It started in Singapore in 1988. On my way from university, I had to pass a stand from a Belgian chocolate factory. Despite my very sparse budget at that time, I bought one of these extremely expensive chocolates every day for myself and celebrated the enjoyment of this little delicacy with its rich aroma and the lasting chocolate flavor.

Years later in a small Italian town, with a simple espresso, I suddenly found that enjoyment for a moment, which reminded me so much of this daily ritual that had been so important to me. Although the espresso wasn’t quite as good as the Belgian praline, it was reminiscent of chocolate and with a little sweetness the aroma almost unfolded into that of a praline.

Ever since then that experience and the memory have inspired me to find the espresso which aroused in me that precious little pleasure, which previously only a Belgian praline had been able to do. Of course, this idea of an espresso is just my personal preference, but it’s an idea to which I’ve always felt connected.

For a long time I searched for this perfection, but unfortunately it was always one small detail or another away from perfection. The bean, mixture, roasting, storage, freshness, water, machine, mill, squeeze, sugar: the weakest link in this chain determines the taste and no amount of investment in just one of these elements can change that.

And so began the journey to the creation of my own coffee.

The Bean

Or rather the beans, because a coffee is always a “Miscela” for me, a mixture! Like every aroma in a perfume, every separate coffee bean should give something to the mixture to create a virtuoso composition throughout. This includes beans from the best growing areas in Latin America and only from the best 100% Arabica quality. In addition to many little secrets in my selection, the chocolate aromas come from the Brazilian Santos, but they are balanced by the powerful beans from Guatemala and their fine acidity. Another significant influence on my mix comes from the Caribbean, Jamaica Blue Mountain.

The Roast

I first learned of a special style of roasting when I visited a roasting house in Cuba where the coffee beans were roasted very dark, almost black in fact. Initially I was concerned that this might burn the flavors, but I then realized through the resulting vaporized aroma oils that this process brought forth a better flavor. Unfortunately, only the idea was born there – in order to implement it into perfection, I had to continue searching. I finally found it with roast masters in Naples. The coffee roasting style they use there is unique, but it reflected the idea that I had taken up in Cuba. That’s why I roast my mixture in Naples despite the fact that it’s not the traditional Neapolitan style.

Coffee Machine

Mies van der Rohe formulated a fantastic cornerstone for architecture which I always like to apply to coffee machines: “less is more.”

The company La San Marco has been producing an almost unchanged “LEVA” coffee machine for 50 years based on a completely different brewing system than today’s portafilter machines. The coffee water is taken directly from the boiler of the machine using pressure instead of a pump. The brewing pressure can be set higher than 9 bar and the extraction is not static. As a result, a higher amount of coffee and a finer degree of grinding can be used, which extracts the essence of the coffee in the brewing process.

Milling

Some say that coffee is made not by the machine, but by the mill, which in fact does play a large role in the process. In contrast to my preference on a classic coffee machine, for milling I prefer the achievements of technology, paired with the classic understanding of coffee grinding. The mill we use is the latest technological innovation, the development of which delayed the “moccanero” project by almost two years. Despite the long wait, my patience was worth it because only with this mill is it also possible for a non-barista to brew perfect coffee. The mill is so user-friendly that the process suddenly becomes child’s play and pure fun for every hobby barista, with a completely successful result.

The special feature that makes this mill so unique is that it features an integrated scale with a control unit, which ensures even when adjusting the degree of grinding, that the preset weight is always ground. This makes working with the machine much easier, because if the coffee runs too fast, you just make something finer and vice versa.

Storage and Freshness

One of the most neglected aspects, due to commercial and practical reasons, that I find leads to unacceptable quality loss in 99% percent of all coffees, is the long storage after the roasting process. A coffee lives on its aromas and oils, when these are gone and dried the coffee is dead! It dies slowly in 4-6 weeks and after 2 months it’s only suitable as a fertilizer at best!

The Pressing

A very important and often neglected component in coffee preparation is the pressing of the coffee powder after grinding. Imagine the finely ground coffee powder shooting in just a few seconds up to 12 bar water pressure and then in seconds it tries to push its way through the army of coffee grains. In order for each of these grains to be touched, they must be packed tightly together. Therefore, the pressing is very important and each separate grind and each separate coffee needs a different pressure. When pressing we consider 20 kg to be ideal. That’s almost half the weight of a small person and therefore it needs a press and not a stamp.

Water

It’s almost impossible not to deal with this topic because a coffee consists of more than 99.9% water and the quality of a coffee depends largely on this element. Of course, it makes sense to protect your coffee maker from calcification, but if the method used for that destroys all the minerals in the water, even the best coffee can’t make up for that deficit. Chlorine and other chemicals used in today’s waterworks also don’t make for quality coffee enjoyment.

Since we rarely have direct access to a perfectly mineralized mountain stream water source in our home or bar, we need to create that basic requirement. We accomplish this with a tiny osmosis system that breaks down the water into its basic building blocks and subsequently mineralises it as required.

The Sugar

What would the praline be without sugar? The important things here are the right amount and the quality, so as not to deprive a coffee of its fineness. Despite what is often propagated by many purists, sugar is certainly not prohibited. If you love dark chocolate, you may want to pass on this ingredient, but everyone else is welcome!
In Cuba, I found the cane sugar in its pure white form to be so delicious and so finely ground that it dissolves into the espresso so quickly and completely that it doesn’t disturb the coffee or its flavors. Our bags contain 5g, in my opinion the perfect amount, but of course at the end of the day it’s up to each individual to decide which chocolate they choose and how their selection may vary according to their mood at any given time

The Cup

Presentation is key! Naturally, a coffee with the quality of “moccanero” also needs a corresponding presentation and to that end there’s nothing better than the best white porcelain. We’ve even placed a marker for the perfect amount of espresso right in the cup. We unfortunately don’t offer lungo, espresso, or ristretto.

I call coffee simply “mocanerro.”

 

 

 

Steffen Luis Hansen

CEO & Founder