The Moka pot is the most popular machine for making Italian coffee and is commonly used in Italian homes. Invented by Italian Alfanso Bialetti in 1933, it uses a base heating method to brew coffee, which is a type of distillation method. The coffee brewing principle of the Moka pot is similar to the first commercial espresso machine designed and produced by La Pavoni in 1905.
What kind of coffee beans (powder) are used to make the best coffee in a Moka pot?
As a household coffee appliance, the Moka pot is convenient and simple.
In Italy, few households are equipped with a grinder. To buy coffee powder, you usually go to a large shopping mall to choose coffee powder specially designed for Moka pots. This kind of coffee powder is actually the roasting degree and grinding degree suitable for the Moka pot. Ordinary housewives can use a Moka pot to brew fragrant coffee without having to know too much professional coffee knowledge.
Coffee powder specifically for Moka pots is relatively rare in China, so you have to make it yourself. The domestic specialty coffee market is developing well, and coffee beans from every coffee-producing area in the world can be found. The rich flavor produced by the moka pot will be strange when using lightly roasted coffee beans, with thin fat and strong acidity. Therefore, it is recommended to use medium-dark roasted coffee beans.
The baristas at Front Street will first recommend using Italian blended coffee beans. Due to the blending, when designing the recipe, the balance of flavor and taste will be taken into consideration, and the taste will be more in line with public tastes. For example, Front Street’s premium Italian blended coffee beans use 70% Brazilian coffee beans and 30% Colombian coffee beans. It has a light grassy aroma, is sweet and smooth, has a soft and slightly acidic taste, a rich nutty flavor, and is rich in oil.
[Front Street Coffee Front Street Blend 100% Arabica]Colombia: Brazil, cooked spelling;
Flavor characteristics: Comfortable sweet and bitter taste, very smooth in the mouth, with a light grassy aroma, a refreshing fragrance with a slightly bitter taste, sweet and smooth, and a refreshing aftertaste.
Coffee beans from the Cymbidium production area in Colombia have a pleasant sour taste, mellow smell, moderate acidity, and rich sweetness that is very intriguing. Coffee beans from the Cerrado production area in Brazil have a comfortable sweet and bitter taste and are extremely smooth in the mouth. This Front Street specialty blend of 100% Arabica coffee is suitable for use in all kinds of specialty coffee shops.
If you also want an espresso coffee bean with a distinct floral and fruity flavor, then you can choose Front Street Strawberry Candy is blended with coffee beans, which has a rich floral and berry flavor.
Front Street Strawberry Candy Coffee Beans
This is a blend of Front Street’s selected dual-producing high-altitude coffee. It combines washed Geisha from Panama and honey-processed coffee from Costa Rica. In order to maximize the advantages of the two origins, Front Street uses medium roasting, so that the coffee retains its rich floral and fruity tonality and highlights its roasted aroma. When brewed, it shows the aroma of caramel, raisins, preserved fruits, and sweet roses.
If you want to taste the rich flavor of the production area, Front Street recommends using medium-roasted single-origin coffee beans from Front Street’s Queen of Brazil Estate and Front Street’s Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise Estate. Both of these single-origin beans are characterized by balance, rich nutty notes, and fructose-like sweetness.
If you want a richer aroma and flavor, you can choose coffee beans with a darker roasting degree, such as Front Street Indonesia PWN Golden Mandheling coffee beans, which have a special herbal aroma and are also very suitable for use in Moka pots.
If you don’t want your coffee to be too monotonous, you can also use some coffee beans with special flavors, such as Front Street Honduran sherry coffee beans, which have a rich sherry aroma, vanilla cream, and chocolate flavors. The key point is that it is also very rich in fat, so it is also very good for brewing in a Moka pot.
How fine should the coffee powder used in a moka pot be?？
Friends often want to use coffee brewed by a Moka pot instead of coffee extracted by an espresso machine. However, since the two are completely different brewing tools, it means that the brewing parameters are also different. Friends often ask the baristas on the front street, if the moka pot is used to brew coffee, should the coffee powder be as fine as the Italian one?
In fact, if you are making coffee with a Moka pot, the coffee grinding degree 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. It should not be too thick, so that no pressure will be generated, grease will not appear, and even spurting will occur because the resistance is too small.
1. Thickness is directly proportional to extraction time: The thickness of coffee grinding will affect the length of extraction time and extraction rate. The finer the coffee is ground, the longer the extraction time will be and the higher the extraction rate will be; the coarser the coffee will be ground, the shorter the extraction time will be and the lower the extraction rate will be.
2. Darkly roasted beans are slightly thicker, while light roasted beans are slightly thinner: the darker the roasted coffee, the more fiber is destroyed and the easier it is to extract. Grinding too fine will make it too bitter, so it is suitable to grind slightly coarser; the opposite is true for lighter roasted beans.
3. Thickness can control bitterness: The finer the coffee is ground, the higher the extraction rate, and the easier it is to extract high-molecular-weight bitter substances such as chlorogenic acid, quinic acid, caffeine, etc. in the coffee; on the contrary, if the coffee is ground too coarsely, it is harder to extract high molecules. A certain amount of astringent and bitter substances, but the sweet taste of medium molecular weight will also remain in the coffee grounds due to insufficient extraction, which is a bit wasteful. Therefore, the barista must pay attention to whether the thickness of the coffee powder is normal and the suitable thickness of each bean.
The size of coffee powder particles ranges from 0.3 mm to 0.55 mm. However, not everyone can tell the difference of one or two millimeters with their eyes. The simplest way is to use a powder diameter ruler or Mocha special powder for comparison. In addition, you can also start debugging directly. If the powder is too fine, you can hear the sound of water boiling, but no coffee liquid comes up. At this time, it is recommended to turn off the heat quickly; if the powder is too thick, the coffee liquid may gush out like a fountain.
Moka pot coffee making process
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 to heat over high heat;
4. When the Moka pot heats up to a certain temperature, and when the Moka pot makes a clear sound, 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.
For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925
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
