Moka pots are temperamental. It took me a while to figure out quite how to use mine. Makes great coffee once you're used to it, though.

You probably want to pre-boil the water so that the coffee doesn't sit on the heat for too long, but you should also only turn the stove up to medium so that it extracts more slowly. Pull the pot off the heat as soon as it starts making the loud rushing noise — I even rinse the base with cold water so that it stops boiling right away.

> Every time I've tried a Moka I burn it.

The burn comes from sitting in the pot after brewing. If you grab it & transfer it as it boils over, then you won't get any burned taste.

Once coffee sits in it for 20 minutes, even with the stovetop off, it starts to go acrid & smoky.

Aeropress doesn't have that problem at all, of brewed coffee coming in contact with hot metal.

I like the Mokka pot for my first coffee, because it is relatively simple to operate before I've had my coffee.

James Hoffmann recommends using hot water in the moka pot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpyBYuu-wJI

I put mine (stainless steel) on my induction stove for 2, maybe 3 minutes maximum, and I've never encountered burnt coffee.

I gave my Moka pot away because cleaning it was a royal pain in the ass.

If you ever want to try it again, get a stainless steel one. It cleans up just fine with soap.

It was the sieve and the seals that always got me. And my tendency when presented with a hot cup of coffee to actually drink the coffee instead of cleaning the equipment.

Not cleaning your Moka pot is part of the authentic experience.