Front Street believes that the Moka pot is one of the most stable ways to make coffee. As long as the following points are met, you can make high-quality coffee:
1. Appropriate amount of coffee powder and drinking water
2. Safe heating method
3. Match the grinding size of Moka pot coffee powder extraction
4. Know the best cooking time
5. Reasonably adjust the extraction concentration
Traditional Moka pots are made of aluminum alloy and can only be heated by an open flame during production. Nowadays, most of them on the market are made of stainless steel, which can be directly placed on the induction cooker to heat for coffee extraction. When purchasing, we can also choose Moka pots of different sizes according to our needs. The most common ones are compact ones that serve 2 to 3 people.
From the picture, we can see that the Moka pot is divided into upper and lower structures, mainly composed of three parts: the upper pot that holds coffee liquid, the powder trough that holds coffee powder, and the lower pot that holds water. When using a Moka pot to extract coffee, a heat source is used to heat the hot water in the lower pot to generate steam pressure. When the pressure is enough, the hot water is pushed upwards, penetrating the coffee powder to bring out soluble aroma substances, and continuing to break through upwards to obtain a coffee liquid with a rich taste. When drinking, just add water or milk according to your preference.
Before extracting coffee, you need to prepare a pack of coffee beans that are in their best tasting period, a gas stove or induction cooker for heating, a grinder for grinding coffee beans, water, and an anti-scalding towel.
What to use to heat the Moka pot: In addition to gas stoves or induction cookers, we can also use open flames, but Front Street needs to remind you that you must use low heat throughout the use and be careful of burns.
What kind of coffee beans are suitable for the Moka pot: In order to present the coffee fat of the Moka pot, the classic Italian blend of Front Street (Brazilian coffee + Indonesian Mandheling coffee + Vietnamese coffee) is used here. This coffee is medium-dark roasted. The extracted espresso has a thick taste and is suitable for adding milk to make latte coffee. The electric ceramic stove is used for heating. The grinder is EK43s produced in the store.
How much coffee powder should be used in a Moka pot at one time: It is generally recommended to fill the Moka pot powder slot half full, because if it is only half filled, the resistance of water passing through the coffee will become smaller, so the taste of the extracted coffee will easily become lighter and the drink will not be so rich. So it’s not necessary to fill it up, but the coffee you make when you don’t fill it up may not taste as good. After filling, just use your fingers to smooth the surface of the coffee powder. Note that if the coffee powder used is too fine, it is best not to press it, because this will increase the resistance of the powder trough and make it more difficult for hot water to pass through.
Moka pot coffee extraction time: Normally, it takes 3 to 5 minutes from the beginning to the end of heating the coffee in a Moka pot. The specific time depends on the thickness of the coffee powder and the amount of powder used. The coarser the grind, the faster the coffee liquid comes up, and the shorter the time; the more powder, the longer it takes.
How much water to add to a Moka pot: Prepare the coffee powder. In the second step, we need to add an appropriate amount of warm water to the lower pot. This is because hot water can shorten the time to boil the water, allowing us to get a cup of Moka pot coffee faster! As long as the amount of water does not exceed the position of the pressure relief valve, Front Street used a double single-valve Moka pot and finally injected 130ml.
Tighten the upper and lower pots: What needs to be noted in this step is that if the filling is hot water, it is best to use a wet rag for insulation to avoid burns.
Place it on a heating source and start cooking: There is not much to say about this. Just place the Moka Pot on a heating source that can conduct heat.
Turn to low heat and wait for the coffee liquid to seep out: when we cook until the Moka pot makes a clear sound, it means that the hot water is about to overflow with coffee substances driven by steam, so at this time we need to reduce the heat. Otherwise, the fire will continuously produce water vapor and increase the pressure. Then the hot water will flow out faster due to the excessive pressure, and it will not be able to extract enough coffee substances. In the end, the taste of the entire coffee will become dull and light. Therefore, when the coffee liquid is about to overflow, it is best to reduce the heat.
Stop heating and wait for the extraction to be completed: when half of the coffee liquid has been released, we need to turn off the fire source, because the residual temperature in the Moka pot is enough to "urge" the remaining hot water out.
Tasting coffee: When the Moka pot stops dispensing liquid, we can pour out the coffee liquid and taste it!
Cleaning and maintenance of Moka pots: Since most Moka pots are made of aluminum and stainless steel, they are prone to oxidation and blackening after long-term use. Therefore, Front Street recommends cleaning the coffee grounds after each extraction, then disassembling each component, rinsing them with clean water, drying them before assembling them and putting them away. This can avoid the rapid aging of the Moka coffee pot, and also allows us to extract more smoothly.
Moka pot coffee is too bitter or too sour: Normally, properly extracted Moka pot coffee will have a strong coffee aroma and a balanced taste. If there is a strong bitterness or sourness, it means that the coffee is over-extracted or under-extracted. If the coffee is too bitter, Front Street recommends adjusting the grind size to a coarser grind or reducing the amount of powder to shorten the extraction time; if the coffee is too acidic, Front Street recommends adjusting the grind size to a finer grind, or adding more coffee powder to compact it.
Water does not come out of the Moka pot: If the Moka pot cannot come out of liquid after boiling for a long time, and it is too full when filling with water, then we'd better stop extraction. Because this can easily cause the Moka pot to explode. There are many reasons why the Moka pot cannot dispense liquid, such as grinding too finely, too much powder, filling too tightly, etc. These operations will greatly increase the resistance of the powder cake, and there will be very few gaps for water to flow, so the coffee liquid will not come out even after cooking for a long time.
Moka pot coffee liquid has no fat: If the Moka pot coffee you extract has almost no bubbles, then it is possible that the roasting degree of the coffee beans is too light and is not suitable for Moka pot extraction. In addition, if the moka pot cannot produce grease, it may be that the grinding is too coarse, the coffee beans are not fresh, or pre-ground powder is used for extraction.
For more knowledge about specialty coffee, please pay attention to: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee）
You can now purchase Front Street Coffee's single-origin coffee beans and Italian blend coffee beans at Tmall's "Front Street Flagship Store". There are 60 kinds of coffee beans from all over the world, freshly roasted and shipped 24 hours a day.
Tmall link：https://qianjieshipin.tmall.com
Or you can search directly on Taobao "Front Street Flagship Store"
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
