We’re so happy to share with everyone our first post of this new year! It’s a collaboration with Rafael Maggion who runs BCN Coffee Guide, an incredible website / Instagram account where you can find the best specialty coffee in Barcelona and more. (Articulo disponible en español)
In this post we’re also featuring these wonderful “Garibaldis” which are a typical “sweet bread” item from Mexico, these delicious spongy cakes are made in this amazing new Mexican bakery in Barcelona called Amaranto, and it’s located in our Vila de Gracia neighborhood.
How to make great coffee in a very traditional Moka Pot
by Rafael Maggion | Video and images by Food Aesthetics Barcelona
In this collab you will learn how to make a delicious specialty coffee in a Moka pot, I will try to be as simple and straightforward as possible, so at the end of the day you will basically need to either buy the appropriate coffee grains for specialty coffee, or make some slight adjustments to your brewing method to get a very pleasant cup of coffee at home.
Step number 1: Let go of old myths. The fact that many people, especially the elderly say that you cannot clean the Moka pot so the flavour is stronger, is bullshit to be very clear. Maybe if you have bad quality coffee, that burnt flavor can be wrongly mistaken for coffee flavor or as mentioned before, it’s the craziness of not cleaning the Moka Pot.
Step number 2: Buy good coffee, specialty coffee. In Barcelona we have tons of roasters as well as in Spain and Europe. If you want to see the list, click here. Ask your roaster to grind them for Moka, it may be the method that is most used at home, so they will know. It is recommended to order espresso toast coffee rather than filter roast because it suits the Moka pot better (even though a filter roast can also be drunk without any problem, but will probably have more acidity than desired).
If you have a grinder, the best grind for a Moka pot coffee is medium to medium-fine, coarser than you’d use for an espresso machine but finer than for a drip coffee maker, if you want to see a more detailed article on that, click here.
Now that we have both most important set up steps done, lets go to the extraction:
Fill the coffee funnel loosely. There’s no need to press the ground coffee into the filter in the same way as in an espresso extraction, or else it can end up over extracting it. It will need extra pressure when the water goes through the coffee grinds, and you do not want extra bitterness in there.
As mentioned before, make sure your rim is cleaned properly (and also the rest of your device), this way it will not lose pressure during the preparation. Add preheated water until it reaches the valve level, close the Moka Pot and put it on the stove at medium / low fire (or power if electric).
And here is the main trick of extracting specialty coffee with a moka machine: once coffee starts to flow to the top compartment, take it off the heat. The residual heat will be enough to extract the rest of the coffee without “burning” it.
Once the coffee is completely in the upper chamber, you can also place your Moka pot under cold running water in order to reduce the temperature of the device.
Use a dessert spoon to stir the coffee in the upper chamber so you can get a uniform flavour, pour in a cup straight away and enjoy your Moka!
One last extra tip: you can also pour a very thin layer of water in the upper chamber of your Moka, so when the extracted coffee goes up, it does not hit an extremely hot metal and the burn factor is diminished.
Food Aesthetics Barcelona 
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