Want to start your day with a quick, strong, and delicious cup of coffee? Then a Moka Pot is the way to go! This little coffee pot has a reputation as a handy espresso machine alternative for a good reason.
However, some people don’t favor it for brewing bitter coffee. Hold your horses if you are about to chuck your Moka Pot out the window after one too many unpalatable coffee cups! The problem may be in the coffee, not the pot.
Picking the right type of coffee can make or break your Moka Pot experience. In this guide, you’ll find the best coffee for Moka Pot — from extra strong to extra smooth, and even decaf.
8 best coffees for Moka Pot reviewed
Moka Pots brew a concentrated coffee with a strong taste and aroma, similar to espresso. But these stovetop espresso makers can be demanding when choosing coffee beans. Here are 8 of my top suggestions for the best coffee for Moka Pots.
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
Top Pick  | Portland Coffee Roasters Goose Hollow Blend |
| Check Price |
 | Volcanica Sulawesi Reserve Celebes Kalossi |
| Check Price |
Most Versatile  | Coffee Bros. Espresso Roast |
| Check Price |
 | Kauai Koloa Estate Dark Roast |
| Check Price |
 | Peet's Major Dickason's Blend |
| Check Price |
 | Bialetti Perfetto Moka Delicato |
| Check Price |
Extra Strong  | Death Wish Dark Roast Coffee |
| Check Price |
 | San Francisco Bay Decaf French Roast |
| Check Price |
Portland Coffee Roasters Goose Hollow Blend
Portland, Oregon, is a city famous for its coffee culture. It’s no wonder that Portland Coffee Roasters’ Goose Hollow blend makes for a great cup.
In this medium-dark roast blend, 100% Arabica beans are sustainably sourced from coffee farms in Central and South America. They produce a full-bodied and complex brew with a flavor you will want to keep exploring for a long time.
The first things you will note are the tones of delicious dark chocolate. But as you swallow, you may detect some brown sugar and a hint of spiciness and smoke developing in the flavor profile.
The Goose Hollow blend has a creamy, smooth texture, and balanced acidity and coffee oil content. If there are coffee beans to convert someone into drinking their brew black, this is it.
Some coffee fans note that this blend tastes great even when cold. If you enjoy iced coffee or cold brew, why not try making those in addition to Moka Pot brewing?
Last but not least, if you are conscious of the environmental impact of your morning coffee, you can have your cup with peace of mind. Portland Coffee Roasters is a carbon-neutral certified company and have won the Specialty Coffee Association’s sustainability award.
With the Goose Hollow medium-dark roast blend, you can enjoy a delicious coffee and feel good about it.
Volcanica Sulawesi Reserve Celebes Kalossi
Should you be looking for a coffee experience as deep and dark as Indonesia’s thickest rainforests, you have found it! Volcanica Coffee Company’s Sulawesi Reserve Celebes Kalossi is an excellent robust coffee choice for your stovetop espresso maker.
This Kosher-certified dark roast coffee is made of 100% Arabica beans. Grown on the volcanic high-altitude coffee farms around the village of Kalossi (hence the coffee’s name), the coffee beans get the best of the terroir of this tropical environment.
Using these beans with the Moka Pot coffee brewing method results in an intense flavor with strong earthiness, a heavy body, and an almost intoxicating aroma. You will detect caramel and chocolate notes in your dark roast coffee brew, with hints of cherry.
Although the coffee is bold and strong, it has very low — almost nonexistent — acidity. The smooth, well-balanced brew goes down easily without unpleasant bitterness or sourness. Many people who don’t generally like dark roast coffee are saying the Sulawesi Reserve is simply irresistible.
Thanks to their rich flavor, these Indonesian coffee beans stand up excellently against cream, milk, or sugar. If you love savoring a latte, cappuccino, or other milky espresso drink, try making one using Moka Pot coffee brewed with these beans.
And since this is whole-bean coffee, you can also use it with other brewing methods. Many French press coffee fans have had great experiences with Sulawesi Reserve, so you have plenty of room for experimentation.
Coffee Bros. Espresso Roast
Are you a fan of sweeter coffee but don’t like to mess up your brew with artificial additives and sweeteners? Then the Espresso Roast by Coffee Bros. will be right up your alley.
Although this bag of whole-bean coffee reads Espresso Roast, it is not the typical dark-roasted coffee you might expect. Instead, the coffee has a medium roast. The roast level makes for more flavorful coffee with a brighter overall taste profile. It lets the beans’ natural sweetness shine through in the brewed cup.
This coffee blend of Colombian and Ethiopian beans carries sugar cane, vanilla, and even strawberry notes. In fact, the aroma of strawberries will come bursting out of the bag as soon as you open it. Fans of fruity coffee are in for a delightful brew that I wouldn’t hesitate to call “juicy.”
But even if you prefer strong and bold coffee, you won’t have to worry. This coffee isn’t called an “Espresso Roast” for nothing; the fruitiness is only the beginning.
These beans produce a well-balanced, velvety smooth drink with depth that doesn’t lose to darker roast coffee. Pack this into your Moka Pot for a wonderfully complex, sophisticated cup.
Moreover, you can use these beans with more coffee makers than just Moka Pots. Since they are whole beans, you can grind them to any fineness. Check out how they work with an espresso machine or a regular drip coffee maker.
Finally, I have to highlight the manufacturer’s customer service. Coffee drinkers who have had trouble brewing coffee say Coffee Bros. is more than happy to advise them on getting the best results. You can tell they are real coffee lovers!
Kauai Koloa Estate Dark Roast
Hawaiian coffee is famed for its unique flavor profile and smooth, almost syrupy mouthfeel stemming from the island’s volcanic soil. Kauai Koloa Estate Dark Roast coffee transports you to the beaches of Hawaii with a single sip.
This blend contains 100% Arabica beans, with Hawaiian coffee beans from the island of Kauaʻi responsible for the most significant portion of the flavor. You might wonder why the bag doesn’t contain all Hawaiian beans; the answer is price. Coffee from Hawaii can be exorbitantly expensive.
But you will not have to worry about the flavor. Koloa Estate Dark Roast is an excellent tropical coffee brewed with a Moka Pot.
This full-bodied coffee carries chocolate and caramel notes, with some spiciness. Although it is a dark roast, you will notice some of that fruity, floral sweetness Hawaiian coffee is famous for.
There is little bitterness and acidity, and the brew is smooth yet robust. Many coffee enthusiasts note that the flavor is quite close to a medium roast, despite being darker.
This coffee is an excellent choice if you usually go for lighter roasts but would like to start exploring the dark side of the coffee beans. It’s hard to find beans that can please all coffee enthusiasts, but Koloa Estate comes about as close as possible.
This is one of the best coffees for Moka Pot if you enjoy both robustness and a hint of sweetness. Pop these beans into your coffee grinder, and you’ll soon feel like they are dancing the hula on your taste buds.
Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend
Caffeine snobs relish grinding their coffee beans, but that is not always practical. If you are traveling or rushing on a busy morning, you may wish you had good ground coffee ready to go into your Moka Pot.
Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend can be your savior when you don’t have time or a coffee grinder handy to grind your beans.
According to the company, this dark roast ground coffee is intended for drip and pour-over coffee makers. Yet, with medium-fine grind size, it also works well with Moka Pots.
Prepared from a mix of coffee beans from Latin America and the Indo-Pacific, this coffee blend has amazing richness in both flavor and aroma.
The flavor profile is very complex and deep. You can savor and explore the smoky and slightly chocolatey notes from the smooth and full body with little bitterness and acidity.
But you should also know that Major Dickason does not fool around. It is strong and bold with practically no sweetness or fruitiness. This blend is made for those who love coffee with a capital C.
Yet, that doesn’t mean Major Dickason is not for you, even if you enjoy a mellower and sweeter cup. The robust flavor of these coffee grounds does not get muddled even after you add milk or sugar.
This coffee is a great base for any milky coffee drink, from latte to cortado, so you can enjoy the creamy sweetness and still taste the coffee.
Brew it with your Moka Pot on a busy morning, and Major Dickason will have you standing at attention in no time.
Bialetti Perfetto Moka Delicato
The Moka Pot is an Italian coffee maker, invented by engineer Alfonso Bialetti. The company bearing his name is one of the most popular Moka Pot manufacturers — and they also have a range of coffees made specifically for Moka Pots.
The Delicato ground coffee blend from Bialetti Coffee is made of 100% Arabica beans, sourced from Brazil. The coffee grounds have a light roast that results in dried fruit and hazelnut notes.
Delicato has an intensity rating of 5 on Bialetti’s scale ranging from 0 to 10. Coffee made with these grounds is mellow, smooth, and flavorful, with a good balance of brightness and acidity against a rich body.
Although the coffee is pre-ground, you won’t have to worry about whether the grind size is right. After all, Bialetti has ground this blend specifically for their stovetop coffee makers, so you can enjoy authentic Italian coffee at home.
Death Wish Dark Roast Coffee
Some coffee drinkers want only one thing from their brew — a long-lasting rush of energy. If you are a hardcore coffee addict, Death Wish Dark Roast Coffee will give you the strong caffeine kick you seek.
These Fair Trade, organic whole coffee beans pack twice as much caffeine as average coffee. While many coffee companies make similar claims, and only Death Wish knows the exact numbers, this coffee seems to deliver on the promise.
I should warn you — steer clear of Death Wish coffee unless you know you can handle a lot of caffeine. This brew will kickstart your engine and keep it running for hours; that’s how strong it is.
The sky-high caffeine content is due to the dark-roast Arabica and Robusta beans blend. The latter is known for containing a higher volume of caffeine.
With cherry and chocolate notes, these coffee beans make for an enjoyable full-bodied, yet smooth and flavorful brew. Unlike what you might expect, it isn’t bitter and goes down quite easily, so pay attention to how much caffeine you consume.
If you are a coffee enthusiast looking for an atom bomb to wake you up in the morning, Death Wish Dark Roast coffee is your poison. For extreme caffeine addicts, this is the best strong coffee for Moka Pot.
San Francisco Bay Decaf French Roast
The usual problem with decaf coffee beans is that they can taste… Well, decaffeinated. You often end up with bland decaf coffee that does not bring any joy to you. However, San Francisco Bay Decaf French Roast is certainly an exception.
These decaffeinated 100% Arabica beans let you enjoy the intense flavor of a dark roast without suffering from caffeine jitters.
You’ll notice this is real French roast coffee when you open the bag. The beans, sourced from Central and South America, glisten with oil — just as they should.
But what about the flavor? No worries there, either. This whole-bean coffee is just as robust as its caffeinated varieties.
These beans produce a full-bodied cup of coffee with low acidity and a rich, bold taste. Smokiness dominates the finish due to the very dark roast. For the same reason, there are some bitter and burnt notes — precisely what you would want from the French roasting process.
The beans have been decaffeinated using the Swiss water process. This process relies on water and doesn’t use chemicals, helping preserve the coffee’s original flavor. You won’t have to worry about anything unsavory getting into your cup.
This coffee roast is so close to the regular caffeinated version that many hardcore coffee snobs say it has become their new favorite brew. You can’t give a decaf coffee much higher praise than that.
If you are sensitive or allergic to caffeine — or want to enjoy a late-night coffee without worrying whether you can fall asleep afterward — this is the best Moka Pot coffee for you.
How to choose the best coffee for a Moka Pot?
Coffee brewed with a Moka Pot is concentrated and strong. But how can you pick a coffee variety that works best with these coffee makers and suits your taste buds?
Here are the most significant considerations when choosing the best coffee for a Moka Pot.
What kind of coffee should you use in a Moka Pot?
You can use coffee blends or single-origin coffee beans with a Moka Pot coffee maker. The best coffee beans for Moka Pot brewing are simply those that you find the most delicious.
Dark roast beans will be your best friend if you love drinking strong coffee. Darker coffee roasts generally have notes of nuts and dark chocolate, with low acidity and perhaps some bitterness and earthiness from the extended roasting process.
Light roasts, on the other hand, retain more of the coffee’s floral and fruity notes and can make for a more complex Moka Pot brew. Ligh-roast coffee also packs more caffeine. A medium roast naturally falls in between, offering a more balanced coffee experience.
If you use a dark roast, cleaning your Moka Pot well is important so coffee oils don’t block the metal filter and your coffee maker brews coffee with no issues.
What grind size is the best for a Moka Pot?
Moka Pots require medium-fine grind size. The ideal Moka Pot grind should fall between a drip and an espresso grind.
It is important to get the grind size right. Coffee grinds that are too fine can clog the filter, leading to your Moka Pot leaking or building a dangerous amount of pressure that may cause your coffee maker to explode. If you get any, the brew will also be over-extracted and unpleasant.
Too coarsely ground coffee, on the other hand, lets the hot water pass through too quickly and makes for a bland and watery cup.
You should also know that different Moka Pot sizes will always make a certain amount of coffee. You can’t make one cup of coffee with an eight-cup Moka Pot — they only work properly when the filter basket is full.
Should I buy whole-bean or pre-ground coffee for Moka Pots?
It is generally always best to purchase whole-bean coffee. Whether you use a Moka Pot, espresso machine, or drip coffee maker, grinding beans before brewing ensures you always get the best coffee aroma and flavor.
It’s always hard to determine pre-ground coffee’s coarseness based on the label. If you buy pre-ground coffee, you might end up with a grind size that doesn’t work for your Moka Pot.
Moka Pots are versatile coffee makers that produce a strong brew to open your eyes in the morning. Whether you enjoy the fruitiness of light roast, the balance of medium roast, or the strength of dark roast, using a Moka Pot, you can make a cup of concentrated coffee in minutes.
All you need is coffee that you enjoy. So choose the best coffee for Moka Pot according to your taste buds, and start brewing!
