A Moka pot is an ancient and practical appliance that does not require professional knowledge of coffee making nor requires complicated skills to make a cup of rich and full-bodied coffee at home.
Nevertheless, we still see people on the internet saying the coffee made by the Moka pot is not good. Why is it not good? Based on my experience, I would like to share some tips for you to discover the charm of the Moka pot.
How does a Moka pot coffee taste like
Many people say Moka pot is a simple version of espresso. One reason is to distinguish it from drip coffee, which also mainly uses high-pressure extraction.
The difference is that espresso is extracted at 9 bar, while the Moka pot is only 1.5 bar, making it difficult to achieve a rich, fatty taste with insufficient pressure, but a little stronger than drip.
As you can see, the Moka pot is always a compromise choice, without the dense feeling of espresso, and without the refreshing feeling of hand brewing, suitable for people who want to make coffee by themselves and like a strong feeling.
Thinking about if Moka pot is right for you or not, first of all, we must clarify which flavor of coffee you like to drink, if it is a refreshing and fruity rich coffee, please go try hand-brewed coffee, this flavor is suitable for making by hand.
While the Moka pot is suitable for medium-depth roasting, deep roasting, strong flavor coffee beans, these coffee beans can enlarge the advantages of the Moka pot, in the case of 100 degrees high-temperature extraction is unavoidable, the granularity can only maintain a fine state ( large particles will let the water vapor quickly soak through and water quickly up resulting in insufficient extraction ), to maintain a certain amount of grease and good entrance. In the case of shallow roasting, this high-pressure and high-temperature extraction will result in a too-acidic and unpalatable taste.
Tips for making a better taste Moka pot coffee
The extracted coffee liquid belongs to the espresso coffee in the Moka pot that is extracted at high pressure for a short period of time. Although the Moka pot is also very easy to use, if one is not careful or will produce coffee liquid bitter, too strong, and lacks flavor, so how to solve the situation? Let's learn from the selection of beans, brewing, and tasting these aspects to analyze.
1. Try medium and lightly roasted coffee beans
The Internet generally recommends medium to dark roasted beans, but in actual use found that the use of deeply roasted coffee beans cooked out of the coffee is very bitter, at the beginning I guessed that the coffee is over-extracted.
When I kept brewing and changing beans, I found that this was not the reason. Rather, it is because coffee made from dark-roasted beans is inherently bitter. If you are making milk coffee (latte or something like that), using dark roasted beans is fine, the sweetness of the milk will overpower the bitterness; if you are making American style, it is not recommended to use dark roasted beans, it will be especially bitter to drink.
Later try to use medium and light roasted beans, first of all, we should know that the roast degree shallow, and the coffee is on the sour side, and deep on the bitter side, so the optimal beans I think is medium roasted beans, both acid and bitter but not beyond the boundary. The second is light-roasted beans, light-roasted beans produce coffee on the sour side, the same as the Moka pot, slightly sour, if you are making American-style coffee, I think it is good, with the sweet and sour sense of fruit, bitterness is almost non-existent.
2. Use a fully-filled coffee powder
How can you tell if you have filled the coffee powder? You can try this: fill the empty powder slot of the Moka pot with coffee beans, then add the beans to the grinder for grinding, and finally pour all the ground coffee powder into the powder slot. If some of the powder does not fit, turn the chute on the table to make sure the rest of the powder fits into the chute.
The purpose of completing the slot is also to avoid the extraction of bad and defective flavors. This is because the closer the density of the powder in the slot, the less likely it is that some of the powder will be over-extracted or under-extracted, resulting in uneven or bitter flavors. If each coffee powder can be extracted evenly and just right, the flavor of the cup will be more complete and will not have too many flaws.
3. The grinding degree test
The grind of the Moka pot is between hand-brewed and coffee machine grind, the particles are smaller than hand-brewed coffee and larger than coffee machine grind.
If the grind is too coarse, the granularity is obvious, and you will find that the coffee will gush out like a fountain when it is made, the flow rate is fast, and there is little grease, insufficient extraction, and the watery feeling and sour taste is obvious when you drink it.
If the coffee powder is too fine, with more coffee powder particles in contact with the water, the extraction resistance increases, easily prolonging the extraction time thus leading to over-extraction, the coffee is bitter, and may also be accompanied by the phenomenon of no liquid on the pot, slow liquid.
When you first start using a Moka pot, you may want to try a few more different grinds of coffee powder, after all, drinking coffee is a very subjective taste enjoyment. More experimentation will lead to new and delightful discoveries!
4. Reasonable use of filter paper
Most of the coffee extracted from the Moka pot will contain a small amount of fine powder, which will have a sandy feeling at the end of drinking. So if you do not like this feeling, you can use a double layer of pill-type filter paper for filtering.
After loading the coffee powder into the powder slot, one filter paper is placed on the coffee powder, and the other is glued to the bottom of the upper pot, which can effectively make the coffee beans taste clean and clear.
5. Control the heat of coffee brewing
After you have done the preparation work, you can make coffee. The Moka pot heats up quickly and will start boiling in less than a minute. So please don't leave the Moka pot during the production process, controlling the fire is a prerequisite for making a good cup of coffee, so how do we control it?
When the Moka pot heats up to a certain temperature, it will make a distinct "giggling" sound, after listening to this sound, you can turn down the heat. Remember, do not let the Moka pot heat up too fast.
A slow heating rate allows enough contact time between the water and the coffee powder so that the extracted liquid is more full of flavor. If the extraction speed is too fast, it will scatter the coffee powder layer, causing uneven extraction, and it will extract bitterness and unpleasant flavors.
In addition, when the upper pot of coffee liquid is halfway out, you can prepare to turn off the heat. Because at the end of the out-brewing process, the pressure inside the pot is very high and is used for heat and pressure to finish the brewing.
6. Moderate addition of water
If you do not want to waste your deep-roasted coffee beans, but can not accept the bitterness is heavy, how to do well?
The general Moka pot powder to water ratio is about 1:6-1:8, the concentration is quite high, while our general taste like to drink 1:15-1:17 ratio. So add the right amount of water or milk to blend into a more suitable for our taste in the mouth. Of course, the quality of the water added and the type of milk will also affect the final taste of the coffee, this requires a few more attempts to find the taste you like, please do not give up easily.
The good flavor in the coffee will not be lost just because we add water to dilute it, but rather, the right level of strength will allow us to enjoy a more refined coffee flavor.
To sum up my coffee-making experience, the powder is a very important part, which will directly lead to the success of the extraction. The other five points, if you can operate in place, the basic cup of Moka pot coffee is qualified.
Why do we love to use Moka Pot to brew coffee?
The most common way to make coffee at home, besides the Moka pot is the French press and electric drip filter machine.
The reason?
1. Most people still stick to Espresso and milk coffee
Compared with the French press and electric drip filter machine, the concentration and penetration of the Moka pot are more suitable for Espresso espresso beans, so the coffee will be stronger whether it is made into a Moka, latte or cappuccino, etc.
Drip filter machines can now only be seen in the homes of elders, and are usually used by people who are not too concerned about the taste of coffee, or who only like to drink American-style coffee with rich water content. A French press can also make good milk coffee, but in comparison, if the operation is not careful, but also easy to low concentration, affecting the taste of milk coffee.
2. Cheap
The French press is comparable in price to the Moka pot, but the Moka pot is a little cheaper. The drip filter machine may be a little more expensive than these two.
3. Short time
A Moka pot can make coffee in about a minute, while a French press pot needs to wait for 4 minutes.
4. Easy to use
If you want to have a coffee pot that is easy to operate and economical, a Moka pot is a good choice for you.
There are many reasons why you might like to use a Moka pot, but there are also many reasons why you might like to use a Moka pot. In any case, I believe that a Moka pot that is popular to this day must have its unique charm.
