safe, just get your regular Folgers or whatever--OK French roast, OK also Colombian medium-darker roast, just don't get the coffee burned black! YIKES!!! Once you have done your first coffee, you just rinse & dry. You only have to wash it once in a great while when the coffee stains increase on the inside of the top serving portion. Save yourself the problems of filters, & expensive coffee makers. This is all you need. (This is also available in 6 cups.) PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU DON'T PUT IT ON HIGH FLAME OR HIGH HEAT. Low-Medium is perfect on electric. If it is too low, it won't work (electric stove) & medium heat is too high. Very low flame on a gas stove is perfect. It should take about 15 minutes to come up on the right amount of heat using cold water--20 min. at the most.If indeed you want to try coffee made in Italy especially for this coffee maker you might want to try this: It is an Italian brand that many Italians use. I cannot guarantee this as I have never bought it here in America. I would have to open & see for myself that the import exchange is exactly what Italians use. I would think that this is the same product Italians use for their Moka coffee makers & it is shipped here. Avoid for espresso machines--which are usually professional & in bars or cafe's--this is a home Moka (espresso)--Espresso Machines use the extremely fine grind, but in everyday language at home, these are called espresso. If indeed it is exactly the same used in Italy--which is indeed for home Moka coffee makers, you are good to go. Remember in Italy all or just about all coffees sold in stores are for Moka coffee makers since everyone has one at home-fyi.Lavazza Qualita Oro Medium Roast Ground Coffee, 8.8-Ounce Cans (Pack of 4)--MADE IN ITALY!Note: This coffee maker does not have the usual strong gurgle as usual with this same brand (as exactly the same with other Moka coffee makers) when the coffee is all finished coming up. I leave the top open & watch the coffee coming up & cover the lid & remove it just in time. I suggest you might do the same at least in the beginning unless you have better hearing than me. You will smell the coffee (coming up) even before it does because it has already found it's way up the channels. Make sure the flame is just perfect & the coffee doesn't come up strong or way to slow--better slow than fast, but with experience, you'll get the hang of it.UPDATE May 28 2019: I contacted Bialetti about the problem with the two Bialetti 3 cup stove top espresso makers: one full on exploding and the other now displaying the same pre-explosion behavior where it starts to jump rings. Bialetti's email response was:"If the pot blew up there had to be a clog somewhere because the coffee brews up to the top only. So if the filter plate got clogged and it couldn’t go anywhere that may be why. Do you clean and remove all parts? Hold the filter plate up to the light when checking for any clogged holes? The gasket and filter should be removed after a few brews to clean and under the filter up into the tube. Both pots are over the warranty so if you never changed the parts it can wear. "But I had cleaned it several times and replaced the rubber gaskets. The problem is that when the weakest point becomes the worn threads then that is where it blows BEFORE the coffee brews up through the filter plate. They are correct that it is no longer under warranty, but it's a product that ended up having less than a 2 year life. That's not acceptable to me.UPDATE May 20 2019: This Bialetti has started to develop the same problem as my previous one. After under two years of constant daily use, the metal threads have started to become sloppy. Twice in the last week I have a situation where it 'pops' on the stove when starting to express coffee as it jumps up a thread ring .... the initial behavior before it goes into full explosion mode. I've cleaned it and replaced the rings. I'm a reasonably strong adult male so I know I'm tightening it properly. It appears these have a very flawed design. This now retires after less than two year use.Original review:I bought this to replace a 3 cup Bialetti that I purchased about 15 years ago. The metal threading on the old one became so worn it exploded twice on the stove. Yes! This happens! This one is OK, it seals well enough. I find all of these Bialetti's will leak slightly initially, or when you change the rubber gasket, but after a few uses they seal up really well.The one big difference is with the size. My old 3 cup was noticeably larger - and yes it was a 3 cup. This even uses the exact same size 3 cup rubber gaskets. The filter basket of the old one fits the diameter of this exactly, except the stem is longer, because the size of the old reservoir was taller (larger).If you've owned one of the older 3 cup ones I'd probably recommend going a size up and getting a 4 cup. They look to be closer in size to the old 3 cupBought for wife, she is very happy with this coffe maker. Real italian coffe taste at home where ever you are, dont compare with electric coffe makers, because taste on them is disgusting. This bialetti brand is so good quality, had before other brand, but metal quality was wery poor.It can be nice gift :)This makes the best coffee I have ever had at home. Lovely!Very nice item, just what we were looking for.Thank you highly recommending