Why Can't Coffee Made with a Moka Pot Be Called Mocha Coffee? How to Make Mocha Coffee?

"Mocha" is a frequent presence in FrontStreet Coffee's articles. Whether in coffee history, coffee equipment, or coffee preparation, it often appears, most notably in these three forms: the "Moka Pot" as coffee equipment, "Mocha Coffee Beans" as beans, and the popular Italian-style beverage "Mocha Coffee" today.

This naturally sparks people's curiosity: why do they all bear the name Mocha, and what connections exist between them? Can coffee made with a Moka Pot be called Mocha Coffee? Today, FrontStreet Coffee will share the relationships between these "Mocha series" items!

Mocha

As mentioned earlier, they all revolve around the term "Mocha," which easily leads people to make literal associations. For example: the device for extracting Mocha coffee beans is the Moka Pot, and coffee extracted using Mocha coffee beans/Moka Pot is Mocha Coffee. Obviously, this is just the surface.

The origin of this term actually comes from a port city in Yemen—Mocha Port. For over 300 years starting from the 15th century, it was an extremely important port, with a status similar to what Shanghai Port is to us today. Almost all goods requiring sea transport worldwide needed to pass through this port. So, in the beginning, "Mocha" (MOCHA) was a place name.

Mocha Coffee Beans

The most famous item traded through Mocha Port was coffee beans! However, it's important to note that Mocha didn't grow coffee beans (Mocha Port, not Yemen), but after coffee beans exported via Mocha Port arrived in various European countries, their distinctive rich chocolate flavor captivated and addicted European nobility. At that time, people didn't know where the coffee beans originated, only that they were exported via Mocha Port. Thus, people in European countries began calling coffee beans transported from Mocha Port "Mocha Coffee."

After coffee beans became extremely popular, all coffee beans exported via Mocha Port were stamped with "MOCHA" to prove they were legitimate coffee beans exported from Mocha Port. Therefore, at this time, when mentioning the word Mocha, people more often thought of coffee beans rather than Mocha Port.

Mocha Coffee

Beginning in the 18th century, an Italian wave swept the world! European countries began establishing their own coffee plantations, and trade no longer needed to export through Mocha Port. Mocha completely lost its monopoly position in the coffee world. Then, decades later, the Ottoman Empire occupied Yemen, and the export quantity of Mocha coffee beans drastically decreased, making it difficult for Europeans to enjoy Mocha coffee with its rich chocolate flavor.

At that time, the status of Mocha coffee beans in people's minds was comparable to today's perception of Geisha—delicious but rare and hard to obtain! Therefore, during the era when Italian-style coffee prevailed, people began using chocolate syrup to imitate the chocolate flavor of Mocha coffee beans, creating the "Mocha Coffee" we know today. So, at this point, Mocha Coffee no longer referred to coffee beans but to chocolate-flavored Italian-style coffee.

Moka Pot

The Moka Pot "Moka Express" neither comes from Mocha nor is it a device for making chocolate-flavored coffee, nor is it specifically designed for extracting Mocha coffee beans. It was created by Italy's Alfonso Bialetti, inspired by washing machines. So, rationally speaking, it's quite different from the Mocha-related items mentioned above—except for having "Mocha" in its name, it has no connection to Mocha whatsoever!

Previous washing machines had a metal tube whose function was to draw up detergent from the bottom through heating and sprinkle it onto clothes. Alfonso Bialetti gained inspiration from this function and invented the Moka Pot in 1933, which uses pressure to quickly extract coffee. Its spread was extremely rapid because people no longer needed to get coffee from coffee shop machines with 9bar pressure; they could use this compact, convenient Moka Pot to make coffee similar to that from espresso machines at home!

As for why the Moka Pot was named "Moka Pot," the most common explanation is as previously mentioned: the first coffee beans received by people in Venice came from Mocha exports, and the word "Mocha" on the sacks made people think that coffee (referring to coffee beans here) all came from Mocha. Thus, Mocha became a synonym for coffee locally, and this association persisted into the 20th century. Therefore, the English name for the Moka Pot is "Moka Express," where Moka (Mocha) = coffee, Express = fast, combined meaning "quickly get coffee."

The coffee made by a Moka Pot can be called Moka Pot coffee, since it's made with a Moka Pot. However, what it produces is not Mocha Coffee, because in the past, Mocha Coffee referred to chocolate-flavored coffee beans exported from Mocha, while today's Mocha Coffee refers to a chocolate-flavored milk coffee made by combining espresso machine output with chocolate syrup. So, the concepts between these "Mochas" are quite different, and everyone should understand them clearly~

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