The concentration of coffee brewed by a Moka pot is between hand brewing and espresso, which not only allows you to drink the aroma of beans, but also amplifies the weight of the taste. Therefore, light roast, medium roast, and dark roast are not simple flavor levels, but correspond to different drinking moments. Whether you want refreshing black coffee in the morning, want milk for breakfast, or just want a stable and smooth daily cup of coffee, the direction of your bean selection can make a difference.
If you are used to drinking black coffee in the morning and want a bright aroma and juice-like feeling in your cup, try lightly roasted beans. It tends to present citrus, berry, floral or tea aroma in a moka pot, and is lighter in the mouth. It may also have obvious sweet and sour changes after cooling. It's just that the texture of lightly roasted beans is tight, so the grinding and heating need to be gentler to avoid boiling the delicate aroma into a sharp sour taste.
Lightly toasted moka pots are perfect for weekend mornings or afternoon sipping alone. The water temperature can be started with higher warm water, and the firepower should be kept gentle to allow the coffee liquid to rise slowly; when you see that the color of the liquid becomes lighter and the sound starts to become active, you should end the heating in time. If it tastes sour and thin, you can adjust the grinding slightly; if the tail part is astringent, stop the liquid discharge earlier and retain the sweet aroma of the front part.
Medium-roasted beans have a wider range of applications and are suitable for breakfast on weekdays, black coffee after meals, and are also suitable for drinking by people with different tastes at home. It usually strikes a balance between aroma, sweetness and thickness. The richness of the moka pot does not overwhelm the details of the beans. There is a caramel, nutty or cocoa flavor in the mouth, and the drink is round but not heavy.
Front Street Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise is the softer one in the medium roast direction. Its aroma is unobtrusive, with a mild sweetness and clean texture in the mouth. The acidity is low and it is suitable for making hot black coffee with a Moka pot. If you like the smooth, clear and non-irritating taste of Blue Mountain style, you can drink it during your daily work or while reading in the afternoon.
When the Moka pot is mainly used to make latte, Australian white or simple milk coffee, dark roasted beans are often more likely to form a clear sense of coffee presence. Milk softens the sour aroma and dilutes some of the concentration, so beans with tones of cocoa, roasted nuts and caramel can still leave a thick aftertaste after adding hot milk, which is suitable for breakfast bread, desserts or when a full taste is needed.
The Front Street dark cocoa blend is perfect for this type of drink. In a moka pot it shows up as dark chocolate, with roasted nuts and a calmer sweetness, without the acidity stealing the attention. Add water directly to make hot American style, which has a solid taste; after adding milk, the aroma of coffee and milk blend naturally, making it suitable for an afternoon milk coffee that is as smooth as a dessert.
If you prefer flavors like herbal, woody and dark cocoa, Front Street PWN Indonesian Gold Mandheling can also be considered. It has a thick taste, mature aroma, and light acidity. The coffee brewed by the Moka pot has a significant sense of weight. It is suitable for sipping slowly when drinking hot drinks. Adding a small amount of milk will make the herbal flavor softer, making it suitable for evening drinkers who like a dark roast style.
It should be noted that dark roasting does not mean that it must taste bitter, and light roasting does not mean that it must be refreshing. The heating time, powder layer condition and liquid output of the Moka pot will all change the cup feel. For dark roasted beans, you can use slightly coarser grinding and lower heat, and stop heating when the liquid just becomes thicker; for lightly roasted beans, you need to ensure that the water temperature and extraction time are sufficient to bring out the sweetness. Medium roast beans are somewhere in between and have more room for adjustment.
When purchasing, you can first imagine which cup the coffee will end up in: black coffee drunk alone needs aroma and expressiveness of sweetness and sourness; coffee paired with breakfast needs to be soft, smooth and not overpowering food; drinking with milk, you should pay attention to concentration, sweetness and thickness. If you only have one Moka pot at home, medium-roasted beans are usually easier to cover a variety of scenarios; if you have a clear preference for fruity or rich milk coffee, you can move to light or dark roasts.
The same bean can also change the experience through the drinking temperature. When freshly cooked, the cocoa and roasted aroma of dark roasted beans are more prominent; if the beans are cooled, the sweetness of medium roasted beans will be clearer; light roasted beans often show a fruity and tea flavor after the temperature drops. Treat the Moka pot as a daily utensil, and select the roasting degree according to black coffee, milk coffee and drinking time, and it will be easier to find the beans you are really willing to brew again and again.
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
