What if the powder quantity, water quantity, and grinding thickness of the mocha pot requires only half of the coffee powder?

It is not difficult to find that in almost all teaching of mocha pots, we are required to fill all the powder tanks first, then tighten it with the upper and lower pots before extracting. In other words, if you want to make the size of the mocha pot you buy, you have to brew the corresponding amount every time.

However, some small partners said that occasionally they only want to drink "half" coffee, so can they use half/reduce the amount of powder according to demand like other extraction methods? Will reduced coffee still contain fat? Does it taste good? Today, Qianjie came to find answers to these questions.

Fill VS with powder and only put half

As the saying goes, experiments reveal true knowledge. If you want to know whether "reducing powder" is feasible, you can solve the problem by comparing and operating the problem.

During the test, Qianjie would first fill and smooth the powder trough of a pot of coffee, and then pour in the water below the pressure relief valve, that is, 150g; the powder trough of another pot was filled with only half of the coffee, and then lay the powder layer surface. In addition, considering the decrease in the amount of powder used, in order to prevent the concentration from being greatly reduced, the water injection volume of the second group of Mocha pots in Qianjie was reduced to 105g.

In order to make the experimental results clearer, this time the mocha pot will be compared with Whelan of Qianjie, Colombia, a coffee bean made of medium and deep roast. When flushed by hand, it will show deep flavors such as fried nuts, dark chocolate, caramel, etc., and will also carry beautiful golden yellow oil in pressurized extraction. It is suitable for various extraction methods such as coffee machines, mocha pots, and drip filtration.

We heat two pots of coffee separately, observe and record their extraction, and finally taste them in a mocha pot.

Coffee beans: Front Street Colombia washed Whelan

Powder amount: 16g & 8g

Grinding degree: Fine salt (EK-43s #3 scale)

Water volume: 150g & 105g

The powder tank is filled: Shortly after the purr, you can see that the dark brown foam is released first. The flow rate of the coffee liquor is relatively uniform and the color is rich, and there is no splash throughout the process. After evacuating the fire source, the foam on the upper layer was also relatively long-lasting, and the coffee liquid remained in the cup for nearly 5 minutes.

Only half of the powder is placed in the powder tank: Although this group of mocha pots did not splash, the noise was much louder than that of the first group. In contrast, it can be seen that the foam is not only thin, but also the flow rate is very rapid, with signs of gushing halfway, and the color also fades. When poured into the coffee cup, the foam on the upper layer dissipated before Qianjie had time to take a photo.

Taste comparison

The first set of mocha pot coffee is made in the American style. It is slightly sweet and bitter but not astringent on the entrance. The taste is very strong. The burnt aroma has the aroma of fried hazelnut and almost no sour taste. The coffee extracted from the second group of mocha pots does not have much aroma. It tastes like burnt wood and has obvious acidity, making people have no desire to continue drinking.

Factors that will affect the reduction of powder

The principle of making coffee in a mocha pot is not complicated. It is to heat the lower pot to generate steam pressure in the water inside. When it reaches a certain level, the hot water will be pushed upward. On the way, the hot water will pass through the coffee powder trough., the coffee powder will form a certain resistance to it. When the resistance is exceeded, it can pour into the upper pot, thus forming fresh coffee liquor.

Therefore, when the amount of powder used is less, the resistance to hot water is less, and the easier it is for coffee liquid to enter the upper pot. On the one hand, the extraction time is shortened, which gives the coffee a sharp and sour taste. On the other hand, it is due to the continuous flushing of the hot water, causing the powder layer at the bottom to be over-extracted and making the coffee bitter and unbearable.

Qianjie often mentions in articles on Italian concentrated extraction that water is inert and will give priority to a "road" with less resistance to pass through, commonly known as the "channel effect." Therefore, in addition to the change in resistance, the reduction in the amount of powder will also leave a certain space inside the powder tank. When the hot water moves upwards, it will preferentially pass through the loose powder layer and then directly come to the upper pot. There is a high probability that there will be insufficient extraction of the coffee liquid.

Can I put only half of the powder in a mocha pot? How should I do it?

Since we know that the key reason for the splashing of coffee liquor is that the reduction in the amount of powder reduces the resistance to hot water, then if the mocha pot can still maintain a moderate extraction state after the reduction in the amount of powder, the powder cake will need to have greater resistance to hot water. In theory, if you want to increase the pressure without changing the amount of powder, you can either adjust the grinding degree or use external force to narrow the gap between powder. After several rounds of attempts, Qianjie preferred the latter and the operation was very simple.

Here we are still doing a demonstration on Huilan Street. We poured 8g of ground coffee powder into the powder trough, gently patted it left and right, so that the fluffy coffee powder naturally fell down, and the particles were closely connected to each other. Then find a small spoon and gently "press" the powder layer with the back until the powder layer is completely thin to half.

In order to avoid over-extraction caused by long contact time between hot water and the thinned powder layer, we pour half of the amount of high-temperature hot water into the pot before loading it into the powder tank, which can effectively shorten the heating time. When the liquid from the mocha pot filled the bottom, we immediately evacuated it from the fire and then used the residual heat to release all the remaining coffee liquid.

The adjusted practice does not show any signs of "spraying". Moreover, because the temperature rises faster when the pot is placed, the released coffee liquid still has a small amount of foam layer and its concentration is much higher.

Qianjie makes this "half-serving mocha pot coffee" into iced milk coffee at a ratio of 1:3. It has the mellow flavors of cocoa, cream and fried rice cakes at the entrance. It is balanced and thick, making it a good refreshing drink.