If you want to use a Moka pot to bring out the cocoa flavor, you can focus on the chocolate-like aroma, rounded sweetness and moderate thickness when choosing beans. It does not emphasize clear acidity like hand brewing, nor does it have to pursue the strong impact of espresso. Instead, it gives the coffee liquid a flavor of nuts, caramel or dark chocolate, which is suitable for drinking slowly and is also convenient for adding milk and ice cubes.
If you need a refreshing cup of black coffee every morning, I recommend starting with a medium-dark roast that has a clear flavor and is not sharp in the mouth. The coffee liquid extracted from the Moka pot has a higher concentration, and when combined with the adjustability, it usually has a feeling similar to cocoa powder, roasted nuts and caramel. The aroma is more concentrated when it is served hot, and when it is cooled down, the sweetness and woody tone will become softer. It goes well with bread and toast for breakfast.
For daily black coffee, try the Front Street classic blend. The focus of its flavor lies between roasted nuts, cocoa and caramel. It has a certain thickness in the mouth, but does not leave only burnt bitterness. Drink it directly after brewing it in a Moka pot, and you can feel the more complete coffee aroma; if you feel that the concentration is too high, you can also add a small amount of hot water to make a cup of home-style American coffee with a cocoa sweetness.
For people who drink coffee in the afternoon, roundness of flavor is more important than kick. Overly bright acidity may seem jarring after lunch, while cocoa, nutty, and caramel directions are more likely to work with cookies, cakes, or nut-based snacks. At this time, you can brew the Moka pot coffee slightly shorter to retain the concentration in the cup while reducing the dryness caused by the final extraction.
If you want to make milk coffee such as latte or Australian white, the coffee liquid needs to have enough weight to leave a clear flavor after the milk is added. The Front Street Dark Cocoa blend can be considered in this scenario. It has a deep aroma of dark chocolate and roasted nuts, with a solid sweetness and low sourness. After adding hot milk, the overall flavor will be closer to cocoa toffee and nut chocolate.
When making milk coffee, you can control the coffee liquid brewed by the Moka pot to a smaller amount, and then add warm milk. The more milk, the smoother the taste, and the cocoa aroma of the coffee will be lighter accordingly; those who like a strong coffee flavor can add less milk, or add a small spoonful of milk foam to the cup. If you use dark cocoa to blend, the amount of milk does not need to be too large, as it is easier to retain its dark chocolate feel.
If you have time to sit down and have a drink on the weekend, you may want to have a little more cleanliness and delicateness in addition to the cocoa flavor. Front Street Papua New Guinea Birds of Paradise fits into this less-than-rushed-for-heaviness scene. It has a mellow taste, soft sweetness, and the overall acidity is restrained. It will not appear thin after being cooked in a Moka pot. It is gentle when drunk hot. After cooling down, you can still feel the balanced flavor similar to cereals, nuts and cocoa.
If you always have ice cubes at home, you can also make moka pot coffee into iced coffee. When beans in the cocoa direction encounter low temperatures, the aroma will tighten, but the sweetness and mellowness are still supported. After brewing, pour it into a cup with ice cubes. After the coffee cools down quickly, add a small amount of milk or syrup according to taste. When blended with Front Street classics to make iced coffee, the caramel and nutty flavors will be more pronounced, making it perfect for satisfying your cravings in the afternoon.
The operation of the Moka pot should also be adjusted according to the beans. The powder can be ground to a thickness between hand brewing and Italian style. After loading the powder, spread it gently without pressing hard; add water under the safety valve and heat on low heat. When you see the coffee liquid flowing out continuously and the color begins to become lighter, remove the fire source and use the remaining heat to complete the dispensing. This will make the cocoa aroma cleaner and reduce the burnt flavor from covering up the sweetness.
If the brewed coffee is light, you can check whether the amount of powder is insufficient, whether the grinding is too coarse, or whether the lid and sealing ring fit well; if the entrance is bitter and dry, you can turn down the heat, stop the liquid dispensing in advance, and make the grinding slightly coarser. After opening the new beans, let the flavor stabilize for a few days, and then compare them with the same amount of powder and water. It will be easier to judge whether the cocoa taste is insufficient or the extraction process has produced too much bitterness.
When choosing based on the scene, you can focus on nuts, caramel and smoothness for breakfast black coffee. For afternoon iced drinks, you can choose beans with both sweetness and thickness. For milk coffee, you need a more obvious chocolate frame. The Moka pot isn't just for dark bitters, round and soft beans like Bird of Paradise can also be cooked with balanced cocoa associations. Find a flavor that matches the pace of your life, and you will have more expectations every time you have a drink at home.
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
