While out and about doing my Holiday shopping this week I came across a present for myself. (Isn't that how it always happens?) I initially thought I'd buy this gift for a friend but once I got my hands on it, I couldn't take my hands off it. The gift was simply much too intriguing to pass up. This gift I speak of is the Bialetti Mukka Express.

The Bialetti Mukka Express is a stove-top cappuccino maker. Yes, you read that right. Stove-top, just like the rest of their products. This time, Bialetti bragged a café quality cappuccino in about 4 minutes. This I had to see, and taste for that matter.

First I un-boxed this beauty. My Bialetti is brushed aluminum but also comes in pink and cow print. I was tempted to put it right onto the stove, directions free. Thankfully, I resisted this urge (as should you). I quickly thumbed through the instruction manual, searching for the American flag marked corners. I was disheartened - a little panicked - when I didn't find this section. Luckily for me I speak fluent British.

I read the instruction manual very carefully, at least so I thought. After filling the bottom of this contraption with espresso grinds and water I screwed it back together and filled the top with milk. The instructions very specifically state that the threads where the two halves are joined must be coffee grinds-free, and that it must be screwed together quite tightly. They mean it. I thought I had done these two things, but was oh so wrong. Soon the coffee was squirting out the joint and onto the burner.

If this happens to you, cut your losses and start over. I, however, was determined that everything would still work just fine. Wrong again. Because of the leaky joint, the coffee never perked and the pressure valve never released, leaving my milk un-frothed. Soon the only thing I had accomplished was a charcoaled, coffee-coated burner.

I started over and followed the directions with the utmost care, this time for real. Sure enough, in about 4 minutes I had espresso-infused milk froth. I poured it out into two small cups, spooning the froth on top. The beverage the Bialetti produced wasn't quite a cappuccino, but rather a latte with a little extra foam. Or as we in the biz like to call it, cappulatte or latteccino. This identity-crisis-having drink tasted like a single shot latte but had surprisingly great foam consistency, considering its volume.

All in all, I was quite impressed with the Bialetti Mukka Express. Compared to other home cappuccino makers, I found this one the easiest, cleanest, and tastiest. That being said, I don't feel as though it will be replacing actual baristi any time soon. (If I did, I wouldn't be writing this review.)

No beans about it, Bialleti knows what it's doing. Its origins date back further than the company's actual existence. In 1918 Alfonso Bialetti opened a workshop in Italy to manufacture aluminum semi-finished products. Soon enough, Bialetti wasn't satisfied with semi-finished. He had the entrepreneurial spirit and wanted to create something start to finish.

The turning point occurred in 1933 when, with help from his father Alfonso, Renato Bialetti patented and started manufacturing the Moka Express (the coffee maker). This product revolutionized coffee making at home, and led Bialetti to establish the largest coffee-making factory in the world. Since the Moka Express, Bialetti continued its ingenious production of stove-top coffee makers, adding most recently the aforementioned Mukka Express.

Want to get your hands on one? Many retailers carry Bialetti products in their kitchen section. To shop their products online visit www.bialettishop.com.