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We have recently bought an Espresso maker that you put on top of the cooker. The coffee tastes very bitter and unpleasant. What is the best way to make coffee with this method?

sounds to me like you are burning the coffee!

How does it get burnt though? We put the coffee and water in their respective places, put it on the hob at a low heat, then wait for the coffee to bubble up to the top until it stops... Could it be that we have a gas cooker?

Only you know if you've got a gas cooker.
When I used on of those, I got it to heat as quickly as possible.
What sort of coffee are you using?

I make my coffee with one of those - the only time the coffee has burned is when I tried to make half the amount - do you fill it right up each time?? And it needs to go on the lowest possible heat

Illy coffee. How much of it are you meant to put in?

We packed the holder part with the holes (filter) up to the top. I thought that was what you are supposed to do.

We do that too, but it still doesn't taste good.

Fill the coffee part to the top but don't press it down. Fill the water part to the top too - lowest possible heat, turn it off as soon as it has finished bubbling through.

What type of coffee would you recommend?

I use sainsbury's premium coffee for filters. Illy would be better though...

The best ground coffee I hav found is the Taylor's of Harrogate range. They do lots of different strengths,the one in a green packet is nice.

We either use a caffetiere or our posh Nespresso coffee machine.

You can easily burn coffee. Make sure that you don't leave it on the stove too long - whip it off as soon as you hear it start to bubble. Also, taste can really be affected by freshness - is it freshly ground, has the packet been open a long time? Make sure the coffee basket is cleaned between uses as the ground beans leave an oily residue that can go rancid /bitter. Quality is really important, I like Lavazza Gold, or try an independent roaster like Square Mile (www.squaremile.co.uk)... Somewhere on their website they have instructions for getting the best out of different brewing appliances, might be worth a try.

I find freshly grinding the coffee beans rather than buying ground coffee makes a big difference.

Def sounds burnt. I'd put it on the simmer ring and turn it off as soon as it starts bubbling up and let it finish Su the residual heat.

Illy coffee is vile though, and expresso for that matter! We have a bean to cup machine. We do notice as well that the coffee isn't very hot, which shows just how low the water temp does need to be to avoid burning.

Fresh grinding does make a huge difference too. Ours will take pre ground as well as beans, but we only use pre ground for things like flavoured coffees which arent available in bean form.

Krupps do a little grinder which works well and is reasonably priced.

We use a stove top for camping ( and when our coffee machine broke). Remove it as soon as you hear the bubbling. Illy is very strong coffee. If you want to drink it black or with cold milk, you need to just put a little of the espresso in a mug and top up with water boiled in the kettle (americano) or heat some milk in the microwave and add your espresso for a latte. Try a smoother blend if you find it too bitter. Taylor's of harrogate's lazy Sunday is quite nice, but keep it in the freezer once you've opened it. Ground coffee goes off after being exposed to air in 48 hours. Or grind your own beans. Make sure you Tamp it down if using cafetiere coffee as it has not been ground for so long.

I use a stove top moka pot thing, or did when hob got hot enough, now I use a French press

my favourite beans are Nairobi Blue or those caffe roma ones, they both have something a bit magical in them. Yum.