Some friends who enjoy using a moka pot often ask Front Street, "Can this coffee bean be used to make moka pot coffee?" "Would that coffee bean taste good brewed in a moka pot?" Then they pick coffee beans with tasting notes that include acidity (fruity) to ask about. In response, Front Street will brew all these types of coffee beans to see how they perform in a moka pot.

There are simply too many coffee beans with acidity to brew them all, so Front Street selected a few beans with different levels of acidity from this bunch as representatives for brewing. They are Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gutingding coffee beans, Front Street Costa Rica Mozart coffee beans, and Front Street Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise coffee beans.

A major factor affecting the acidity of coffee beans is the roast level. To make it easier for everyone to understand, Front Street will use light, medium-light, and medium to distinguish them (in reality, it's not that simple).

Among the three, Front Street Yirgacheffe Gutingding has the lightest roast, exhibiting fresh and bright acidity like citrus, floral, and green tea. Next is Front Street Mozart coffee beans, showing sweet fruit flavors like berries, grapes, and fermented aromas. The darkest among the three is Front Street Bird of Paradise coffee beans, displaying slight fruity acidity like caramel, cocoa, apricot, and hawthorn.

The steps and parameters for brewing moka pot coffee have been introduced in detail in Front Street's previous articles, so here we'll briefly mention the parameters. The amount of coffee grounds and water for a moka pot depends on the size of the pot. Front Street uses a Bialetti classic 3-cup pot, with 150ml of water and 18g of coffee grounds. The grind size is fine powder (slightly coarser than for an espresso machine), and you can use the 0.5 setting on an EK43s as a reference.

For filling the grounds, Front Street recommends direct filling without tamping. Fill the basket to the top (pay attention to the gaps around the edges), then pile it into a small mound, keeping it fluffy, and then directly place the upper chamber on vertically and tighten it. This way, the puck after extraction is also solid and won't fall apart.

After brewing, Front Street will divide the moka pot coffee into two portions: one portion is tasted as is, and the other is mixed with ice water to make an iced Americano, because according to Front Street's understanding, many friends like to use coffee brewed from a moka pot as "espresso" and add water to make an Americano to drink.

First, let's look at the brewing situation of the three groups of coffee. Although Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee beans are lightly roasted, with proper moka pot parameters, it can still produce crema, but this layer of crema is relatively thin and basically dissipates in about 30 seconds.

The crema brewed from Front Street Mozart coffee beans is slightly richer than Front Street Yirgacheffe, but it's also "six of one, half a dozen of the other."

The crema brewed from Front Street Bird of Paradise coffee beans is visibly rich.

Next is tasting the performance of these three coffee beans brewed in a moka pot.

Front Street Yirgacheffe Coffee

Original liquid: The acidity is quite sharp and stimulating, somewhat astringent, hard to swallow.

Iced Americano: Pure acidity all the way through, like a cup of acid water.

Front Street Mozart Coffee

Original liquid: Fermented feel, also quite stimulating acidity, hard to swallow.

Iced Americano: After dilution, the taste is much softer, with lively berry acidity and some fermented wine aroma. The aftertaste is like the bitter-sweetness of chocolate.

Front Street Bird of Paradise Coffee

Original liquid: The only original liquid that can be finished as a whole cup. If it's a more pronounced and substantial fruity acidity, the middle and back sections have a chocolate-caramel bitterness. Like a low-concentration version of espresso.

Iced Americano: Very bright fruity acidity, with some caramel flavors. The entire cup of coffee has no bitterness at all, and the acidity is more pronounced than that of the Front Street Mozart cup.

Below, Front Street has summarized a few conclusions for everyone to refer to.

1. Coffee beans with tasting notes like "lemon" and "citrus" that look very sour are not suitable for making moka pot coffee.

2. Choosing coffee beans with descriptions of sweeter fruits (medium-light roast) for moka pot will have a different performance. Moka pot brewing of coffee beans with acidity is suitable for adding some water or ice cubes to dilute, which will make the flavor performance better.

3You can choose some coffee beans with strong flavor expression to brew in a moka pot, such as the Front Street Mozart coffee beans chosen by Front Street. This way, the moka pot coffee has a relatively strong flavor and aroma and is easy to drink.

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