# Neapolitan Flip Pot

Source: https://dailyextraction.com/methods/neapolitan-flip/
Last updated: 2026-10-19

> Fill the lower part of the cuccumella with water to just below the small hole, put ground coffee in the perforated basket and screw on the filter, then fit the upper part with its spout facing down. Heat it until a thin jet of steam comes from the hole. Take it off the heat, flip it over by both handles, and let the hot water drip through the coffee, which takes about 2 to 10 minutes.

## At a glance

- Ratio: About 1:7 to 1:11
- Grind: Medium-fine (table salt)
- Category: Metal Gravity Drip & Percolation (Percolation)
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Origin: Italy, 1819
- Also known as: cuccumella, caffettiera napoletana, napoletana, cafetière Morize, reversible coffee pot

## Steps

1. **Fill with water**: Pour water into the part with the small hole, to about 5 mm below the hole and no further.
2. **Add the coffee**: Put the ground coffee in the perforated basket, set it in the pot and screw on its filter.
3. **Assemble**: Fit the other half, with the spout, on top, spout facing down.
4. **Heat**: Heat it on the hob. When a thin jet of steam or a drop of water comes from the small hole, the water is ready.
5. **Flip**: Take it off the heat, hold it firmly by both handles and flip it over quickly.
6. **Let it drip**: Leave it while the hot water drips through the coffee into the half with the spout. Guides give anything from 2 to 10 minutes, longer for big pots.
7. **Serve**: Lift off the empty water chamber and the coffee basket, and pour.

The **Neapolitan flip pot**, or **cuccumella**, is the coffee pot Naples used before the [moka pot](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/moka-pot/). It's two metal cylinders, one with a spout, joined by a **perforated coffee basket**. You heat the water in one half on the hob, then **flip the whole pot over**, so the hot water sits on top and **drips through the coffee by gravity** into the half with the spout. There's no pressure involved, just gravity. Here's how to use one, and where it came from.

## The short version

- **Two halves and a coffee basket**: one half for water, one with a spout for coffee.
- **Heat, then flip**: gravity drips the hot water through the coffee.
- **Fill to just below the small hole**, and heat until steam comes out of it.
- **A medium to medium-fine grind**, coarser than for a moka pot.
- **Credited to Jean-Louis Morize, 1819**, and the pot of Naples until the moka.



## How does a Neapolitan pot work?

1. **The water half** sits at the bottom on the hob. A **small hole** near its top shows the fill line and lets out steam when the water is ready.
2. **The coffee basket** sits between the two halves, with a perforated filter screwed on top.
3. **The spout half** sits on top, upside down at first, with its spout facing down.
4. **When the water's hot, you flip it.** The water is now on top and **drips through the coffee** by gravity into the spout half, which is now the right way up.

## How much coffee and water should I use?

There's no single standard, and the cuccumella uses more coffee than most drip methods. In Perfect Daily Grind, Simone recommends **18 g of coffee to 200 ml of water** (about 1:11). Caffè Ernani goes stronger, with **140 g per litre**, or 28 g for the 200 ml of a 3-cup pot (about 1:7). In practice, fill the water half to just below the small hole and the basket with coffee, as the pot is sized to match.

## What grind size should I use?

**Medium to medium-fine**, a little **coarser than for a moka pot**, as Italy Heritage puts it. Perfect Daily Grind notes that the finer you grind, the more intense and bitter the brew. Caffè Ernani's test: if the water takes more than about 4 minutes to drip through, the coffee is ground too finely.

![Chart of coffee grind sizes from extra fine to extra coarse, with medium-fine highlighted for the Neapolitan flip pot](https://dailyextraction.com/diagrams/grind-size.svg#medium-fine "Start around medium-fine for a cuccumella.")

## How do you use a cuccumella, step by step?

1. **Fill the water half** to about 5 mm below the small hole, and no further.
2. **Add the coffee** to the basket, set it in place and screw on the filter.
3. **Fit the spout half** on top, spout facing down.
4. **Heat it** until a thin jet of steam or a drop of water comes from the small hole.
5. **Take it off the heat and flip it**, holding both handles firmly.
6. **Let it drip** until the water chamber is empty.
7. **Lift off** the water half and basket, and pour.

Guides disagree on the drip time: about **2 to 3 minutes** (Perfect Daily Grind), about **4** (Caffè Ernani), **5 to 10** (Italy Heritage) or **10 to 12** (Caffè Vergnano). Pot size and grind make the difference. Caffè Vergnano's guide also times the flip differently: turn off the heat, wait about a minute, then flip. In Naples, a small paper cone called a **cuppetiello** is traditionally put over the spout while it drips, to keep the aroma in. Brew mode on this page times the drip for you.

## A short history of the cuccumella

- **1819:** most sources credit a **French tinsmith, Jean-Louis Morize**, with the design, which is why it's also called the **cafetière Morize**.
- **Naples:** it became so closely tied to Naples that it's known as the **caffettiera napoletana**. The name **cuccumella** comes from **cuccuma**, a Neapolitan copper or terracotta pot.
- **1886:** according to Wikipedia, it was made of copper until 1886, when makers switched to aluminium.
- **The moka:** it stayed Italy's everyday home coffee maker until **Bialetti's moka pot** arrived in **1933** and gradually replaced it.

## Neapolitan pot vs moka pot

| | Neapolitan flip pot | [Moka pot](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/moka-pot/) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| How it brews | Gravity drip, after a flip | Steam pressure, upwards |
| Pressure | None | Steam pressure |
| Time | Heat, then about 2 to 10 minutes to drip | About 5 minutes |
| Skill | The flip takes a little practice | Easy |

*General guidance only. The pot is full of near-boiling water when you flip it: hold both handles firmly, flip away from you and anyone else, and use a pot with sound handles and seals.*

## Neapolitan pot vs other methods

- **[Moka pot](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/moka-pot/):** the steam-pressure pot that replaced it.
- **[Biggin](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/biggin/):** another early drip pot.
- **[Vietnamese phin](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/vietnamese-phin/):** a single-cup metal drip filter.
- **[South Indian filter coffee](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/south-indian-filter/):** a slow metal drip for a strong decoction.

Explore every metal-filter method in the [gravity chapter](https://dailyextraction.com/methods/gravity-metal/).

## FAQs

### How does a Neapolitan coffee pot work?

By gravity, not pressure. You heat the water in one half, then flip the pot so the hot water is on top and drips slowly through the coffee basket into the other half, which has the spout.

### Who invented the Neapolitan coffee pot?

Most sources credit a French tinsmith, Jean-Louis Morize, in 1819, which is why it's also known as the cafetière Morize. It became the coffee pot of Naples, and of much of Italy, until the moka pot, invented in 1933, replaced it.

### What does cuccumella mean?

It comes from cuccuma, a Neapolitan word for a copper or terracotta pot.

### What grind should I use?

Medium to medium-fine, coarser than for a moka pot. Perfect Daily Grind notes that the finer you grind, the more intense and bitter the coffee. Too fine and it drips very slowly.

### Neapolitan pot vs moka pot?

A moka pot uses steam pressure to push the water up through the coffee. The Neapolitan pot lets hot water drip down through it by gravity, with no pressure at all. It takes longer, and the flip takes a little practice.

## Sources

- [Reversible coffee pot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_coffee_pot)
- [How the Neapolitan moka pot works](https://www.caffevergnano.com/en/blog/the-neapolitan-moka-pot-works)
- [Neapolitan coffee, a ritual according to traditions](https://www.lavazza.com/en/coffee-secrets/neapolitan-coffee-maker)
- [How to make Italian coffee: the Neapolitan pot](https://www.italyheritage.com/traditions/made-in-italy/coffee/neapolitan-pot.htm)
- [The Neapolitan coffee pot](https://italian-traditions.com/the-neapolitan-coffee-pot/)
- [Exploring the cuccuma: a traditional Neapolitan coffee pot](https://perfectdailygrind.com/2021/03/exploring-the-cuccuma-a-traditional-neapolitan-coffee-pot/)
- [Neapolitan: how to prepare coffee with cuccumella](https://www.caffeernani.com/en/recipes/neapolitan-how-to-prepare-coffee-with-cuccumella/)