The mocha coffee pot is an icon of Italian coffee culture and one of the most famous coffee brewing equipment in the world. Its iconic design, ease of use, and wide availability make it one of the coffeeware collections of many coffee lovers.
Although not everyone has the funds or the space to accommodate an espresso machine in their home, people can still use a moka pot at home to brew a pot of coffee as strong as espresso. One of the advantages and disadvantages of using a Moka pot to make coffee is that it is very convenient, and not everyone needs an espresso machine to make rich coffee.
Moka pot history
The Moka Pot was invented in Crusinaro, Northern Piedmont, in 1933. Alfonso Bialetti returns to Piedmont after 10 years working in the French aluminum metal industry. He established his own workshop near his hometown where he produced aluminum household products. The most common story about how Biaretti came up with and created the Moka Pot is this: Biaretti's wife was doing laundry when she had an idea. The machine used to wash clothes is a bucket covered with a lid containing a tube. The soapy water in the bucket is heated to a boiling state, and pressure is generated due to thermal expansion, pushing the water upward through the tube and spreading over the clothes. With the help of Luigi De Ponti, Biaretti eventually developed a device for making coffee that worked on essentially the same principle as a machine for washing clothes.
How the Biaretti Moka Pot works
Biaretti's moka pot has an octagonal shape and is made of aluminum with a rubber handle for heat insulation. The device has three main parts: the lowermost container is used to hold hot water, a metal filter in the middle is used to hold coffee powder, and the uppermost container is used to hold extracted coffee liquid.
When making coffee, the lower pot container is filled with hot water, then a metal filter is installed on the lower pot and filled with coffee powder, the upper pot is tightened, and finally the entire moka pot is placed on the heating appliance. When the water boils, steam is generated, and the pressure in the lower pot increases, forcing the hot water in the lower pot to pass through the coffee powder in the middle, and then pushing the hot water into the upper pot from the conduit that runs through the upper and lower pots.
Is the coffee brewed in a moka pot the same as espresso?
Although the coffee brewed in a moka pot has a strong flavor and sometimes even contains oil, it is different from the espresso we know today. The extraction rate of coffee brewed by a Moka pot is similar to that of espresso, but the extraction pressure of the two is very different. The standard pressure of a modern espresso machine is at least 9 bar, while the pressure of a Moka coffee pot is about 1.5 bar.
The water temperature in a mocha coffee maker is also higher, with the water boiling and producing a lot of water vapor at about 100 degrees Celsius, while espresso machines are usually around 92 to 96 degrees Celsius. In fact, the extraction principle of a mocha coffee pot is very similar to the working principle of steam-driven espresso machines of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
When the moka pot was invented, the espresso machine used in Italian cafes was called La Pavoni. When making coffee, the entire coffee machine is placed over a flame to heat it. Inside the machine, a tube leads from a compartment at the bottom to a ball of ground coffee powder. As the water boils, pressure builds up, forcing steam and hot water through the tubes and coffee grounds. La Pavoni is a large commercial espresso machine designed to provide bars with on-demand coffee quickly. But this machine is too expensive, large and heavy, and it is impossible for ordinary families to own it unless they are wealthy families. The Moka pot has become a good choice.
Moka pot brewing parameters
Each type of coffee has its own parameters. For example, Pour over(V60) coffee requires grinding degree, time, water temperature, etc. But the principle of the Moka pot is to use high temperature to generate water vapor, and squeeze the hot water into the layers and then up the pot. Then I think the water temperature and time are uncontrollable. The only thing you can control is the amount of coffee powder used and the thickness of the moka pot coffee powder.
Front Street chooses a slightly thicker moka pot coffee powder than espresso. You can refer to the size of the gap in the powder trough filter. Just make sure that the coffee powder does not fall into the lower pot. For the amount of coffee powder, just fill the powder tank and tap it gently to distribute the coffee powder evenly.
As for what kind of coffee beans are suitable for the Moka pot, since the coffee brewed by the Moka coffee pot is relatively rich, Front Street recommends using darker roasted coffee, which can better reflect the mellow feeling of the coffee. Therefore, Front Street recommends the Brazilian Queen Hacienda on the Front Street Bean List.
FrontStreet Coffee: Brazil·Queen’s Manor
Production area: Morgiana production area, Sao Paulo state, Brazil
Altitude: 1400 meters - 1950 meters
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Treatment method: Sun treatment
Flavor description: Nuts, cream, cane sugar, fermented fruit
Why can’t the Moka pot produce fat?
Most families who do not have an espresso machine want to replace it with a Moka pot, which means that they have the same requirement for the coffee brewed by the Moka pot, which is fat. The scariest thing is to see that the coffee brewed by the Moka pot has no grease. The formation of oil is related to the degree of roasting and freshness of the coffee beans.
After coffee beans are roasted, they need to go through a bean curing period to allow the aroma molecules in the coffee beans to stabilize and better present its flavor. Coffee beans sold on the market will have two key numbers printed on the packaging, one is the shelf life and the other is the roasting date. The shelf life is generally one year, but the shelf life and the best tasting period are not the same thing. The best shelf life should be about 30 to 45 days after the roasting date of the coffee beans, including the bean raising period. As the coffee beans are roasted deeper, the longer the bean-growing period is, the more gas needs to be eliminated, and the gas eliminated is mainly carbon dioxide.
As time passes from the roasting date, more of the flavor compounds in the coffee beans will dissipate. Coffee beans that have passed their best tasting period but have not passed their shelf life are not undrinkable, but the flavor substances have almost disappeared.
In espresso, the delicate layer of oil is actually composed of countless carbon dioxide bubbles. As the coffee beans are placed for longer, the more carbon dioxide content in the beans disappears, so the oil layer becomes thinner.
Front Street will roast the coffee beans freshly according to the degree of roasting and reserve the beans cultivation period according to the time when they are delivered to the friends. When the friends receive the coffee beans from Front Street, they can immediately open the brewing and taste them. What are you waiting for in front of the screen? Take action now!
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
