Moka Pot vs Espresso Machine: A Visual Guide to Coffee Grind Size and Bean Selection

The Moka Pot: A Home Brewing Classic

The Moka pot is one of the most accessible machines for brewing espresso-style coffee and is widely used in Italian households. Invented in 1933 by Italian Alfanso Bialetti, it uses a base heating method to brew coffee through a distillation process. The Moka pot's brewing principle is similar to that of the first commercial espresso machine designed and produced by La Pavoni in 1905.

What Coffee Beans (Grounds) Make the Best Moka Pot Coffee?

As a home coffee brewing tool, the Moka pot offers convenience and simplicity. In Italy, few households have coffee grinders, so people typically buy pre-ground coffee specifically designed for Moka pots from large supermarkets. This type of ground coffee is actually suited for the Moka pot's roasting level and grind size. Generally, homemakers don't need to understand professional coffee knowledge to use a Moka pot to brew aromatic, rich coffee.

In China, coffee grounds specifically for Moka pots are relatively rare, so you'll need to prepare them yourself. China's specialty coffee market has developed well, and coffee beans from famous coffee-producing regions worldwide can be found here. The intense flavors produced by a Moka pot can taste strange when made with lightly roasted coffee beans, resulting in thin crema and sharp acidity. Therefore, we recommend using medium to dark roasted coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee's baristas would first recommend using espresso blend coffee beans. Because they are blends, the formulation considers balanced flavor and mouthfeel, making the taste more appealing to the general public. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's specialty espresso blend uses 70% Brazilian coffee beans blended with 30% Colombian coffee beans. It has a light grassy fragrance, sweet and smooth taste, with gentle, subtle acidity and rich nutty notes, plus abundant crema.

If you want to taste intense regional flavors, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using medium-roasted single-origin coffee beans such as FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate and FrontStreet Coffee's Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise Estate. The characteristics of both these single-origin beans are balance, rich nutty notes, and fructose-like sweetness.

For even more intense aroma and flavor, you can choose darker roasted coffee beans, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesia PWN Golden Mandheling, which has special herbal aromatics and is very suitable for Moka pot brewing.

If you don't want your coffee flavor to be too monotonous, you can also use coffee beans with special flavors, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Honduras Sherry coffee beans, which have rich sherry wine, vanilla cream, and chocolate flavors. Importantly, its crema is also very rich, making it excellent for Moka pot brewing.

How Fine Should Moka Pot Coffee Grounds Be?

Many people want to use Moka pot coffee as a substitute for espresso machine extraction, but since these are completely different brewing tools, it means the brewing parameters are also different. People often ask FrontStreet Coffee's baristas: for Moka pot coffee, should the grounds be as fine as espresso?

Actually, if you're brewing with a Moka pot, the coffee grind should be slightly coarser than espresso. You can reference the size of the filter basket's screen gaps to ensure coffee particles don't fall through to the lower chamber. It also shouldn't be too coarse, as this won't generate pressure, crema won't appear, and it might even cause gushing due to insufficient resistance.

1. Grind size is proportional to extraction time: The fineness of coffee grinding affects extraction duration and extraction yield. Finer coffee extends extraction time and increases extraction rate; coarser coffee shortens extraction time and decreases extraction rate.

2. Dark roast beans slightly coarser, light roast beans slightly finer: The darker the roast, the more the fiber structure is broken down, making it easier to extract. Grinding too dark-roasted beans too finely will make them too bitter, so they're suitable for a slightly coarser grind; the opposite applies to lighter roasted beans.

3. Grind size can control bitterness: The finer the coffee grind, the higher the extraction rate, making it easier to extract high-molecular-weight bitter substances like chlorogenic acid, quinic acid, and caffeine from the coffee. Conversely, grinding too coarsely makes it harder to extract high-molecular-weight bitter compounds, but medium-molecular-weight sweet and aromatic flavors may remain in the coffee grounds due to under-extraction, which is quite wasteful. Therefore, baristas must pay attention to whether the coffee grind size is appropriate and what fineness suits each type of bean.

The ideal coffee particle size for Moka pots is between 0.3mm and 0.55mm. However, not everyone can visually distinguish differences of one or two millimeters. The simplest method is to use a particle size reference or Moka pot-specific grounds for comparison. Additionally, you can adjust through trial and error: if the grind is too fine, you'll hear boiling water sounds but no coffee emerging, at which point you should quickly turn off the heat; if the grounds are too coarse, the coffee might gush out like a fountain.

Moka Pot Coffee Brewing Process

1. Pour pure water into the Moka pot's lower chamber, with the water level about 0.5cm below the pressure relief valve.

2. Slowly pour coffee grounds into the filter basket, gently tap to distribute evenly, and when the grounds form a small mound, level the surface through distribution techniques.

Filling the filter basket completely helps avoid extracting undesirable flawed flavors. Because when the density of coffee grounds in the filter basket is more uniform, it prevents some grounds from being over-extracted while others are under-extracted, which would lead to uneven flavor or bitterness.

3. Place the filter basket in the lower chamber, screw the upper and lower parts of the Moka pot together tightly, and place on an electric stove over high heat.

4. When the Moka pot reaches a certain temperature and you hear a distinct whistling sound, reduce the electric stove to low heat and open the upper chamber's lid.

5. When the coffee in the upper chamber is about halfway extracted, turn off the electric stove. The Moka pot's residual heat and pressure will "push" the remaining coffee into the upper chamber.

6. When all the coffee has been extracted into the upper chamber, you can pour it into a cup to enjoy. Moka pot extraction produces very concentrated coffee and can even extract crema. You can also mix it with appropriate amounts of water or milk for an even better flavor experience.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat (ID: kaixinguoguo0925)

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473