For many coffee enthusiasts, their first brewing device is often a moka pot—it's attractive, affordable, and easy to use. But some people prefer the lab-like ritual of a siphon, or rely on the ever-present drip coffee maker at home. What exactly are the differences between these three devices? And how big is the gap in the flavor of the coffee they brew? Front Street Coffee will analyze them one by one, from principles and structure to operation flow and flavor performance, and include detailed brewing steps for the moka pot and siphon to help you find the cup that suits you best.

Many people make coffee by hand for the first time using a moka pot. It looks appealing, is easy to carry, doesn't cost much, and has a low barrier to operation—very friendly to beginners.

However, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has also noticed that some friends value ritual more, such as the now less common siphon coffee, with its dazzling equipment and unique process; and many coffee lovers keep a drip coffee maker at home year-round. So what exactly is the difference between these three pots? And how far apart will the flavors be? Let Front Street explain one by one below.

What is a moka pot?

The moka pot works by letting the steam pressure generated by boiling hot water pass directly through the coffee grounds, extracting the essence from the coffee. The resulting coffee has a thicker body, more concentrated aroma, and a thin layer of coffee oils floating on the surface—this is exactly the charm of espresso.

Compared with other coffee devices, the moka pot's structure is quite simple, with only three parts in total: the upper pot that holds the coffee liquid, the middle filter basket that holds the grounds, and the lower pot that holds water and is heated. When the moka pot is heated, the water in the lower pot first heats up and turns into steam, gradually building pressure and pushing the water vapor upward from bottom to top. After the hot water contacts the coffee grounds, the continuously rising pressure pushes the extracted coffee liquid further up into the upper pot, and at this point we get the rich coffee we want.

The moka pot's extraction method is similar to common pressure-based espresso: after the water in the lower chamber boils, it produces steam; the steam accumulates more and more to form pressure, forcing hot water through the coffee grounds, dissolving flavor substances, and then forcefully spraying them together with the coffee liquid into the upper container. When brewing with a moka pot, the pressure is about 1.2 to 3 atmospheres. The increased pressure makes the coffee flavor more concentrated, so the coffee made with a moka pot also has a fuller body.

Common moka pots on the market are divided into two types: single-valve and double-valve. When using a double-valve moka pot, it adds an extra pressure valve on top of the original design. After the pressure increases, the coffee is stronger and can also bring out more coffee oils. Although a moka pot cannot reach the level of a standard espresso machine at 9 atmospheres or more, if you just want a cup of rich, full-bodied coffee at home in your spare time, Front Street thinks a moka pot is a pretty good choice.

What is a siphon?

A set of equipment shaped like laboratory instruments, paired with a halogen lamp or alcohol lamp; through the firelight you can see bubbles surging in the hot water; the moment the coffee grounds are poured in, a pleasant aroma spreads out; after the temperature drops, the liquid quickly flows back and the color becomes deep. Take a sip, and the taste is round and balanced. Compared with other brewing methods, comfort and healing are Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) deepest impressions of the siphon.

The English name of the siphon pot is "SIPHON," so it is also called a siphon brewer. It uses the thermal expansion and contraction caused by steam produced when water is heated to push hot water from the lower pot into the upper chamber to mix with coffee grounds. After the temperature drops, the water flows back into the lower pot through a vacuum tube, thereby obtaining coffee liquid. The origin of the siphon can be traced back to the early 19th century, nearly a hundred years earlier than pour-over. According to relevant records, in 1826 German physicist Johann Norremberg invented the siphon using laboratory equipment. His original intention was to demonstrate the power of steam to students, so he did not apply for a patent, and the design did not become popular. It was not until the mid-19th century that French inventor Marie Fanny Amelne Massot improved this device, and the up-and-down convection siphon was born. She obtained the relevant patent in 1842, and only then did this device enter the market for sale.

Around the same period, Scottish engineer Robert Napier designed his Napier Coffee Pot, which also used the vacuum principle to brew coffee. Although it won an award from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1856, Napier never applied for a patent for it. After that, vacuum brewing devices of the same type began to spread throughout Europe and were introduced to places such as the United States. However, with the later birth of automatic drip coffee, Americans' use of siphons gradually declined.

What is a drip coffee maker?

The drip coffee maker, also called an American drip coffee machine (Drip Coffee Maker), is currently a relatively common coffee device, suitable for coffee beginners to use at home or in the office. It is simple to operate and convenient to use, and the process is basically highly standardized. Usually it takes only 5 to 8 minutes to brew a pot of coffee.

American drip coffee makers generally come in two common sizes: 5-cup and 12-cup, meaning they can brew up to 5 cups or 12 cups of coffee at a time. Usually, the glass carafe capacity and water tank capacity of a 5-cup model are 550ml to 650ml; the glass carafe capacity and water tank capacity of a 12-cup model are 1.2 to 1.3L. The above standard for one cup is calculated at 100 to 120ml per cup, which means brewing one cup of coffee uses between 100 and 120ml of water; generally, an American coffee machine is best used to brew at least 2 cups at a time.

Usually, one cup of American coffee is 100 to 120ml and requires 5 to 7g of coffee grounds. Each American coffee machine comes with a dedicated coffee ground measuring spoon. Generally, one cup of coffee corresponds to one spoon of grounds; brew as many cups as you add spoons of grounds. No matter what kind of coffee beans, as long as they are ground into powder, they can be used.

To brew 1 cup of coffee, add 100 to 120ml of water. Referring to the markings in step 2, add water to the coffee machine's water tank up to the corresponding mark. To brew one cup of coffee, add 1 level scoop of coffee grounds, generally about 6g, and you can adjust the amount of grounds according to personal taste.

Front Street believes that the flavor and mouthfeel of American coffee are closely related to the coffee beans used. Any coffee beans are suitable for an American coffee machine; it all depends on personal subjective preference. Broadly speaking, light-roast coffee beans have very obvious fruit acidity and a strong juicy feel. Front Street recommends Front Street Kenya Coffee and Front Street Huakui Coffee. Medium-roast coffee beans are highlighted by nutty and balanced, smooth flavors. Front Street recommends Front Street Bird of Paradise Coffee and Front Street Queen's Estate Coffee. Dark roast is stronger than the above two types, but its chocolatey finish is still irresistible. Front Street recommends Front Street Golden Mandheling Coffee.

How do you use a moka pot? What are the flavor characteristics of moka pot coffee?

Before brewing coffee, we need to prepare fresh coffee beans, water, a grinder, a gas stove for heating (or an induction cooker), and the star of the show—the moka pot. As for the coffee beans, Front Street chose its own roasted "Sunflower Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans," a blend of Honduras Sherry and sun-dried Yirgacheffe Red Cherry in a 7:3 ratio.

First remove the base of the moka pot and add pure warm water to the lower pot. This can shorten the brewing time and also prevent the coffee grounds from being heated too quickly and easily becoming burnt and bitter. Control the water amount to about 0.5cm below the pressure relief valve line. The safety valve is there to prevent the moka pot from exploding due to overly fine coffee grounds blocking the extraction channel. If the safety valve is submerged by water and the extraction channel is also blocked, the consequences of a high-temperature coffee pot exploding are unimaginable.

To extract rich black coffee, the grind size needs to be much finer than regular pour-over. Front Street's store uses an EK-43s grinder at a setting of 0.5. The amount of grounds depends on the size of the moka pot. Here at Front Street, we use a 3-cup Bialetti classic pot, with 18g of grounds.

Pour the ground coffee into the filter basket, fill it to nine-tenths full, smooth it with your finger, and then place it into the base. There is no need to tamp it hard; an overly compacted bed of grounds can easily block the upward flow of water and affect extraction.

Next, screw the upper pot and lower pot tightly, wipe the body dry with a towel, and place it on a gas stove or induction cooker to heat. When using an open flame, be careful to control the flame so it does not exceed the base range of the moka pot.

Just wait for the moka pot to heat up. When you hear a hissing sound, turn to low heat, and the coffee liquid and oils will slowly flow out. When you see the coffee liquid in the upper pot is half full, you can turn off the heat source and move the pot to the table, using the residual heat and pressure inside the pot to continue extracting the remaining coffee liquid.

Finally, pour the extracted coffee liquid into a cup and enjoy it directly. The taste will be very rich and solid, with a strong whiskey aroma, vanilla, creamy, and berry-like sweet-tartness on the palate, along with the aroma of roasted nuts. For friends who usually like American coffee, Front Street suggests diluting it with hot water at 70 to 80 degrees Celsius in a 1:5 ratio, stirring, and then drinking it. At this point it will show fresh fruity sweet-tartness. If you prefer coffee with milk, you can pair moka pot coffee with milk, and it will taste of chocolate and creamy butter cookies.

Is brewing coffee with a siphon difficult to operate? What flavor does siphon coffee have?

For this session, Front Street will use a fast-paced extraction method and pair it with a light-roast coffee bean—Kenya Asalia! So the water temperature will be relatively high, around 92°C, which means sealing it when the lower pot is boiling with frequent bubbles. Since the extraction time is not long, only 60 seconds, and the coffee beans are relatively lightly roasted, here we will use a grind that is "two degrees" finer than pour-over, an EK43 setting of 9, with a 90% passing rate through a No. 20 sieve. The coffee-to-water ratio is 1:14, which means 20g of coffee grounds with 280ml of hot water.

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First, let's prepare all the equipment, then pour the target amount of water into the lower pot.

After pouring, remember to use a dry cloth to wipe away the water droplets on the lower pot to avoid the risk of the pot cracking.

After wiping, first install the filter device into the upper pot. Specifically, place the chain from inside the upper pot downward, then firmly hook the chain's hook onto the tube. This allows the filter device to tightly block the upper pot's outlet, preventing too much coffee residue from seeping into the lower pot! At the same time, it can also effectively slow down the flow rate.

After installing it, we can place the upper pot onto the lower pot. Remember to make sure the chain can touch the bottom, then start heating.

When the lower pot begins to continuously emit small water droplets, don't rush. After the small droplets turn into large droplets, straighten the upper pot and press it in, causing the lower pot to enter a vacuum state. Then, simply wait for all the hot water in the lower pot to rise into the upper pot, and extraction can begin!

When pouring in the coffee grounds, start timing at the same time, then begin our first stir.

The purpose of this stir is to fully saturate the coffee grounds, equivalent to the blooming stage in pour-over coffee. So first we use a patting method to pat all the coffee grounds into the water so they absorb water evenly.

When the time reaches 25 seconds, we perform the second stir. The purpose of this stir is to accelerate the dissolution of coffee flavor substances, so here we can use a technique with relatively high stirring intensity. For example, what Front Street is currently using is the Z-shaped stirring method, stirring the coffee grounds by drawing Z shapes back and forth for 10 seconds.

When the time reaches 50 seconds, we perform the final stir. The purpose of this stir is also to increase the dissolution of coffee substances, but the difference is that because extraction has reached the tail end, there are not many sweet-tart substances left in the coffee, so at this point we need to reduce the stirring force. What Front Street is currently using is the circular stirring method, slowly drawing circles.

At 55 seconds, we can remove the heat source and wait for the coffee liquid to flow back. If the coffee liquid flows back very slowly, you can wipe the lower pot with a wet cloth to accelerate the temperature drop and speed up the return of the coffee liquid, avoiding the risk of over-extraction.

When the coffee liquid has completely returned to the lower pot, extraction is finished. At this point, if we pour out the siphon coffee and taste it, it may be a bit hot, so we can let it sit for a while before tasting~

After letting it sit for a while, Front Street tasted it! In addition to Kenya's bright cherry tomato and dark plum tartness, we also tasted yellow sugar and apricot sweetness. The overall mouthfeel is thick and round. Although the layers are not as distinct as pour-over, siphon coffee indeed tastes more solid, and the aroma is more prominent—a completely different experience~

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