The Moka Pot, also known as the Moka Pot, is a brewing device often used in Italian households to extract espresso. The Moka pot is heated directly over the fire and uses steam pressure to extract. This is often called a direct-fire espresso pot. The Moka pot has attracted many people because of its beautiful and exquisite appearance. It can brew coffee that is rich enough. So what is so special about the Moka pot? Today Front Street Coffee will take you through this article to find out~
The Moka Pot was invented by Italian Alfonso Bialetti in 1933. Its structure has never changed, but its appearance and materials are constantly changing. The earliest traditional Moka pot was made of aluminum, which was easy to scratch and could only be heated with an open flame, but it could not be heated with an induction cooker to make coffee. Not only that, aluminum easily interacts with the acid in coffee, producing a bad taste. So later Moka pots were gradually changed to be made of stainless steel or even heat-resistant glass. In recent years, the appearance designs of Moka pots have become more and more diverse, which makes many people fall in love with them and cannot help but buy a few to put at home. They are not only practical but can also be used as decorations, killing two birds with one stone.
Moka pot structure
Let’s first take a look at the structure of the Moka pot. The Moka pot is divided into three parts: the upper pot, the powder tank, and the lower seat. The lower pot is a sink that holds water, the powder trough is used to hold finer ground coffee powder, and the upper pot is used to hold the extracted coffee liquid. The principle of coffee extraction in a Moka pot is very simple. It uses the steam pressure generated in the lower pot. When the steam pressure is large enough to penetrate the coffee powder, it will push the hot water to the upper pot and brew rich coffee.
Although its pressure (1.5-2bar) is dwarfed by that of an espresso machine (9bar). But the coffee creme can still be extracted and the taste is rich. Through the following pictures of Front Street Coffee, you can actually see it at a glance, clearly showing its internal structure and coffee extraction principle.
Moka pots are also divided into single-valve and double-valve ones. Double-valve Moka pots can produce more coffee creme than single-valve ones. Single valve means that the coffee liquid flows out directly from the two small holes at the top of the hollow conduit of the Moka pot. Double valve refers to adding a pressure accumulating valve on the basis of the hollow conduit. This pressure accumulating valve usually blocks the small hole of the hollow conduit for the coffee liquid to flow out. It needs to reach a certain steam pressure to flush it upward and allow the coffee liquid to spray out.。
The coffee flavor brewed by single valve and double valve is also different. The single valve Moka pot has a lower concentration of coffee and lower fat, while the concentration of coffee brewed by a double valve will be higher and the fat will be higher.
The capacity of a Moka pot is usually expressed in terms of "cups" or "portions". Common specifications on the market are 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 18. For the same capacity as one serving, a cup of coffee requires about 30 to 40 ml of concentrate. If it is for a single or two people, you can choose the size of 1 to 2 cups, which is the smallest version; if you like to share it with friends every day, you can choose for 3 people; if it is for home use and can brew more than three cups of coffee at a time, you can choose the large model for multiple people, and the corresponding price will be slightly higher.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Moka Pot
The principle of coffee extraction in a Moka pot is very simple. It uses the steam pressure generated in the lower pot. When the steam pressure is large enough to penetrate the coffee powder, it will push the hot water to the upper pot. The coffee extracted with a moka pot has a strong taste, sour and bitter taste, and has oil. Therefore, the biggest advantage of the Moka pot is that it is small, convenient and easy to carry. It is a must-have for people who like to go to the mountains and sea. It is durable and can brew good quality coffee. It is simple to operate and ordinary people can master the skills of making coffee. And it’s easy to brew fragrant coffee with golden brown fat.
But its shortcomings are also very obvious, that is, the coffee made with a Moka pot has a low upper limit of flavor, that is, it is not as clear and bright as Pour over(V60) coffee, nor is it as rich and delicate as that made by an espresso machine. Therefore, there are almost no Moka pots in specialty coffee shops. But as a home coffee appliance, it is a 100-point appliance。
Although the Moka pot does not use high air pressure to inject hot water into medium-fine ground coffee powder, strictly speaking, this is not a concentrated extraction, but closer to the dripping method. However, the coffee made by the Moka pot still has the concentration and flavor of Italian coffee Espresso.
Many Italians have small two-gallon Moka pots at home, which are easy to operate and can make aromatic and rich coffee. Most moka pots have an hourglass shape, but you can find different styles, but the principle of operation is the same. The water is heated in the bottom pot, and the steam with a pressure of nearly 2 atmospheres causes the hot water to rush up to the filter. After passing through the ground coffee powder, it turns into coffee liquid and remains in the upper pot.
The Moka pot allows pressurized steam to pass directly through the coffee powder cake and through the coffee powder cake to extract the inner essence of the coffee. In addition, it uses medium-dark roasted coffee beans for brewing, so the brewed coffee has a strong aroma and strong bitter taste. A thin layer of coffee oil appears on the surface of the coffee. This layer of oil is the source of the alluring deliciousness of Italian coffee. Because it is concentrated coffee, a small coffee cup is generally used when tasting this kind of coffee.
Having said all that, do you also want to make a cup of Moka pot coffee yourself? So how do you do it? And what roasting degree of beans is more suitable for Moka pot brewing? Then the following operations of Front Street Coffee should be able to give you the answer.
Because the coffee brewed by the moka pot will be thicker, and the darker roasted coffee can better reflect the mellow feeling, so for home use, buy the buttery peanut-flavored Front Street Queen's Estate, the spiced caramel-flavored Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling, the grease-filled Front Street Classic Blend, and the mellow and rich Front Street Black Cocoa Blend.
This time I chose Front Street Bird of Paradise coffee beans to brew the Moka pot. The specific information is as follows:
Front Street Bird of Paradise Coffee Beans
Country of Origin: Papua New Guinea
Manor: Sikri Bird of Paradise Manor
Altitude: 1600-1800m
Treatment method: washing treatment
Variety: Typica
Grade: AA
Moka pot making coffeeThe process:
1. Fill the bottom pot with cold water to the valve position. Cover the filter.
2. The coffee grinding degree for the Moka pot should be slightly coarser than that of Italian coffee. You can refer to the size of the gap in the powder trough filter to ensure that the coffee particles will not fall out of the pot. Wrap the powder bowl with your hands to form a circle, fill the powder bowl with powder until a small hill bulges out in the middle, and after the surrounding powder fills the gaps in the powder bowl, directly press the upper pot and tighten it. If you look carefully, the upper filter is slightly concave upward, so there is no need to worry about it being too full. On the contrary, this method just makes the powder trough without gaps and reduces the probability of passages.
3. Put the powder trough into the lower pot, tighten the upper and lower parts of the Moka pot and heat it on an electric ceramic stove over high heat. Make sure to use low heat;
4. When the Moka pot heats up to a certain temperature, and when the Moka pot makes a distinct whining and popping sound, about 3 to 4 minutes, you can set the electric ceramic stove to low heat and open the lid of the pot.
5. When the coffee liquid in the pot is halfway out, turn off the electric ceramic stove. The residual heat and pressure of the Moka pot will 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 by the moka pot is very rich and can even extract crema. You can also mix it with an appropriate amount of water or milk for a better flavor. It's that simple, but it does take some practice. Front Street believes that although using a Moka pot is simple, it also requires a lot of practice and careful control of the grinding degree of the coffee powder and various small details to extract a relatively perfect cup of coffee.
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
