What to do if you are a car brand that has a car called Opel Mokka? Invite a top barista that is prepared to share his tips for a better cup of coffee? That is exactly what Opel Belgium did. Belgian Peter Hernou is a passionate coffee and chocolate drinks expert, working as an independent consultant, influencer, trainer and creator of aēralab. For several years he was ‘National and World Latte Art Champion’.
Today Peter Hernou is traveling throughout the world as Barry-Callebaut ‘barista’ Ambassador advising professionals with the noble art of perfecting and understanding drinks and the award winning smart steamer aēralab. But we in particular wanted to know what to do at home to ensure us of a better cup of coffee.
1. Grind the fresh roasted coffee beans yourself – just before making a cup, for a better coffee.
2. If you buy coffee (beans), don’t look at the expiry date but rather at the date the coffee beans were roasted. That is sometimes found on the packaging. The shorter that period, the tastier your coffee will be. Keep a period of 2 weeks after roast date as a benchmark.
3. Look at the beans, if looking appetizing and uniform in roast color, with very little to no broken and damaged beans, you might have found a well roasted and tasteful supplier. If the beans are oily on the surface the flavour (which is also found in the oil) has already largely disappeared from the coffee beans. It’s better to leave them aside.
4. An open pack of coffee you store best airtight in the freezer. However, do not hard vacuum all the air out of the packaging as this will also remove the flavour from the coffee.
5. Water plays a very important role in the obtained flavour, try out with different sorts of hardness to optimize a preferred outcome. A nice cup of coffee should never taste harsh bitter – look for a well-balanced flavour.
By the way, Opel chose the name ‘Mokka’ by analogy with the coffee/espresso beans that are “small but with lots of character” or, like the car, “compact in size and big in character”. This stylish subcompact SUV from Opel is available as a battery-electric car, offering local emission-free mobility, or with refined petrol and diesel engines, allowing you to choose your favourite drive – just as you would choose your favourite coffee!
6. Heat up your cup by pouring boiling water into it (if you have a Quooker tap) or by heating up water in the microwave. Pouring coffee in a pre-heated cup makes a temperature of 10°C easily.
The Opel Mokka-e becomes the Opel Mokka Electric. The best-selling battery-electric car in the B-SUV segment in Germany in October and November now becomes even more powerful, efficient and attractive. The all-electric “Winner of the Golden Steer 2021” will also be available with a larger battery and more power in the future. With the new 54 kWh battery, Mokka Electric drivers can travel up to 406 kilometres instead of up to 338 kilometres locally emission-free according to WLTP; a significant 20 per cent improvement. At the same time, energy consumption has dropped to 15.2 kWh per 100 kilometres (WLTP). However, the Mokka Electric is not just highly efficient – with 115 kW/156 hp and 260 Newton metres of torque, the electric motor, which is also used in the new Opel Astra Electric, delivers pure driving pleasure.
