What is the most efficient way to brew coffee?

As a Brazilian living in Italy it’s no surprise the huge amount of coffee I’m keen to consume on a daily basis. I would safely affirm that I drink 1L of coffee per day. In this scenario, cutting my energy usage by half would also mean reducing my coffee ingestion or finding more efficient manners to make this precious beverage.

I wondered what would be the most efficient way to brew coffee with the supplies available in my apartment. Because there are many.

I rented an apartment in Milan and to my delight there were already 3 Moka Pots in the kitchen counter, from which 2 were authentic Bialetti and one was a generic similar that does a good job. Then my roommate and I went to IKEA to buy domestic supplies and we couldn’t help ourselves to buy a French Press with a capacity of 1L. We had a long discussion about what was the best brewing method and when to use it in order to make the ideal coffee for our daily routines, so I decided to do a few experiments and share the results.

With the help of a stopwatch I measured the time it took for the Moka to boil water and brew 200ml of coffee and I was surprised to discover that it took only 04min05sec on the smallest burner of the gas stove (0,00006kWh). While boiling 600ml of water for the French Press took full 10min on the largest burner of the stove (0,00275kWh) or 04min50sec on the electric kettle (0,06333kWh). After boiling the water, it takes additional 4 min to brew the coffee on the Press.

For this experiment I boiled 600ml of water because it is the exact capacity of both the pot and the kettle we use to boil water in our place. It would take me 3x the energy (0,00018kWh) and time to brew 600ml of coffee using the Moka, and it would still be more economical in terms of energy efficiency. But why?

Even though I affirmed I can drink 1L of coffee per day and despite my French Press having the capacity for that, it turns out I don’t drink 1L of coffee at once, but at different times of the day. And every time I made a full French Press for my own consumption, I wasted a lot of it, because the coffee got cold and nasty after a while.

Therefore, the first advantage of using a Moka Pot to brew coffee is speed and therefore energy savings. The second reason the Italian method is more efficient is because it avoids waste by making a small amount of beverage at a time and using less ground coffee than the French Press. More specifically, a third of the amount.

I came to the conclusion that the best method depends on the number of people that would be served. When having friends over or on those days when my roommate and I have time to enjoy a long breakfast while chatting in the kitchen, the French Press is the most convenient choice and the most efficient way to use it is to boil water using the gas stove. But to prepare coffee for just one person (in this case, me) the best method of coffee brewing is without a doubt the Moka.

So today, in the battle between the French press and the Italian Moka Pot, as well as in the 2006 World Cup final, Italy won once again.