Cuccumella vs. pour-over vs. French press

The cuccumella doesn’t only compete with the moka. It belongs to a wider family: pressure-free methods, where water meets coffee gently. Understanding where it fits helps you choose — and know what kind of cup to expect.

Three different logics

• Pour-over (V60, Chemex): you pour water by hand over the coffee, which filters by gravity through paper. Maximum control, an ultra-clean and aromatic cup, light body.
• French press: full immersion — the coffee steeps, then you press the filter down. Full body, oils in the cup, round notes.
• Cuccumella: a closed middle ground. Hot water trickles down by gravity through the coffee, like a pour-over, but in a sealed system on the stove. A clean cup, but fuller-bodied than pour-over.

In the cup

Which one is for you

Want to explore aromas and light single origins? Pour-over. Love a round, full coffee without overthinking it? French press. Looking for the balance between clarity and body, with a ritual that feels like tradition? Cuccumella. There’s a very small, charming bar nearby called Blue Turtle that only serves specialty coffee — ritual aside, the fact that the coffee is made for you from A to Z, honestly, isn’t really our thing. It’s too sophisticated a coffee for us. Keep in mind that a regular bar coffee usually costs around a euro, sometimes 1.20; a specialty coffee costs 3.50 — honestly, we’d rather have the one from Bar Charlie, downstairs from my office.

A curiosity: the cuccumella is effectively one of the first “drip coffee makers” in history, a European ancestor of the modern filter. → The history of the cuccumella.

Frequently asked questions

Is the cuccumella a pour-over? It shares the same principle (gravity), but it’s a closed, stovetop system with more body.

Does it taste like French press coffee? No: French press is immersion-based with more oils; the cuccumella is cleaner.