Moka pot, batch brew, siphon, and percolator

How these brewing methods work

The stovetop Moka pot brews with steam pressure rather than a pump: water in the base chamber is heated until steam pressure forces it up through a middle basket of finely ground coffee into the top chamber. It produces a strong, concentrated brew often compared to espresso in strength, though its pressure (roughly 1–2 bar) is far below true espresso machines (typically 9 bar) and its extraction mechanism is genuinely different — a Moka pot cup has its own distinct character rather than being a substitute for real espresso. Batch brew (automatic drip) machines pour hot water evenly over a bed of coffee automatically at a set ratio, and are built for consistency and volume rather than manual control — the standard reference ratio is roughly 60 g of coffee per litre of water, held in a thermal server rather than on a heated hotplate to avoid slowly scorching the brew. Siphon (vacuum) brewers use vapor pressure to pull water up from a lower chamber into an upper chamber holding the grounds, then a stir and a drop in heat pulls the brewed coffee back down through a filter as the vapor condenses — it's theatrical and slower than most methods, but produces a clean, full-flavored cup and remains popular in specialty cafés partly for the visual experience. Percolators continuously cycle boiling water up through a tube and back down through the grounds repeatedly until the desired strength is reached — because the water re-contacts already-extracted grounds and can reach a rolling boil, percolators are prone to over-extraction and a bitter, harsh cup if not watched carefully, which is why they've fallen out of favor in specialty coffee relative to methods with more controlled contact time.