The serious Moka Espresso
Hello friends,
times are challenging to organise my private life to the point where I feel neglecting parts of my side activities should be just fine. For that reason I decided to take a break from last week’s article and I somehow felt bad for not announcing that decision to you. Sorry for that. But I am happy I managed to get myself up and writing again. Sometimes all it takes is just opening a new tab, stare at the white empty canvas and eventually the wither will break.
I decided to write about the Moka Pot this time. I consider this pot to be a semi automated method of brewing coffee. All you need to do is just fill in the coffee basket and pour in water in the container and then after a bit of heat, you get what you look for - nice cup of coffee. Well, more or less it is like that. But there are few variables that are important and I got to know about them in my afternoons, when I’d brew some Moka espresso after a large meal.
Even though both espressos are brewed under high pressure (thus the name: es-presso - or pressed out), Moka espresso is rather different than the machine Espresso. Personally I do not even think of it as an Espresso but more of something distinct and unique, resembling espresso. The extraction gives something stronger and really precise in taste. And that might make a good shot of coffee or even more a good base for a home made Latte, which opens the possibility for you to experiment with your essential equipment, and for me to write about all those experimentations involving Moka Espresso in future articles.
The Moka grind
If we can draw a cultural clues of the Moka espresso, just like one would normally do with any espresso, we should be looking in Italy. I used to have a colleague that always said “once you put the ground coffee in the coffee basket, do not tamp it, leave it loose”. It was not about his taste, (he was Italian, why wouldn’t I trust an Italian about a taste?), but I didn’t understand what he was saying. My experimentations few years after with the Moka pot revealed that tamped coffee tasted rather different than loose coffee. There is some science behind it I am sure, I am just not familiar with it. But I stick to that advice very religiously when it comes to Moka espresso too.
You would be able to notice the difference between too coarse or too fine coffee immediately between cups. It’s nothing subtle, quite the opposite it’s very clear, precise and easily observable. The line is very thin. Going few steps grounder over that line, you will be able to over-extract a Moka cup, or be really waterish just by staying a distance away from that line. The key is trying out. As annoying it might be, you have to trial and error as many times as needed, so that you find the grind that is grounder than pour-over and a Turkish moka. For me, on my manual grinder, that is the finest I can go. So it’s easy to set it. Fill in the filter basket with coffee and flatten it with a knife (just pass over the filter with knife or whatever flat object you have). This will guarantee equal distribution of the coffee in the filter.
The Moka heat
Besides the grind, what makes a very luxurious cup of moka espresso is the heat. Not the temperature of the water, but the heat under which the coffee is brewed. The way the Moka pot works is actually quite impressive. It does involve heated water going from the lower water container through the mid filter basket into the upper chamber where the brewed coffee is collected. I recently found this GIF that clearly illustrates that really clear:
As you can see, when the water reaches boiling point it tries to run out through the coffee filter in the middle, picking up most of the taste lines and aromas from the coffee, spieling over in the top chamber.
At the point before you put the pot on heat have in mind that it’s really not important for the water to heat over the heater. You can pre-heat it to whatever temperature you want. Pour it to the marked max level (or as much coffee you'd like to brew), and put it over the heat. Leave it on low heat for some time. Once the pot gets heated it will start the process of extraction. Now, if the heat was very strong at this point, you will come up to a situation called spitting. Or coffee which is abruptly pushed in the upper chamber causing ‘explosion’ effect by which the chemicals would be affected and by that the taste of the coffee. Aim for it to have a foam. Or even better, aim for it to be able to reach the upper chamber without having the lid closed. If it spits - your kitchen is gone, then redo the process. Remember, foam in moka espresso for me is really difficult to achieve. I fail 9/10. It’s not a measure of quality or does not tell much about the taste you should expect from it - but it tells about the calmness of the process. Stay calm regardless that the coffee will be brewed under heavy pressure and high heat. That is the art of it.
Cut the brewing process
Another key point at this step is to put the Moka Pot under cold water immediately you start hearing air coming out the pipe. That means that most of the coffee had been brewed, there is no more liquid remaining and you want to stop the process of brewing right at that point. Putting it under cold water (well it could be ice also 🤷♂️) is a timely measured act. Also, it gets better with exercise but even if you fail or forget the first times, it’s still ok. The point is, don’t overbrew it. Once most of the liquid comes out the bottom, stop the process by chilling it.
Mama Mia
Now you have your perfect brew of Moka espresso. Combine it with a nice Bitter after that heavy pasta on a lazy Sunday evening, and you can be in Italy, at least for a short time.
Until the next time, Arrivederci!