The moka pot is often placed on a stove to heat, using steam pressure to extract, so the moka pot is also called a direct-fire espresso pot. Since it can also make strong coffee, the moka pot is always compared with authentic espresso machines, so what exactly are the differences between the two?

Like espresso machines, the moka pot uses pressure extraction, so it can also extract similar high-concentration coffee with golden crema on the surface. Its price is only around a few hundred yuan, compared to the thousands or tens of thousands of espresso machines, the moka pot is dirt cheap. Because of this, the moka pot is often hailed as the "budget substitute for espresso machines."

But here comes the problem: with such a huge price difference, can coffee brewed with a moka pot really replace espresso extracted from an espresso machine? This is a question Front Street Coffee has frequently received recently.

Let's start with the conclusion! If you just want the coffee brewed with a moka pot to serve as a base like espresso to make various fancy coffees, then of course it can. But if what you want is to fully replicate the performance of espresso with moka pot coffee, such as mouthfeel and taste, then even if it's not impossible, it would at least be very difficult. Why? Because the extraction pressure of the moka pot is not as high as that of an espresso machine!

Although both the moka pot and the espresso machine use pressure extraction, the pressure used by the moka pot during extraction is much lower than that of an espresso machine! Generally, the extraction pressure of an espresso machine is around 9 bar, while that of a double-valve moka pot is 3–4 bar. The difference is 2–3 times. The main reason for this difference is that their design principles are different.

The pressure of an espresso machine is provided by an independent pressure pump inside the machine body. Once extraction begins, the pressure pump starts operating, applying high pressure to the water flow to extract coffee quickly and efficiently; while the moka pot relies on the steam pressure generated by heating water to push the water flow for extraction, but because the pressure is limited by the heat source and the structure of the pot, the extraction pressure of the moka pot is not that high.

Since the pressure is not as high as that of an espresso machine, the moka pot cannot extract a cup of high-concentration coffee as quickly as an espresso machine. Front Street often shares an example: using the same dose of grounds and the same grind, then separately using a moka pot and an espresso machine to extract the same liquid weight. When extracting with a moka pot, Front Street will deliberately reduce the heat during output to extend the extraction time. But even so, the final coffee concentration is still much lower than that of espresso.

The coffee beans used by Front Street are the Front Street Classic Blend from the bean list. This is a recipe composed of beans from three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It uses a dark roast, which can maximize the rich aroma of the coffee and also allow 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. It can be purchased and ordered at the Front Street Taobao store or the Front Street Tmall flagship store.

Front Street Classic Espresso Blend, coffee grounds 20g, grind setting 1.0 on the Galileo Q18, then yield 40ml. The steps for Front Street Coffee to brew coffee with a moka pot are as follows:

1.     Pour an appropriate amount of soon-to-boil hot water into the lower chamber

2.     Pour the ground coffee powder into the filter basket

3.     Attach the filter basket to the lower chamber, then screw the upper chamber on tightly

4.     Keep the upper chamber open and heat it

5.     When coffee liquid starts to emerge from the upper chamber, pick up the moka pot and move it away from the heat source

Through measurement, the concentration of moka pot coffee is much lower than that of espresso. In taste, the two are largely similar; after all, both use the same Front Street Classic Blend coffee, mellow with no acidity, with flavors of chocolate, caramel, nuts, cream, and cookies. But the difference in concentration still makes them very different when making fancy coffee and in the fancy coffee produced.

(Left is moka pot coffee, right is espresso)

In the article "How to Make a Delicious 'Latte' with Moka Pot Coffee," Front Street shared that when using espresso to make a latte, the ratio of coffee to milk goes to 1:5. Because the concentration of espresso is high enough, even if more milk is added, the coffee flavor will not be easily masked, and the mouthfeel will not be thin;

But when Front Street uses coffee brewed with a moka pot to make a "latte," the ratio is adjusted to 1:4, because the concentration of moka pot coffee is not that high, so the amount of milk needs to be appropriately reduced, so that the coffee flavor will not be masked by the milk. But even so, the "latte" made with moka pot coffee is still somewhat inferior to that made with espresso, both in mouthfeel and taste.

Not only that, when we make some coffees that require high concentration, like a Dirty, moka pot coffee cannot replace espresso. Because the concentration is not that high, when we use moka pot coffee to make a Dirty, the layering effect will quickly disappear. Not only concentration: from the comparison image above, we can also find that the "crema" of moka pot coffee is thinner than that of espresso. Similarly, this is also caused by insufficient pressure.

Although when moka pot coffee is being extracted we can see that the coffee has very rich "crema," in fact most of it is foam produced by the valve squeezing it. Their stability is much lower than that of espresso bubbles (crema), so not long after the coffee is made, they will quickly dissipate.

So we can know that moka pot coffee can be used as a base like espresso to make most fancy coffees, but it cannot completely replace it; it cannot replace it. In the end, the birth of the moka pot/moka pot coffee was never meant to replace the espresso machine/espresso, but to give everyone a more convenient coffee-making tool. With just simple water addition, filling with grounds, and heating, we can easily get a cup of high-concentration coffee.

In addition, the extremely affordable price also lowers the difficulty for everyone to get started. Without "breaking the bank," you can buy a quite convenient strong coffee-making tool. So, if you just want to find a device to make coffee and satisfy your daily coffee craving, as long as the amount is not very large, then a moka pot is completely enough to meet your needs~

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