Can a moka pot brew coffee good enough for latte art?

A Bialetti BRIKKA moka pot can produce a small amount of crema thanks to its pressure valve, but the coffee it brews is not a true substitute for espresso in latte art. The same espresso blend, milk foam and pouring technique were tested side by side with a moka pot and an espresso machine, and the moka pot results fell short.

The gap comes down to pressure, crema volume and viscosity. An espresso machine pushes water through the coffee at roughly nine bars, while a Bialetti moka pot builds only about one to two bars, so the brewed coffee is thinner and the foam layer fades quickly, making it hard to hold a defined pattern.

BIALETTI's BRIKKA moka pot, with its unique pressure valve design, is claimed to be the only moka pot that can brew crema. Many coffee enthusiasts wonder: can the coffee it brews actually be used for latte art? Compared with espresso extracted by an espresso machine, where does the latte art effect fall short? Front Street Coffee used the same classic espresso blend beans, extracting separately with a moka pot and an espresso machine, then performed latte art comparisons using the same milk foam and technique. This article fully records the six steps of brewing coffee with a moka pot, and analyzes the causes of the latte art differences between the two from the perspectives of pressure, crema, and viscosity, helping you judge whether a moka pot is worth using as a daily milk coffee solution.

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"BRIKKA" is a moka pot produced by the Italian company BIALETTI, retaining the classic octagonal pot shape (it was once believed that the octagonal structure could concentrate the heat more effectively), and the pot body is made of aluminum, which is relatively soft and easy to shape (said to help preserve the original flavor of the coffee). The appearance of BIALETTI's moka pots has changed little over more than thirty years, but when you lift the lid of the BRIKKA, you can discover the key that fascinates coffee enthusiasts about this pot—the "pressure valve."

This stainless steel gravity device, the "pressure valve," is installed directly above the coffee outlet. Its function is to accumulate steam pressure inside the BRIKKA pot, and only after the pressure has built up to the range suitable for extraction does it allow hot water to pass through the coffee grounds layer under pressure all at once, thereby extracting the essence from the coffee beans. It is precisely this improved structure, the "pressure valve," that makes the BRIKKA known as the only moka pot in the world that can brew brown crema (the oily foam on the surface of coffee).

Front Street baristas often hear customers joke that a moka pot is a budget alternative to an espresso machine. After all, entry-level espresso machines cost thousands of yuan, while a moka pot costing a few hundred yuan seems much more affordable. Surely many friends also want to try: can coffee brewed with a moka pot be used for latte art? Compared with espresso extracted by an espresso machine, where exactly does it differ in latte art? Today Front Street Coffee will put it to the test: using moka pot coffee and espresso for latte art comparison respectively, to answer everyone's questions about latte art with a moka pot.

To find out the difference between the two, Front Street's classic espresso blend coffee beans are used for extraction here. It is a recipe composed of beans from three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam, and uses a deep roast, which can highlight the rich aroma of the coffee to the greatest extent and also allows everyone to easily extract rich and dense coffee crema. It is very suitable whether for making an Americano diluted with water or a latte paired with milk, and can be purchased from Front Street's Taobao store or Front Street Tmall flagship store.

Before the comparison, let's first make a batch of moka pot coffee liquid. The detailed steps are as follows:

1. Fill the bottom chamber with cold water up to the valve level. Cover with the filter.

2. For moka pot coffee, choose a grind slightly coarser than espresso. You can refer to the size of the gaps in the filter screen of the basket to ensure the coffee particles will not fall into the lower pot. Cup your hand around the basket to form a ring, and fill the basket with grounds until a small mound rises in the middle. After the surrounding grounds fill the gaps in the basket, directly press on the upper pot and tighten it. If you observe carefully, the upper filter screen is slightly concave upward, so there is no need to worry about it being too full. On the contrary, this method just leaves no gaps in the basket, reducing the probability of channeling.

3. Place the basket into the lower pot, tighten the upper and lower parts of the moka pot, then place it on an electric ceramic stove and heat over high heat; make sure to use low heat.

4. When the moka pot heats up to a certain temperature, when the moka pot makes an obvious whirring and sputtering sound, set the electric ceramic stove to low heat and open the lid of the upper pot.

5. When half of the coffee liquid has come out into the upper pot, turn off the electric ceramic stove. The residual heat and pressure of the moka pot will push the remaining coffee liquid into the upper pot.

6. When all the coffee liquid has been extracted into the upper pot, it can be poured into a cup and tasted. Coffee extracted with a moka pot is very rich, and can even extract Crema. It can also be mixed with an appropriate amount of water or milk for a better flavor. It is that simple, but it also requires some practice. Front Street believes that although using a moka pot is simple, it also requires more practice and careful control of the coffee grind size and various small details to extract a relatively perfect cup of coffee.

Both cups of latte art were made using the same quality of milk foam and similar latte art techniques.

Step 1: Brew a serving of coffee with a moka pot; extract a serving of espresso with an espresso machine

Step 2: Use the steam wand of the espresso machine to froth two portions of milk foam

Step 3: Pour latte art separately

Comparing the two latte art patterns, the latte art made with moka pot coffee is much lighter in color, the striped edges of the pattern are not clear, and the contrast is not strong; while the pattern made with espresso is much clearer, and the color contrast is also strong.

This is because the coffee liquid brewed with a moka pot is not rich in crema (after pouring the coffee liquid out of the moka pot, the crema dissipates within more than ten seconds); in contrast, the espresso liquid still has a thick layer of crema. During latte art, thick crema increases the viscosity of the coffee. The higher the viscosity, the greater the fluidity, so latte art becomes easier, and the lines of the latte art pattern produced are also clearer.

Espresso brewed by an espresso machine is made by forcing hot water at about 90 degrees Celsius through a compacted puck of coffee grounds at about 9–12 bars of pressure, while a moka pot can only provide about 1–2 bar of pressure. When using the same coffee beans, coffee extracted at higher pressure is more aromatic and richer, and the crema is also richer and finer. With richer crema, the surface of the coffee liquid is more stable, so latte art is naturally easier and the pattern is clearer and more attractive.

From the experimental comparison, although coffee brewed with a moka pot is not as outstanding as espresso extracted by an espresso machine in terms of latte art effect and flavor performance, if you are only pursuing latte art that can produce a pattern and getting a cup of milk coffee that still tastes pretty good, is using a moka pot to make coffee also a pretty good choice?

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.