Bialetti Brikka - Foam or Function

Until now, I've been using my Italian roommate's rusty aluminum moka pot. Today, the pot met its maker. While I was brewing my double shot on the stove, the moka pot handle caught fire and melted off. I run to fill a cup of water, and splashed the fire out. That was the end of roommate's moka pot.

So the search begins for my own moka pot (and a replacement for my roommate's). I could buy a good old Bialetti Moka Express (the standard model), but I recently came upon something even more intersting - Bialetti's Brikka model. It adds an extra metal piece which forces more pressure to build up before the water can rise into the final chamber (please correct me if I'm wrong!). This is supposed to produce more 'crema,' that lighter-coloured foam which generally adorns only a freshly ground espresso cup. It's quite a bit more expensive than the Moka Express, and I wonder if the extra piece provides cosmetic value only (extra foam), or if it also produces a tastier cup.

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Bialetti Brikka"][/caption]