"Burned! Burnt! Burnt! Burnt! Bitter! Bitter! Bitter! Bitter!"
Friends often report that the coffee they make with a Moka pot tastes either burnt or bitter, and does not have the rich, mellow, balanced and soft taste at all. So today Front Street is going to share the reasons that cause the burnt and bitter taste, and what parameters we should use to make a fragrant and delicious Moka pot coffee~
Why is coffee made with a Moka pot always burnt and bitter?
No matter what method is used, the most likely cause of burnt and bitter coffee is "extracting too much". The reason is also very simple. As Front Street often shared, the dissolution speed of bitter substances in coffee is relatively slow among all flavors. Therefore, if the coffee has an obvious bitter taste, it means that the extraction time is too long or the amount is too much. This will cause a large amount of bitter substances to be dissolved and make the coffee taste burnt and bitter.
There are different forms of over-extraction. One is that the entire coffee powder is over-extracted, and the other is that part of the coffee powder is over-extracted. Since our taste buds are sensitive to bitter tastes, we can clearly detect even a small amount of bitter taste. Under normal circumstances, the main reason for the bitterness of Moka pot coffee comes from the latter, which is partial over-extraction.
Compared with overall over-extraction, partial over-extraction is more common in the production of Moka pot coffee. Because the way Moka pot coffee is made is different from conventional coffee making, it generates steam to generate pressure to push hot water to extract coffee powder, so it is more likely to cause partial over-extraction. Why? Because many friends do not control it.
The speed of steam generation is related to the water temperature. The higher the water temperature, the faster the steam is generated. When we boil water, the rate of steam generation will increase exponentially. If it is not controlled, the large amount of steam generated will cause the hot water to break through the powder cake in a short time, and it is easy for the hot water to concentrate in a certain place. Because the speed is too fast, the water will not have time to fully infiltrate the powder cake, and it will be easier to concentrate in places where it is easy to flow. Then the following "double ponytail" phenomenon will easily occur:
Especially when we use cold water to brew Moka pot coffee, the low-temperature water will take longer to cook than hot water. During this time, steam will be continuously generated and continue to rise and infiltrate the local coffee powder to form a channel. Therefore, if you do not control the firepower and steam generation later, then with the superposition of the two, the hot water will easily concentrate on the local coffee powder and cause local over-extraction/uneven extraction.
Therefore, if possible, Front Street recommends that you use hot water to cook Moka pot coffee to reduce the heating time and reduce the impact of steam on the coffee powder. Of course, cold water doesn't matter, just remember to reduce the heat after the liquid is discharged or remove the fire source directly from the Moka pot, and use low heat or residual temperature to perform the remaining extraction, so that the hot water has time to fully infiltrate and extract the coffee powder, and the coffee produced will be fragrant and delicious.
We don’t need to worry too much about other parameters, because the Moka pot has many restrictions, such as water temperature and water volume. There is not much room for adjustment, so we only need to pay attention to two aspects to easily pour delicious Moka pot coffee:
How to make delicious Moka pot coffee?
First of all, we must choose good coffee beans, because coffee beans are the key to determining the taste of a cup of coffee, so if you want to make a cup of coffee that suits your taste preferences, the choice of coffee beans is still very important.
If you want to make a cup of coffee with a full fruit flavor, mainly sweet and sour taste, without too much bitterness, then the coffee beans you can choose are medium-light roasted coffee beans from Africa and Central and South America. For example, there are Front Street Esai Oiran, Hamathew, and Alo in the Front Street bean list, or Front Street Columbia Xipaw, Big Belly Button, etc. They all have sweet and sour fruit flavors like citrus and berries.
If you prefer mellow, fragrant, and acid-free coffee, then the choice of coffee beans can be medium-dark, dark roasted single-origin coffee beans or Italian-style blended coffee beans. For example, in the Front Street bean menu, there are Front Street Brazil·Queen’s Manor, Front Street Indonesia·Golden Mandheling, or Front Street Italian basics, classics, and boutique blends, etc. They all have rich baking flavors such as chocolate, nuts, cream, caramel, etc.
Next is the amount of powder, water, and grind used. In terms of grinding degree, we try to be as fine as possible. If you are using a manual grinder, then the grinding degree is directly adjusted to the finest setting. If you choose the merchant's grinding service, you can ask the merchant to grind the powder according to "Italian grinding".
Regarding the amount of powder, Front Street recommends that you fill the powder bowl directly. The specific amount of powder will vary depending on the degree of roasting and grinding of your coffee beans. For example, in the Bialetti single/double valve Moka pot used by Front Street, the coffee beans selected are the Front Street Italian-style Front Street Classic Blend medium-dark roasted in the Front Street bean list. The grinding degree is Italian grinding, and the amount of powder used to fill the powder bowl is 19g.
After loading the powder, we can press it appropriately to make the powder cake more compact, which helps to make the extraction more uniform.
Next is the amount of water. The amount of water depends mainly on the strength of the coffee you want to make. If you want to use this moka pot coffee as the base and add milk to make milk coffee, then the amount of water should not be too much. The ratio of powder to water is about 1:4; but if what you want to make is just a cup of black coffee, then the amount of water does not need to be controlled too much, 1:4, 1:5, or 1:6 is fine.
Just note that the extraction time should be adjusted according to the ratio as much as possible. The less water used, the longer the extraction time is best, and vice versa.
Because Front Street chose to make a cup of black coffee here, the water amount was chosen to be 1:7, which means that the amount of water added to 19g of powder is about 133ml. If you add boiling water like Front Street, remember to wrap the lower pot with a wet rag before tightening the pot body to avoid burns.
After tightening, you can place it over the heat source and start cooking. First, use high heat until the liquid comes out.
After the liquid is extracted, if you use more water, then adjust the heat to the minimum to extract the coffee liquid; if you use less water, then directly remove the fire source, use the residual heat to slowly extract the coffee liquid, and extend the time to allow the coffee to be fully extracted (if it cannot be extracted, put it back on the heat source to heat it).
When there is no more coffee liquid coming out, the extraction of coffee from the Moka pot is complete. Because 1:7 is also a relatively strong ratio, it is best to add an appropriate amount of hot water to dilute it before drinking. The water added in Front Street here is 80ml.
So now, a cup of delicious Moka pot black coffee is finished! There is no bitter taste when drinking, but only mellow flavors such as chocolate, caramel, and cream. It has a mellow taste and a long aftertaste, which is very good~
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
