There are several methods of making coffee, and two of the most popular are from Italy: the Moka Pot or Italian coffee maker and the French Press or piston coffee maker. That being said, the origin of these two techniques is practically the only common point that can be identified, because for the rest, the two coffee makers are distinct. Find out in this article the differences between Italian coffee maker and piston coffee maker.
The Italian coffee maker
The Italian coffee maker was invented by the Italian Alfonso Bialetti in 1933. The success of this coffee maker is due to its ability to produce quality coffee in a short time. The beverage obtained with it is both strong and light: it is halfway between espresso and filter coffee.
This result is partly due to the constitution of the Italian coffee maker. Still called pressure coffee makerThe latter is divided into three parts: a lower part, a middle part and a last upper part.
The lower part is where you place thewater to make the coffee. So, before preparing your drink, you must fill this compartment with a amount of water up to the safety valve. Then position the central part above the lower part.
This (central) part of the device is the filterand it shall be filled with ground coffee. Finally, the upper part is placed on top to collect the coffee.
Making coffee with the Italian coffee maker
When all the above elements are assembled, the pressure coffee maker must go to the fire. The aim is to make heat the water to boiling point. As a result, the steam under pressure produced during heating will rise to the filter and mix with the ground coffee in it.
The result of this mixing will continue to the upper chamber for the brewed coffee to be collected there.
The piston coffee maker
The piston coffee maker or French Press is one of the oldest machines used to prepare coffee. In fact, this device has been around a little longer than the Italian coffee maker. Its invention is attributed to Paolini Ugo, but the piston machine was patented in 1929 by the Italian designer Attilio Calimani.
The nickname French Press comes from the fact that this appliance quickly became popular in France. The French Press is a simple and easy to use manual coffee maker. It also uses ground coffee and hot water.
The plunger coffee maker consists of three main components: the beaker, the mesh filter and the plunger rod.
Making coffee with the plunger coffee maker
The first step in preparing coffee with this machine is to heating water in a containerbut not to boiling. It is recommended that the temperature of water is included between 85 and 92°C. During this time, the coffee beans must be crushed to have a coarser grind.
This will then be deposited in the beaker before hot water is added. It will be necessary to brew the coffee for a while (about 4 minutes). For those who want a more intense coffee taste, this time can be exceeded.
When the waiting time has passed, the plunger must be plunged into the preparation and held down to filter the coffee.
What are the differences between the Italian coffee maker and the piston coffee maker?
There are several differences between these two very popular machines. Among the most notable are the type of coffee, the types of beans used, the operating mode, the brewing time and the capacity.
- The nature of the coffee the Italian coffee maker allows you to prepare a strong coffee and light which is closer to the espresso. On the other hand, prepared coffee is less refined and has a stronger taste. It should also be noted that due to the preparation technique, the Moka Pot can better the flavors of the coffee than the piston model.
- The types of beans used In order to offer a refined espresso type of coffee, the Italian coffee maker requires the use of finer grains of a size equivalent to that of table salt. On the other hand, the piston coffee maker requires beans of a coarser grind.
- How it works Even if the two machines do not require any real know-how, their mode of preparation is nonetheless different. The Italian model uses steam pressure to brew coffee, whereas the piston coffee maker requires outside help to perform this step. On the other hand, it must be said that the Italian coffee maker requires hotplates to operate, which is not the case with the French Press which has does not require a heat or power source to produce coffee.
- Preparation time On this point, the difference to be noted is linked to the fact that the Moka Pot allows a preparation between 5 and 8 minutesdepending on the power of your plates. However, the French Press allows a preparation generally going from 2 to 4 minutes.
- Content the Italian coffee maker is ideal for people who like to make coffee short coffeesbecause it is of small size. It can only fillbetween 4 and 6 cups of 5 cl while the piston coffee maker allows to produce on average 50 cl of coffee or 4 cups of 12 cl.
In the end, the choice of one or the other of these machines depends entirely on the consumer and his or her desires. For a person who likes espresso or similar coffeethe Moka Pot is the appropriate device, while the French press is more for those who prefer the strong coffee.