Why Are Moka Pots So Popular? Can You Add Fresh Milk to Coffee Made with a Moka Pot?

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Recently, many friends have been asking FrontStreet Coffee, "What coffee beans are suitable for moka pots?" So FrontStreet Coffee checked the moka pot sales on their webstore and found that the top four moka pots collectively sell over 2,000 units monthly, which is quite high for coffee equipment costing several hundred yuan or more.

The moka pot first appeared in 1933 and quickly became popular among Italian people because the simple, compact device could conveniently brew strong coffee. "It's embarrassing to host guests without a moka pot at home." In the movie "To Rome with Love," there are scenes of brewing coffee with a moka pot.

Besides Italy, other places where moka pots are commonly used include Australia and the United States, which have large Italian immigrant populations. However, in China just a few years ago, the moka pot was still quite obscure. Except for those who specifically sought coffee knowledge, most people had probably never even heard of a moka pot. A few years ago, it was nearly impossible to find complete tutorials for moka pot brewing on the Chinese internet.

Now, with moka pot sales booming and dozens of video tutorials available with just a quick search, what has led so many people to use moka pots for brewing coffee? FrontStreet Coffee has summarized the following reasons.

An Alternative to Espresso Machines

FrontStreet Coffee learned from a friend that when he first bought a moka pot, he was drawn to its compact size and ability to produce crema-rich strong coffee, all at an affordable price. He uses the moka pot to extract coffee and enjoys adding milk to practice his latte art skills.

FrontStreet Coffee previously wrote an article titled "Can Moka Pots Make Espresso Like Professional Espresso Machines?" which explained that regardless of crema quality or coffee concentration, there are clear differences between coffee made with moka pots and espresso. Of course, this perspective comes from a barista's viewpoint. For home enthusiasts, as long as they choose the right coffee beans and ensure proper operation, the simplified espresso from a moka pot can serve as a substitute for espresso, making it suitable as a base for popular drinks like Americanos and lattes.

Professional espresso machines can cost thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan, while ordinary home coffee machines cost at least a thousand yuan. However, spending just a few hundred yuan on a moka pot can achieve 60-70% of a coffee machine's performance, which is sufficient. Therefore, whenever FrontStreet Coffee encounters newcomers who want to explore coffee making on a limited budget, they immediately recommend the economical moka pot.

Another important point is that baristas and consumers/enthusiasts have different standards for coffee. The coffee made by moka pots may not meet baristas' standards for espresso, but for enthusiasts, this device produces stronger coffee compared to other home brewing methods like pour-over, French press, or AeroPress, making it an optimized choice by comparison.

Next, let's choose a coffee bean you like and learn how to make both an Americano and a latte with a moka pot

Key One for Delicious Moka Pot Coffee: Choose the Right Coffee Beans

As shown in the movie scene from "To Rome with Love," Italians generally purchase pre-ground coffee specifically designed for moka pots. However, with the rapid development of specialty coffee in China, many coffee roasting companies provide freshly roasted coffee beans that are convenient to purchase. Freshly roasted coffee beans offer richer flavors than pre-ground coffee that has been stored. If you want to achieve satisfactory results with moka pot coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes choosing the right coffee beans is crucial, especially when making moka pot lattes with milk. Here, FrontStreet Coffee lists three types of coffee based on most people's preferences for your reference:

If you want a moka pot coffee that is rich, aromatic, acid-free, and crema-rich, it's best to choose medium-dark or dark roasted beans. FrontStreet Coffee recommends their classic Italian blend, Mandheling, Brazil Cerrado, and Huilan beans.

If you prefer moka pot coffee that is less bitter with fruity acidity and floral notes, leaning toward a fresher profile, you can choose medium-light roasted beans like FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Queen, Kaffa Forest, or Little Tomato. These beans offer rich floral and fruity aromas with bright acidity, suitable for making moka pot Americanos.

Alternatively, if you want a moka pot coffee with prominent flavors and distinctive character, you can choose beans with rich aromatics, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy Espresso, Mozart, Sidra, or Big Navel. These beans can easily express rich fruit notes and distinctive coffee flavors in moka pot brewing, creating layered moka pot Americanos and delivering smooth, velvety textures when blended with milk.

Key Two for Delicious Moka Pot Coffee: Find the Right Grind Size

Actually, when brewing coffee with a moka pot, the coffee grind should be slightly coarser than espresso grind. You can reference the size of the filter basket's mesh to ensure coffee particles don't fall into the lower chamber. Of course, it shouldn't be too coarse either, as this would prevent sufficient pressure buildup during extraction, resulting in no crema formation and potentially causing splattering due to insufficient resistance. Grind size is directly proportional to extraction time—the fineness of the coffee grind affects both extraction duration and extraction yield. Simply put, finer coffee extends extraction time and increases extraction yield, resulting in stronger coffee flavor; coarser coffee shortens extraction time and reduces extraction yield, producing weaker and more acidic coffee.

Key Three for Delicious Moka Pot Coffee: Properly Control the Parameters

For demonstration purposes, FrontStreet Coffee has chosen their Strawberry Candy coffee beans—a Gesha blend combining beans from Panama and Costa Rica growing regions. This coffee often expresses notes of strawberry candy, raisin, and rose aromatics during brewing, and develops appropriate golden crema under pressure extraction, making it suitable for multiple extraction methods.

1. Pour purified water into the moka pot's lower chamber, filling to about 0.5cm below the pressure relief valve.

2. Slowly pour coffee grounds into the filter basket, gently tapping to distribute evenly. Level the coffee surface through distribution techniques when it forms a small mound. Filling the filter basket completely helps avoid extracting undesirable defect flavors. Because when the density of coffee grounds in the filter basket is 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 into the lower chamber, twist the moka pot's upper and lower parts together tightly, and place on an electric ceramic stove. Turn on high heat, keeping the lid open to observe the coffee extraction process.

4. When the moka pot reaches a certain temperature, it will make a distinct whistling sound. At this point, you can reduce to low heat and wait for the coffee to start flowing.

5. When the coffee in the upper chamber reaches halfway up the pot, you can turn off the electric ceramic stove. The residual heat and pressure in the moka pot 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.

The coffee extracted by the moka pot is very rich with a layer of yellow crema. Drinking it directly reveals candied fruit, nut, raisin, and sweet orange flavors. However, due to its high concentration, many aftertastes haven't fully developed, which is why FrontStreet Coffee typically makes it into an Americano or latte.

To make an Americano, FrontStreet Coffee prepares a coffee cup with 200ml capacity, adds 150-180ml of warm water, then pours the freshly extracted Strawberry Candy moka pot coffee over it. This method produces a beautiful yellow crema and offers a juice-like coffee with sweet and sour notes.

For an iced latte, they use a 300ml coffee cup, add 90g of ice cubes, pour in 150ml of fresh milk, and finally top with the concentrated coffee extracted from FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy beans. After stirring, it's ready to enjoy. Unlike regular dark roast lattes, the medium roast Strawberry Candy latte has rich aromatics but isn't bitter at all, carrying a delicate berry fragrance that's quite special.

In their article "Can You Make Latte Art with Moka Pot Coffee?", FrontStreet Coffee mentioned that coffee brewed with a moka pot can indeed be used for latte art, though creating beautiful patterns requires solid fundamental skills.

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