How to Make 8 Café-Style Coffee Drinks at Home – No Espresso Machine!

Think you need a fancy espresso machine to make cafe style coffee? Think again. Today I will show you how to make 8 classic coffee drinks using just a mocha pot and a french press for frothing the milk. Let's turn your kitchen into a mini coffee shop. Nobody said training required. All right, first things first. We need a strong base. A mocha pot doesn't create a true espresso because it doesn't generate 9 bars. But it gets close enough. Rich, concentrated and perfect for all the drinks that we are making today. In this video I'm using a 2-cup mocha pot because for me it's the perfect size for making the coffee for one person. Like I show it in this video here. But if you want to drink more coffee or you're making coffee for two or more people you can use a bigger pot. I already made a video about 2-cup mocha pot and a method to achieve a stronger coffee with it. So we can start from that. I usually use 12 grams of coffee. Ground slightly finer than usual. Very close to espresso grind. And this is very important to achieve a stronger coffee. In the boiler I usually place 60 grams of water. And this is way below the safety valve. And I do this also to increase the intensity of the coffee. The key here is to distribute the ground coffee well. Because a uniform distribution of the grinds gives us a more even extraction. Reducing the channeling, making our coffee stronger. That's why I usually use a WDT tool. Because it makes my life easier. I also place a pepper filter to increase the resistance. Now you can avoid using a pepper filter, it's fine. But this might give you less intensity in the cup. Then close the pot and brew the coffee. On the stove place the pot always on the small diffuser at low heat. The key here is to brew our coffee gently. You can do that by removing the pot from the stove as soon as the coffee starts to come out. This will slow down the flow, increasing the intensity and the extraction. Once it's done you have a nice strong coffee, similar to espresso. And you can drink it like this. Strong and bold. So, espresso style coffee, done. Once you master this technique, the fun starts. If you like a smoother coffee, Americano style, just add hot water to your mocha pot brew. Based on your preference you can add the amount of water you desire. A 1 to 1 ratio works well if you like a smoother coffee that's still nice and intense. I usually prefer a 1 to 2 ratio. So, one part of coffee with two parts of hot water. That's usually where I find the right balance. But of course you can add more water if you want. Adding water to the coffee it will change its intensity, but not the extraction. So, just find your perfect balance. Macchiato means stain in Italian. So, we are just adding a little foam milk on top. Quick, easy, delicious. The only downside here is that with the French press you need to warm up quite a lot of milk for just a small dose. Instead you can use one of these milk frother. If you have one, this will reduce the milk wastage. Then we have the cortado. This is for who like equal parts coffee and milk. This drink is less milky than latte but is smoother than an espresso. Just half coffee, half steamed milk and you've got yourself a perfectly balanced cortado. The downside of this drink, like for the macchiato, is that you need just a small quantity of milk and that can be hard to froth with a French press. So, once again, one of these frothing walls might do their job. Next one is the flat white. Its origin is debated between New Zealand and Australia. They're still fighting for it and I don't want to get into this war. But I like to drink it. It's just like a mini latte but stronger and smoother. Less milk, no big foam, just creamy goodness. A drink that was very popular during my years working as a barista in the UK. Then there is the cappuccino, a classic. One third coffee, one third milk, one third foam. Be generous with the foam. That's how we like it. To master your frothing technique with a French press, you can check this video here where I explain my step-by-step technique to achieve the perfect foam for any kind of drink. Next, we have the latte. Latte, in Italian, means just milk. But you know what I'm talking about. Here we need to foam the milk like for the flat white, with a thin layer of foam on top but with more milk. This is a drink with a more milky taste and less coffee-forward flavor. Finally, the mocha. A mocha is a latte but with chocolate. You can use cocoa powder or a chocolate bar. The quantity of chocolate for this drink is personal. I like to add a full teaspoon of cocoa powder into my mocha pot coffee. I mix it and then I add some cocoa powder on top and then top it with froth milk like for a latte. If you drink it regularly, you can also prepare a chocolate concentrate. Mix cocoa powder with a splash of hot water and stir until you get a nice thick liquid. Here you can add sugar if you want and make a chocolate syrup. This will make your life easier every time you want to drink your coffee. Then store the mix in the fridge for a better shelf life. And there you have it. A full cafe-style menu using just a mocha pot and a french press or a small milk frother. Which one is your favorite drink? Or did I miss a drink? Let me know in the comment section below. I've set the base. Now it's up to you to be creative. You can add syrup, sugar, cream or any other ingredients. Make it personal and just enjoy the coffee the way you like it. Thank you very much for watching. I will see you in my next videos and in the meantime I wish you a wonderful day and delicious coffee. Ciao!