Moka pots demand a distinct coffee to bring out their unique flavor profile. Our selection of five expertly curated coffees is tailored to elevate your stovetop brewing experience, with notes of chocolate, fruit, and nuts that perfectly complement the Moka pot’s rich and full-bodied extraction.
The Illy Ground Coffee Moka offers a fresh, rich, and balanced coffee experience, perfect for those who appreciate a medium roast with sweet and delicate notes of caramel, orange blossom, and jasmine. Designed for effortless preparation using a moka pot, this coffee allows you to recreate the classic Italian beverage at home, providing a consistently smooth and never bitter taste.
Sulawesi Coffee, known for its heavy body and creamy texture, is a rare coffee from the Toraja region of Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes), Indonesia. Grown on trees that are over 250 years old, it is often compared to Sumatra Mandheling Coffee but is lighter and less intense.
The Lavazza Caffe Espresso Ground Coffee Blend is a premium coffee product with a rich tradition, boasting over 125 years of family dedication to coffee craftsmanship. This particular blend is composed of 100% Arabica beans sourced from Central and South America, known for their aromatic notes and full-bodied flavor. It's designed to be perfect for espresso but is versatile enough to be used in various coffee makers.
Lavazza's Qualita Oro Ground Coffee Blend is a premium medium roast coffee offering a unique taste and aroma that reflects the brand's 125-year expertise in coffee blending. Sourced from Central America and African highlands, this blend is composed of Arabica beans, ensuring an intense aroma and a sweet taste accompanied by a golden crema.
Death Wish Coffee is a ground coffee product designed to provide a powerful energy boost for your day with its dark roast blend. It is crafted with a robust and bold flavor profile that includes rich, intense notes of dark chocolate and black cherry. The coffee is made from a mix of high-quality arabica and robusta beans that are meticulously roasted to achieve a perfect balance of strength and smoothness, with a low acid content that is gentle on sensitive stomachs.
You must choose the right type of coffee for the best-tasting Moka pot coffee. You’ll need to know a little about how Moka pots work to make your choice.
Moka pots have three chambers. The lower chamber holds the water, the middle chamber holds the coffee grounds, and the upper chamber collects the coffee for you to drink.
As the water boils, it rises through the funnel, passes into the grounds, and flows into the upper chamber.
Coffee for Moka pot brewing is similar to espresso because it uses pressure inside the Moka pot to produce your brew.
Stovetop coffee makers that make espresso will have 10 bars of pressure, though Moka pot brewing only takes two bars.
Why Choose to Brew Coffee in A Moka Pot?
Most coffee drinkers have their preferred brewing method, and Italians are 90% Moka pot brewers. We all know how good Italian coffee is, right?
A Moka pot will always be an excellent way to brew coffee in Italy or elsewhere.
The Moka pot’s history is fascinating. Despite its popularity nowadays (especially in Italy), it wasn’t invented until the 1930s.
Alfonso Bialetti was the first to design the Moka pot. It subsequently became a staple kitchen item in Italian Homes.
Some 20 years later, Renato (Alfonso Bialetti’s son) began marketing Moka pots internationally. They soon became a favorite among coffee drinkers internationally.
Its success is because these are a cheap, simple, and quick way to brew coffee.
Related: Read more about the history of the Bialetti moka pot.
They’re inexpensive and can have your coffee brewed to perfection in as little as five minutes.
With a Moka pot available in various sizes, you can make coffee on a cup-by-cup basis or serve the whole household.
Compared to other coffee brewing methods, Moka pot brewing is similar to an espresso coffee machine in the time taken to produce the coffee.
However, the two methods work in different ways.
Moka pots use water vapor to make the coffee, while espresso coffee makers use pressure. This means you’ll have your coffee in less time with espresso machines.
Choosing Coffee for Moka Pots
No matter your preferred brewing method, your end result will be limited by the quality of the coffee you use.
Good quality coffee beans or ground coffee will give you a better cup of coffee, whether you’re using an espresso machine, Moka pot, or drip maker.
Each way of brewing coffee will work better with different beans. So when you hear people complaining about bitter coffee with Moka pots, it can be simply down to the beans chosen.
As for the roasting process, it’s better to choose something that’s espresso-like instead of choosing coffee that you’d use with a percolator or drip coffee maker.
For the Moka pot, choose a medium to dark roast. A light roast will give you a different coffee intensity than most Moka pot coffee drinkers seek.
It’s also a good idea to choose low-acidity beans as a Moka pot creates an intense flavor. When coffee is higher in acidity, it might be sour in a Moka pot.
Grind-wise, for a Moka pot coffee, you need a medium or medium-fine grind. It needs to be finer than it would be for a drip coffee or percolator but not as fine as you’d use for espresso.
Moka pots are forgiving when you choose the grind of a coffee, so if you make it too coarse or too fine, you’ll still have a good coffee.
Grinding your own whole coffee beans for your Moka pot is the best way to ensure you get the perfect grind. Buying whole beans means experimenting with different coffee grinds to perfect your coffee flavor.
You can work to get that rich, flavorsome, and concentrated coffee that every coffee enthusiast seeks when they use whole beans in their coffee grinder.
It would be best if you got a good grind to ensure optimal extraction. If it’s too coarse, your coffee risks being watery, weak, and acidic.
If you grind it too finely, you might end up with a brew that tastes burnt and bitter – and not a bitter cocoa aroma, just unpleasantly bitter.
Coffee Origin
The origin of coffee only matters a little with Moka pots. However, these coffee makers originated in Italy, so Italian coffee is always a good idea.
90% of homes in Italy use a Moka pot. For this reason, Italian brands make their coffee for Moka pots.
As such, the most sensible thing when choosing coffee for Moka pots is to go for a brand like illy or Lavazza.
These brands will no doubt have tested their coffees in a Moka pot or stovetop espresso maker.
Let’s look at the 5 best coffee for Moka pot brewing.
5 Best Coffee for Moka Pot Brews
Here are five options to give you delicious coffee with your Moka pot.
Illy Coffee, Classico Ground Coffee. (Best Overall)
Illy is an Italian coffee brand known for its high-quality coffee. The company produces some of the world’s best coffee beans.
It offers three types of coffee roast: medium roast, dark roast, and decaffeinated coffee.
The company was founded by Francesco Illy in 1933 and remained in the Illy family.
Made from 100% Arabica beans, the Classico medium roast is pre-ground, especially for Moka pots, so you get a rich flavor.
Like all illy coffee, it is packaged in an air-free, pressurized container to seal the flavor and maintain its quality.
This coffee is a blend of nine Arabica beans from various places worldwide.
Illy is also a highly ethical company and uses a direct trade model to build long-lasting business relationships with coffee growers.
Volcanica Coffee Co. Sulawesi Coffee, Celebes Kalossi
Sulawesi coffee is one of the world’s oldest and most renowned coffees.
It has been grown on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi for centuries, with some of the oldest plantations believed to have been established in the 16th century.
The coffee is produced in the island’s highlands, where the volcanic soil and mild climate create the ideal environment for growing robusta and arabica coffee varieties.
The traditional processing method used for Sulawesi coffee is wet-hulling, which involves hulling the beans when they are still wet.
This method produces a unique flavor and aroma, making Sulawesi coffee a favorite among specialty coffee drinkers.
Sulawesi coffee is a rich experience, with a taste so bold and complex it’s almost symphonic.
Its deep notes of dark chocolate and smoky earthiness play together in perfect harmonies, like a fine orchestra, and its subtle sweetness lingers on the tongue like a gentle crescendo.
Its aroma is a delight, with hints of dark berries that awaken the senses. Its aroma is like a warm embrace, enveloping you in an unforgettable experience.
Whether it’s enjoyed on its own or with a touch of cream and sugar, Sulawesi coffee will surely bring a smile to your face.
Lavazza Caffe Espresso Italiano Ground Coffee Blend
Lavazza is actually Luigi Lavazza and was founded in 1895 in Turin. The business is still run by the Lavazza family.
They produce some of the world’s freshest tasting coffee and are branded as “Italy’s Favorite Coffee.” They have a vast range of fresh coffee products.
They sell beans and pre-ground coffee in various roasts, from medium to darker roasts.
Lavazza has existed as a coffee company for more than 120 years. This means that their Italiano blend makes for an excellent Moka pot coffee.
This coffee is 100% Arabica beans blended from Central and South America. It has a smooth, rich body and flavor with flower and fruit notes.
The Lavazza company has been in the family for four generations and is renowned as an authentic Italian brand.
Lavazza Qualita Oro Ground Coffee Blend
Lavazza’s Qualità Oro is one of the company’s newest varieties of coffee and its premium selection.
Sticking with Lavazza, the Qualità Oro, which means Gold Quality, is a blend of ground coffee sourced from six different types of Arabica beans.
The flavor is rich yet refined. In addition, there are fruit and flower notes, making it a great cup of coffee all day.
The beans are sourced from Africa and Central America and are known for their intense aroma. The coffee is a full-bodied medium roast with a subtle hint of flowers.
As well as the pre-ground coffee, you can buy whole-bean coffee to use in coffee grinders. This way, you can choose and create the perfect grind for your coffee maker.
Death Wish Coffee Co. (Dark Roast)
With a name like Death Wish and a skull and crossbones symbol, you know you’re getting something a little out of the ordinary with this company’s coffee.
The company began in 2012 when Mike Brown started experimenting and bringing his creation of the World’s Strongest coffee to life.
Not to deter from the typical coffee market, Death Wish Coffee Co. has released a medium dark roast coffee in 2021.
Death Wish Coffee Company claims to be the world’s strongest coffee for anyone who likes strong coffee and wants to stay away from medium roasts. It is a medium-ground, dark coffee with an intense, bold flavor.
There are hints of chocolate and cherry. This is a dark roast coffee brew for those who want even more than their typical dark roast Moka pot coffee.
You can smell just how intense it is as soon as you put the coffee grounds in the coffee basket!
If you’re looking for strength in your quest for the best coffee for Moka pot, look no further.
Bear in mind that you will have a very strong coffee when this ground coffee is used in your Moka pot compared to when you use it in a drip coffee maker.
If it’s too strong for you, you can try it risk-free. Death Wish Coffee Co. will refund purchases if you don’t like it.
Final Thoughts on The Best Coffee for Moka Pot Brews
When we talk of the best coffee brewing method, moka pots are frequently mentioned. This is because they are much more popular than french press coffee recently.
Getting the best coffee for moka pots matters as it can make the difference between a great coffee and an average coffee.
When it comes to choosing, it doesn’t matter if you prefer pre-ground coffee or coffee beans sold whole.
With pre-ground coffee, make sure you choose a medium to fine grind and a medium roast to dark roast.
Dark roast coffee works well because moka pots use low pressure to brew the coffee.
Our guide to the 5 best coffee for moka pots has something for all tastes; we’ve covered well-known brands, less well-known brands, whole bean coffee, pre-ground coffee, blends of coffee beans, and single-origin coffee.
All that’s left to do is try them out.