Coffee Combo is a coffee production format that has become popular in the past two years. Front Street has introduced it many times in previous articles. To put it simply, we can drink more than one bean, that is, using the same coffee bean or the same coffee to make different coffee drinks and then combine them.
Generally, combo products are mainly based on Italian coffee. One bean is used to extract one portion of espresso, and then it is divided into 2 to 3 portions to make different Italian drinks. So a friend asked, can the coffee brewed by the Moka pot be used to make Combo? When I have nothing to do at home, I want to try making Combo and entertain friends.
Needless to say, of course! As long as we master the skills and methods, coffee brewed with a Moka pot can also make an excellent Coffee combo! After all, it also uses pressurized extraction, and the concentration of coffee brewed is second only to that of an espresso machine. (In fact, other coffees can also be made)
There are actually only three skills and methods we need to master: selection of coffee beans, extraction of espresso, and finding the appropriate ratio.
Coffee bean selection
The coffee beans used determine the basis of the extracted coffee flavor. If we want to make a cup of combo with excellent taste, the choice of coffee beans is very important. Because most coffee shops use unusual coffee beans when producing combos, because only in this way can they create a coffee combo that is different from others.
In terms of coffee bean selection, Front Street recommends these beans. They are currently popular choices for combos produced by many coffee shops. For example, the Front Street Divide Estate·Hipaw on the Front Street Bean List, the coffee made with it will have strong fruity flavors such as grapes, passion fruit, apricots, etc.; or the Front Street Divide Estate·Big Navel on the Front Street Bean List, the coffee made with it will have berry flavors such as blackcurrant, blueberry, grape, etc.
If you want something fresher and sweeter, you can choose Front Street Oiran SOE, which has the aroma of strawberry, cream, and citrus, or Front Street Strawberry Candy and Gesha Blend, which has the flavor of apricot, strawberry, and raisin.
Espresso making
After we have selected the coffee beans, the next thing to do is to extract a high-concentration coffee, because if we want to make a special blend or milk coffee, the base concentration must not be low, otherwise the special blend/milk coffee will be watery and weak. It is very simple to solve this problem, just adjust the grinding finer and reduce the amount of water.
Take Front Street as an example. This time, Front Street uses the word Manor·Xizhao, the dividing line of Front Street, to share. The amount of powder used is 20g (single serving Moka pot), and then the grinding degree is Italian-style flour grinding. The amount of water is 4 times the amount of powder. It is best to use hot water, because hot water can not only shorten our brewing time, but also reduce the risk of over-extraction of the coffee.
When adjusting the fire power, Front Street Society recommends that you use high fire at the beginning to shorten the time, and then turn to a low heat or turn off the heat after the coffee is released and use the residual temperature to extract the remaining coffee liquid, which is almost the node in the picture below.
In the end, the liquid weight we obtained was 48ml. I believe you can easily see from the color of this cup of coffee that its concentration is very high. So next we can use this high-concentration coffee to start making Combo.
appropriate proportion
But because the concentration of moka pot coffee is not as high as that of an espresso machine, whether we use it to make "latte", "American", or special blends, we need to use a larger proportion.
What does it mean? For example, when Front Street uses espresso to make a latte, the ratio of coffee to milk is 1:5, that is, 40ml of espresso will be paired with 200ml of milk. But if you use Moka pot coffee to make latte, the ratio may be reduced to 1:4, that is, 40ml of Moka pot coffee with milk will be about 160ml.
The reason is as mentioned before, because the concentration of Moka pot coffee is not as high as concentration, so if we apply the concentration ratio to Moka pot coffee, the taste and texture of the final coffee will not be that good. Therefore, we need to increase the proportion appropriately.
The specific ratio to be adjusted depends on the beans you use and the concentration of coffee extracted. When the coffee is less concentrated and the beans are roasted lighter, then the ratio may need to be larger, and vice versa. Just try it yourself slowly~
So, the above are a few key points for making combo with moka pot coffee. If you are interested, you can try it at home. Front Street believes it will be a pretty good experience~
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
