Why does mocha pot coffee smell burnt? How to adjust the coffee extract in the mocha pot? What should I do if the coffee in the mocha pot is burnt? Why is mocha pot coffee so easy to overpower?

Qianjie found that many of my friends were troubled by the problem that mocha pot coffee was often overcooked. Because Qian Jie often shares tweets related to mocha pots, some friends leave messages in the comment area such as: "How to avoid over-extracting mocha pot coffee" or "What's wrong with the extracted coffee being too bitter?"

Indeed, compared to most other methods of making coffee, mocha pots are indeed more likely to over-extract coffee. Because it, like the espresso machine, is a pressurized extraction. The advantage of pressurized extraction is that the extraction efficiency is very high, and coffee can be extracted in a short time. However, due to the high efficiency, coffee will be more easily overextracted. Over-rich coffee will have obvious bitter or many miscellaneous flavors to drink. Even by adding sugar and milk, the coffee will still be unpleasant to drink.

So today, Qianjie came to share how we can solve the problem of excessive extraction in Mocha pot coffee! By eliminating bad flavors at the source, coffee can become better.

But before that, the Front Street Association advises friends who don't know enough about the meaning of the word "Guo Cui" to first understand it through the article "What is Guo Cui". As the saying goes, you know yourself and your enemy, and you are invincible in a hundred battles. Only after we understand the meaning of overextraction can we more thoroughly improve the problem of overextraction in coffee.

1. Channel effect For pressurized extraction, one of the reasons for the frequent occurrence of over-extraction in coffee is the "channel effect." What is the channel effect? This means that hot water will be concentrated in one place for extraction, which will lead to excessive extraction of coffee powder in this place, while insufficient extraction of coffee powder in other places. The coffee tastes bitter and sour, and the balance is very poor.

The reason why the channel effect occurs is that water is inert and will flow preferentially to places where it is easy to flow. In order to be able to dissolve a large amount of flavor substances in coffee powder in a short period of time, the coffee powder extracted under pressure is generally ground with very fine grinding, so that the powder cake has enough resistance to allow pressure to form. But if there is less coffee powder in a certain place and the density is not as high as that in other places, hot water will be concentrated in this place and pass through, leading to a channel effect. Therefore, if we want to improve the over-extraction problem of mocha pot coffee, we must first prevent the emergence of channel effects. So, what factors will lead to the channel effect?①. Uneven cloth powder: Like espresso, uneven cloth powder will cause channel effects. If the coffee powder falling into the powder bowl is unevenly distributed and is filled without adjustment, the density of the powder cake will differ, and a channel effect will occur.

Situations like this are easy to solve! After we put the powder into the powder bowl, we can pay appropriate attention to see if the amount of coffee powder in each place is similar. If so, we can fill and extract it. If not (as shown in the picture above), we need to use our fingers to stir the coffee powder to make the distribution of the coffee powder even. Then gently tap the flour bowl to make the connection between the coffee grounds closer, and finally fill and extract.

By adjusting the coffee powder in this way, we can make the density of the powder cake uniform, making the channel effect more difficult to produce.

②③, the fire is too small, use cold water: The initial water temperature and the size of the heat will have an impact on the extraction of coffee in the mocha pot. They mainly affect the length of time from the time when the mocha pot is heated to the time when the coffee comes out. The longer the heating time, the easier it is to produce channel effects during the extraction process.

As we all know, the reason why the mocha pot needs to be heated is that it needs to be pressurized by generating enough water vapor to push the hot water to extract the coffee powder. During the heating process, water vapor is already continuously generated, and the vapor in the water in the sink will flow upward to moisten the coffee powder at the bottom of the cake. The density of areas pre-wetted by steam will be reduced, and when it comes to extraction, this part will pass through better than coffee powder in other places. If the heating time is longer, the more the cake will be wetted, the lower its density will be, and the easier it will pass.

In other words, when the heating time is too long, the density of the cake will change due to the steam, and channel effects will be more likely to occur during the extraction process. Too little heat during cooking and low initial water temperature (the water temperature at the beginning of pouring into the pot) will prolong the heating time and make the extraction more unstable. Therefore, if conditions permit, the Front Street Association recommends that everyone use medium to high heat to cook mocha coffee before the liquid is discharged, and then the higher the initial water temperature, the better. In this way, the occurrence of channel effects can be greatly reduced and there is a higher probability of making delicious coffee.

2. The firepower is too great after the liquid is discharged. It is worth noting that after the liquid is discharged, it is best to adjust the firepower to a low heat or even turn off, and use the residual temperature to generate steam and extract the coffee from the mocha pot.

Because if the current heat is still used to extract coffee after the liquid is discharged, the hot water will pass through the powder cake quickly in a short time due to excessive steam and excessive pressure, and the extraction time will be greatly shortened. In addition to insufficient extraction, continuous cooking over high heat can also lead to channel effects, making the coffee both bitter and sour.

3. If a mocha pot is ground and has too much water, it will come with a manual for use, which details the method of use and the official recommended parameters. For example, pour xx powder and 120ml of water for cooking for 2 people. Use xx powder and 180ml for 4 people. Many friends will follow the parameters in the manual when they first come into contact with it.

There is nothing wrong with this, but if your grind is relatively fine, close to flour-like particles like the grind of an espresso machine, then you need to pay attention to the amount of water used. Because finely ground coffee powder will more easily separate out flavor substances, and more water will increase the dissolved flavor substances. If the grind we use is flour-like particles and then use a lot of water, it will be easy to extract a cup of bitter, rich mocha pot coffee.

The coffee powder used by many friends is pre-ground and cannot be freely adjusted. Therefore, in this case, we need to control the extraction rate of coffee by adjusting the amount of water and the amount of firepower after the liquid is discharged. However, the latter will be relatively difficult to adjust, so Qianjie recommends adjusting by reducing the amount of water. So the above are the three main reasons that Qianjie can think of that cause the mocha pot to be over-ripe. If you have any other discoveries, please add them in the comments section ~

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