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Recently, many friends have been asking Front Street, "What kind of coffee beans are suitable for Moka pots?" So Front Street took a look at the sales of Moka pots in online stores. After a comprehensive analysis, the top four Moka pots have a combined monthly sales of over 2,000 yuan. For coffee appliances worth more than a few hundred yuan, the sales volume is considered high.
The Moka pot appeared as early as 1933. Later, it was loved by the Italian people because it was a simple and small device that could easily brew strong coffee. "If I don't have a Moka pot at home, I would be embarrassed to entertain guests." In the movie "With Love to Rome", there is a scene of a Moka pot making coffee.
In addition to Italy, places where Moka pots are more commonly used are Australia and the United States, which have a large Italian population. In the past few years, the Moka pot was still a very unpopular appliance in our country. Except for those who specifically want to know more about coffee, most people may not have even heard of the Moka pot. In the past few years, it was almost difficult to find the complete process when searching for how to make a Moka pot on the Chinese Internet.
So far, Moka pot sales are huge, and today you can find dozens of video tutorials about Moka pots with just a quick search. What is the reason why more and more people use Moka pots to make coffee? Front Street summarized the following reasons.
-Replacement for espresso machines
Front Street learned from a friend that when he first bought a Moka pot, he was interested in its small size, ability to make rich coffee, and its low price. He bought a moka pot to extract coffee, and usually likes to drink it with milk to get rid of his latte art addiction.
Front Street has previously written an article on "Can a Moka pot make espresso like an espresso machine?" It said that there is a clear gap between the coffee made by a Moka pot and espresso in terms of oil quality and coffee concentration. Of course, this point of view is from the perspective of a barista. For home enthusiasts, as long as they choose the right coffee beans and ensure proper operation, the simple version of espresso brewed by the Moka pot can actually be a substitute for Italian espresso and used as the base for popular categories such as American style and latte.
Because a professional espresso machine costs thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan, and an ordinary home coffee machine costs at least a thousand yuan. But spending a few hundred yuan to buy a Moka pot can make it 60 to 70% of the level of a coffee machine, which is enough. Therefore, whenever I meet a new person who wants to make coffee on their own, Front Street Street will immediately recommend the affordable Moka pot if they have a small budget.
Another important point is that baristas and consumers/enthusiasts have different standards for coffee. Maybe the coffee made by the Moka pot does not meet the standard of espresso that baristas think of, but for enthusiasts, this instrument is stronger than the coffee made by household appliances such as hand brewing, French press, and Aeropress. Compared with the same period, it is already the result of optimization.
Next, let’s choose a coffee bean we like and teach you how to make an Americano and a latte using a Moka pot~
The key to delicious Moka pot coffee: choosing the right coffee beans
Freshly roasted coffee beans have a richer flavor than ground coffee. If you want Moka pot coffee to produce satisfactory results, Front Street believes that it is very important to choose the right coffee beans, especially when adding milk to make Moka pot latte. Front Street here lists three types of coffee according to the tastes of most people. You can compare them yourself:
If you want a cup of Moka pot coffee that is mellow, fragrant, acid-free, and rich in oil, then it is best to choose medium-dark or dark roasted beans. We recommend Front Street Classic Italian Blend Beans, Front Street Mandheling, Front Street Brazilian Cerato, and Front Street Whelan;
And if you want Moka Pot coffee that is not so bitter, with a bit of acidity, floral aroma, and freshness, you can choose medium-light roasted types such as Front Street Oiran, Front Street Kaffa Forest, Front Street Cherry Tomato, etc. These beans will have a richer floral and fruity aroma, and the acidity is very bright, and they are suitable for making American Moka Pot coffee;
Or if you want Moka pot coffee with outstanding flavor and full of personality, then you can choose some fragrant varieties of coffee beans, such as Front Street Strawberry Espresso, Front Street Mozart, Front Street Claw, and Front Street Big Navel. These beans can easily express the rich fruity aroma and distinctive coffee flavor in Moka pot coffee, which can make a well-defined Moka pot American style, and can also show a smooth taste after being fused with milk.
The second key to delicious Moka pot coffee: Find the right grinding thickness
In fact, if you are using a Moka pot to brew coffee, the coffee grinding degree should be slightly coarser than that of espresso. You can refer to the size of the gap in the grinder filter to ensure that the coffee particles will not fall into the lower pot. Of course, it cannot be too coarse, otherwise there will not be enough pressure during extraction, the oil will not appear, and even gushing will occur because the resistance is too small. The thickness is directly proportional to the extraction time. The thickness of the coffee grind will affect the length of extraction time and the extraction rate. Simply put, the finer the coffee is ground, the longer the extraction time will be and the higher the extraction rate will be, and the stronger the coffee flavor will be. The coarser the coffee will be ground, the shorter the extraction time will be and the less extraction rate will be. The taste will be lighter and more sour.
The third key to delicious Moka pot coffee: Properly grasp the parameters
To show you, here I choose Front Street Strawberry Candy coffee beans. This is a Geisha blend coffee made from the equal production areas of Panama and Costa Rica. When brewed, it often shows the flavor of strawberry fudge, raisins, and roses. It also has the right golden yellow oil during pressurized extraction, so it is suitable for multiple extraction methods at the same time.
1. Pour pure water into the lower pot of the Moka pot until the water level is about 0.5cm below the pressure relief valve.
2. Slowly pour the coffee powder into the powder trough, tap gently to distribute the coffee powder evenly, and smooth the surface of the coffee by spreading the powder into a hilly shape. Filling the powder trough is to avoid extracting undesirable imperfect flavors. Because when the density of the coffee powder in the powder trough is closer, it will avoid over-extraction or under-extraction of some coffee powder, resulting in uneven flavor or bitterness.
3. Put the powder trough into the lower pot, tighten the upper and lower parts of the Moka pot and place it on the electric ceramic stove. Turn on the high heat to heat, and be sure to keep the lid open in order to observe the extraction of the coffee liquid;
4. When the Moka pot reaches a certain temperature, it will make a distinct whine sound, and then we can set it to low heat and wait for the coffee liquid to flow out.
5. When the coffee liquid in the upper pot reaches half of the pot body, we can turn off the electric ceramic stove and use the residual heat and pressure of the Moka pot to "push" the remaining coffee liquid into the upper pot.
6. When all the coffee liquid is extracted into the pot, you can pour it into a cup and taste it.
The coffee extracted from the Moka pot is very rich, with a layer of yellow Crema foam. When you drink it directly, you can feel the flavors of candied fruits, nuts, raisins, sweet oranges, etc. However, due to the high concentration, many aftertaste flavors have not yet developed, so Front Street will make it into American style or latte.
To make American coffee, Front Street will prepare a coffee cup with a capacity of more than 200 ml, pour 150 to 180 ml of warm water, and then pour the freshly extracted strawberry sugar moka pot coffee liquid on top. The Americano produced in this way can see beautiful yellow grease, and you can also drink the sweet and sour taste of coffee like juice;
If you are making an iced latte, you will use a 300ml coffee cup, put 90g of ice cubes, then pour 150% of fresh milk, and finally pour the Moka Pot espresso liquid extracted from Front Street Strawberry Candy, stir it and start tasting. Different from the regular dark roasted latte, the medium roasted strawberry sugar latte has a rich aroma, but is not bitter at all in the mouth. It also has the fragrance of berries, which is very special.
Front Street stated in the article "Can coffee brewed with a Moka pot be latte art?" It said that coffee brewed with a Moka pot can be latte art, but it requires basic skills to draw good-looking patterns.
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
