Guide for the selection and purchase of mocha pot utensils the use and understanding of mocha pot utensils

I prefer mocha pot. I always think that mocha pot is beautiful and can be used as handicrafts. At the same time, it is easy to learn to brew coffee in mocha pot, easy to operate, and stable in quality, so it is the best tool for beginners to get started with coffee.

However, it is also found that there are many misunderstandings in the understanding and use of the mocha pot, which leads to the bitterness of the coffee and the loss of confidence and patience to the mocha.

First, do not use mocha pots to make individual coffee. As far as making a single product is concerned, the control of the water temperature is the most important condition, and the second is the control of the grinding thickness. These two basic conditions are the prerequisites for making a good single product coffee, which can be summed up in one sentence as "constant temperature and atmospheric pressure". Constant temperature is a relatively stable water temperature maintained in a relative period of time, which involves the technical level of the operator. Normal pressure, that is, under the conventional pressure of the natural environment, this is mainly a brewing tool. From this premise, the selection of hand-made and siphon pots are most suitable for "constant temperature and atmospheric pressure", so they happen to be the best tools for making individual coffee, and they are also the preferred tools for baristas to recommend them. It should be said that there is not much objection to this, but whether it is siphon or hand pulping, their familiarity with the operation technology and techniques is still relatively high, and they do not have certain practical experience. It is difficult for beginners to make a good cup of coffee that really reflects the flavor of a single product. If you want to maintain the long-term stability of a single coffee, you need continuous accumulation of experience and continuous improvement of the operator's level.

Second, correctly select the coffee beans suitable for the mocha pot. From the manufacturing principle of the mocha pot, it uses heat sources such as firepower or induction cooker to heat the water and air in the lower pot to produce rapid expansion of water vapor and air. After the expanded air produces a certain pressure, the high temperature water is forced to rise through the hollow tube to a filter filled with coffee powder to extract coffee, and then continue to rise along the hollow tube to the upper pot. From this process, we can see that the mocha pot is high temperature and high pressure. Similar to the pressure cooker principle that we are familiar with, "high temperature and high pressure" is the least suitable for making individual coffee, but only suitable for espresso (please note, the espresso here does not refer to the espresso extracted by the Italian machine with "constant temperature, high pressure and fast" extraction). The correct choice for the coffee beans should be to mix the beans. Its requirements for baking and grinding are also completely different from those of individual coffee beans.

The mocha pot is a simple and easy to learn coffee brewing tool. 1933 Billerty invented the mocha pot, its motive force is to develop a tool for Italian housewives to make milk coffee for family breakfast at home, the first main point is that it must be easy to use, not too complicated, even illiterate people can operate; second, to operate quickly and safely; third, to be very convenient to clean, you can flush it with a water pipe. In its design principle, it adopts a simple two-stroke steam engine principle, which is completely different from the Italian machine. We can see that the mocha kettle was born from the very beginning to the present, although its external shape deduces many forms, such as typical octagonal kettle, hexagonal, round, square and even Arabian lamp shape, as well as some strange forms. But there has never been any substantial change in the internal structure of the mocha pot, because its upper and lower pots and hollow ducts are already in place, and if any structural improvements are made to the interior of the mocha pot, it will not be called the mocha pot! Therefore, the mocha pot is a popular and household-oriented tool for brewing coffee, which requires very little technical operation and is easy to master, otherwise it would not be a household name in Italy. So I think the mocha pot is the first choice for coffee newcomers.

Do not attempt to use mocha pots to make Espersso. Many people see that mocha pots, like Italian machines, use steam pressure and always try to use mocha pots to make espresso like espresso. this is still due to a lack of in-depth understanding of the great difference in brewing principle between mocha pots and Italian machines. one is the "high temperature and high pressure" produced by only firepower, and the other is the application of modern electronic technology to achieve accurate control of "constant temperature, high pressure and fast". The two conditions are completely different. Espresso machine that high pressure + constant temperature + fast + very fine powder = extract Crema to form a real Crema (Klima) there are three main conditional elements or premise basis: first, constant temperature hot water; second, potential oil in coffee; third, stable emulsified colloid foam. The body of Crema is emulsified colloid (the legendary tiger stripe or soy sauce paste). It is produced because the proteomelanin in coffee is extracted and emulsified under constant temperature hot water and high pressure shock. The oil in coffee is protected by this emulsified protein melanin to form this bulk, honeycomb gelatinous structure, and this glue layer is extremely stable.

There is an inevitable causal relationship between the emergence and result of everything in the world. What kind of cause will produce what kind of fruit? the seeds planted with grapes are doomed to produce grapes. Don't just hope that the seeds of grapes will produce bright red strawberries. Only with the four conditions of constant temperature, high pressure, high speed and ultra-fine powder can you get the real Crema, while the temperature of the mocha pot is much higher than 100C, the pressure is less than three atmospheres, and the time depends on the firepower and is difficult to determine, so the mocha pot will never have the external condition of producing Crema, which is determined by the inherent condition of the mocha pot, even if the foam on its surface is rich, it is a flash in the pan. It can not extract the protein melanin that keeps the oil stable, which is essentially different from the real "Klima" emulsified colloid, and will disappear soon.

If you understand these principles, you won't be obsessed with the so-called "grease" or naively compare motorcycle cups with Italian machines. Because the two are different in the first place, this attempt is completely futile, and the "high temperature" of the mocha pot is controlled by the operator's regulation and control of firepower, which is affected by season, air temperature and temperature. it is also affected by the operator's practical experience and operation level, there are many uncertain factors, and any link error will affect the final effect. Compared with the stable control of temperature by Italian machine, it is impossible at all. The "high pressure" of the mocha pot is only 1 to 1.2 atmospheres, which is a far cry from the 7 to 9 atmospheres of the Italian machine. In addition, the Italian machine is out of coffee for only 25 to 30 seconds, and the mocha pot takes a long time from boiling the water in the bottom pot to the coffee pot, and there are many uncontrollable factors that can not be extracted instantly, so the attempt to use the mocha kettle to do the Italian machine effect is doomed to outweigh the gain, and the result must be tragic without exception, just like the small digital card camera trying to capture the illusory effect of the background of a SLR full-frame camera with a large aperture. Although the principles are similar, but because the hardware conditions are completely different, the final effect will be completely different.

Mocha pot is the most simple family coffee tool in Italy. The classic espresso created by mocha pot is mocha pot espresso. It can be said that mocha pot espresso is independent in appearance and taste, and it has nothing to do with espresso and crema of Italian machine. Don't feel inferior because of the existence of an intentional machine, just as you don't feel like a motorcycle or a bike just because you have a car. When the mocha pot is well used, the effect of making coffee is great. It can also make cappuccino and a lot of fancy coffee. Because of this, the mocha pot has been widely loved by Europeans since its invention. At the Shanghai World Expo a few years ago, the Italian Pavilion exhibited Italy's ten most influential inventions of the century, and the mocha pot was one of them. It is also proud of Italians who own espresso machines.

Don't be fooled by dazzling production tools. The biggest misunderstanding and defect of newcomers lies in the correct understanding, identification and selection of different coffee beans. Anyway, I know that some friends love coffee very much, but their love for all kinds of beautifully made coffee tools, especially Italian machines, goes far beyond the coffee beans themselves. Maybe men are born with some machine control, in the arbitrariness and uncertainty of the operation procedure. As a result, the coffee brewed from the mocha pot is bitter and difficult to swallow, so it is concluded that the mocha pot is difficult to master. In fact, a closer look at the cause has something to do with it. It should be noted that no matter how exquisite coffee-making tools are, they are all for coffee, and their ultimate goal is for a good cup of coffee. Coffee beans are the soul of coffee, just as the best and more expensive camera is to finally take a good picture. The real photographer is to pursue a good picture rather than a camera. The ultimate goal of a true coffee master is a good cup of coffee rather than a tool.