Recently I had a debate with a coffee planter friend of mine who is a recent convert to coffee drinking. I should throw in a plug for Estate Craft because he started drinking coffee after trying out one of our single estate coffees. So the debate was about coffee making methods and which was better between the moka pot from Bialetti and the pour over. Like many coffee drinkers he likes his coffee strong and hot and his assumption was that moka pot coffee would be hotter and stronger than pour over because it is brewed on a life fire with steam and water forcing its way through the coffee powder. Fair assumption but not necessarily true. 

I made my friend two cups of coffee using Boikere Single Estate Arabica Plantation AA from Estate Craft. One was made in my Bialetti and the other in my Hario dripper. The pour over was as hot as the moka coffee and it had more body. The moka coffee was more delicate and flavorful. Coffee planter friend was stumped.

i did some research and found that the extraction time with the moka is less than in pour over so there is no risk of over extraction and only the first level of solubles are picked up. Pour over is fully extracted and if not done right can result in some unpleasant elements being picked up. Interestingly the physics of hot water cooling down when broken into multiple streams as in the moka versus the single stream of hot water cooling down as in the pour over result in slower cooling from the starting temperature of 95 Celsius. So there you have it. You can get an excellent cup of strong hot coffee from the pour over method. The Bialetti is however very easy to use, doesn't need an elaborate weighing and timing procedure and produces a fine delicate flavorful cup of coffee. 

What is your preferred coffee brewing method?