Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

We price pralines by weight, because we pay for them by weight. On average, the price of one praline is just over one euro, but the range is from about fifty cents to more than two euros. In addition, pricing is gradual, which means that larger quantities have a lower unit price.

You can choose your favourite pralines in the box, but we will assemble the box for you. The nice thing about the box is that the pralines are laid out and not just dropped in a pile, so it is easier for us to lay them out. In the bag you can collect the pralines yourself.

As long as you can’t wait not to eat! The bag or box itself does not affect the shelf life of pralines, as they are not airtight and do not contain any “protective gases”, etc. Therefore, it is advisable to choose the form of packaging according to whether the chocolates are going to, for example, as a gift or on the bottom of a backpack, in which case a box is a better option. If you only take a few pralines for yourself, the bag is just as good as packing.

Yes we have! In our regular selection for years we have had chocolates from Kultasuklaa and Dammenberg, and we also order chocolates from other Finnish chocolate manufacturers to varying degrees.

At least not yet. So far, we have only sold it.

Can be bought, does not melt immediately. Normally, chocolate is tempered with the so-called. V-crystal structure with a melting temperature as high as 33.8 degrees. However, the chocolate begins to soften noticeably already at 27-28 degrees. For example, if the outside temperature is 24 degrees in the shade, the most important thing is to avoid direct sunlight or a hot place. On a car or bike ride home, chocolate survives easily. However, when cycling, you should not leave chocolate in your backpack right on your back, or in the car where the sun shines directly.

Trains are often well air conditioned, and so are most cars today. In this case, it is enough to keep the chocolate out of direct sunlight, then even a long trip will not be a problem. In a not air-conditioned car (or if the air conditioning is not efficient enough), chocolate can easily go bad. Even if the outside temperature is “only” 24 degrees, the sun shining through the windscreen on the highway five does heat the passenger compartment efficiently, so air conditioning is necessary even then to keep the chocolate in shape.

There are plenty of gluten-free chocolates. Completely gluten-free factories in our standard selection are Dammenberg (Finland) and Simón Coll (Spain). These factories do not handle gluten-containing substances at all, so their chocolates are suitable for even the most sensitive coeliacs. You can find these completely gluten-free chocolates here. In addition, only a few of our chocolates contain gluten-containing grains, so with a couple of exceptions, all our chocolates are suitable for those who are not bothered by the warning “may contain small amounts of gluten”.

We have lots of vegan chocolates. Up to about 40-50% of our chocolate selection is vegan. All vegan chocolates can be found here.

Most of the coffees we sell come to us as beans. At the time of purchase, we can grind them as needed to suit any manufacturing method.

Good coffee is first and foremost a matter of taste – the best way to find out is by tasting. We can also always recommend coffees according to your taste preferences, the most popular or the most suitable by almost any criteria. We sell coffees starting from small 100g packages, and we brew a cup at a time from the coffee of your choice, so experimenting wildly won’t be expensive either.

You don’t need your own coffee grinder to enjoy our coffees. We are happy to grind the beans for you at the desired grinding level.

Depending on the method of preparation, coffee can be ground to different degrees of coarseness. Mainly, it can be said that the longer coffee grounds and water are in contact with each other, the coarser the grinding is used. From a finer grind, coffee aromas are released into the drink faster and stronger. Finer grinding on the other hand slows down the flow of water. The pot coffee and French press will have the coarsest grinds, the filter machine will have medium coarseness, and the nut pot and espresso machines will have the finest grinds.

For roasted coffee in an unopened package, the best before date is about one year after roasting, and after grinding we would mark six months. However, coffee is a fresh product, so its taste changes all the time – more if it interacts with air. It depends entirely on the accuracy of the sense of taste when each person even notices the difference, and when the noticeable difference is so great that the coffee would no longer taste good. For my taste, I could notice the difference in about weeks, but good coffee would still taste good even after grinding it six months.

The best place to store everyday coffee is its own packaging in a dark and dry place without strong odors. In general households, a dry goods cabinet is good for this purpose. Of course, a real coffee lover has his own coffee cabinet.

Coffee should not be stored in the refrigerator – it usually does more harm than good. The humidity of the refrigerator and often the smells of other foods cause more harm to the taste of coffee than the theoretical slower aging benefits. If you want to keep coffee unused for longer periods of time, you can put it in an airtight package in the freezer. In this case, remember that the package must not be opened until it has definitely reached room temperature – otherwise the cold coffee will absorb condensating humidity that will harm the taste. It is advisable to store the daily coffee package in a dry and dark place where there are no strong smells.

Yes, you can. We can grind the beans at the time of purchase into a grinding suitable for a filter machine (or anything else). In this case, it is ready to be used like regular coffee.

Yes, it is. The difference between good and “ordinary” coffee can be clearly seen even with a cheap machine, and the aromas of flavored coffees taste good regardless of the machine. Of course, filter makers also come in different qualities. The most important thing is that the extraction temperature is 92-96 degrees, and that the kettle is clean and the water you use is fresh and cold.

Not necessarily. There are many ways to make good coffee, with the espresso method being one and the filter method another. It’s a matter of taste what you like the most in the end. Of course, you should try different methods to find your own favourites.

Milk or e.g. oat drink can be used and does not spoil or completely lose the coffee’s own taste, even if it masks the finest nuances. You can tell the difference between good and “ordinary” coffee even if you drink it white. However, you should try drinking specialty coffee black, even if you are used to drinking with milk. The taste may surprise!

Is. Organic coffees are available at almost all roasting levels. There are also a few fair trades. In addition, there are coffees that are UTZ sustainability certified.

Absolutely!

We order our coffee directly from Finnish small roasteries, where they come from the countries of origin either directly or through wholesalers.

Yes you can. However, it is advisable to keep the coffee unopened in its own packaging. If you wish, coffee can be put in an airtight package put in the freezer. However, make sure that the package has reached room temperature before it is opened – otherwise cold coffee powder or beans will absorb humidity to itself, which will negatively affect the taste of the coffee.

Mokkamaa is located in Joensuu on a pedestrian street (Kauppakatu 25) and online at mokkamaa.fi. Our products can be ordered all over Finland.

We have been in the same location on Joensuu pedestrian street since 2010. We started our operations in 2007 one block away.

The idea was that Joensuu needed a tea shop. Coffee and chocolate have come around it, although of course the business idea is built around coffee.

Yes, you can. For most of the year, our back room serves as a small-scale cafeteria. Only during the Christmas season do we need it for its original purpose, which is as a storage room. Tea and hot chocolate are also available, and in the warm season there is a varied selection of cold drinks.

We also have some other sweets, mainly salmiac and fruit candies. However, the selection changes frequently, so it’s always worth asking.

Absolutely!

In Finnish this is a rather funny question, since the word tea in its forms may mean besides tea also roads, do, or you. Our favorite sentence in finnish is that “tulin teitä katselemaan” which can be translated as “I came here to look at the teas” or “I came here to look at you (or look at the roads)”.

Green and black tea are very different from each other, although they are made from the same plant and made into a drink by brewing in water. Compared to black, green tea is light, fresh or sweet, delicate and mild, while black is dark, intense and full-bodied. The differences result from foliar processing, mainly oxidation. Black tea is oxidized, green is not.

The colors of tea follow from how tea leaves are processed after they are collected from the bushes. The main process here is oxidation. Green tea is not oxidized at all. White tea naturally oxidizes lightly in the open air slightly (less than 10%). Oolong tea is partially oxidized, and the degree of oxidation in different grades varies between 10-85%. Black tea is 100% oxidized. Darjeeling is typically black tea, but due to the nature of tea leaves, they never oxidize completely, leaving the degree around 85%. For this reason, Darjeeling tends to be lighter, more delicate and more delicate than other black teas. Pu Erh is the darkest type of tea. It is fermented biochemically, thanks to which it has a lot of probiotics that are good for the stomach. The production process of today’s pu erh takes a couple of months, but traditional aged pu erh do not count as mature until the age of thirty years and, like the best wines, they get better as they age.

Tea leaves naturally contain caffeine. There is also tea from which caffeine has been removed. However, there are differences in the way caffeine works in different teas: black tea acts faster, stronger and for a shorter time, while green tea refreshes more slowly and long-lastingly.

Rooibos (literally translated as redbush) is a plant native to South Africa with reddish needle-like leaves. Like tea, it is prepared by brewing the leaves, thus producing a sweet-tasting drink that is like black tea in color but free of caffeine. Rooibos is also available flavoured in different ways.

Despite its name, herbal tea does not contain tea leaves. In general, the term herbal tea refers to all beverages made from plants other than the tea bush. We like to call them infusions.

We also have tea in single-dose bags. In addition, we also have separate single-dose sachets, into which you can dispense any loose leaf tea yourself and then use it like a bag tea.

It is often thought that loose tea is of higher quality than bagged tea, and in many cases this is certainly true. Whole tea leaves release aromas more pleasantly and softly, while especially large bag tea manufacturers use fine powder as an ingredient to make the drink brew faster. However, there’s nothing stopping manufacturers from putting exactly the same quality tea in single-dose bags as in loose tea, and if the bags are large enough to open properly in them, the drink will end up being just as good. The teabags we sell are just that.

A good rule is to brew green, white and yellow tea in 70-80 degree water, oolong tea at 80-90 degrees, and black tea and Pu Erh and various herbal infusions at 90-100 degrees.

However, when choosing a brewing temperature, you should also take into account your own preferences. These temperatures must not be exceeded, but going below them may produce even beneficial effects. Cooler temperatures often give you more leeway for brewing time and a gentler taste if you don’t want to look at the time pedantically. Cooler brewing water is also gentler on the antioxidants contained in many types of tea and herbal infusions, so from a health point of view, you should also consider brewing in cooler water. On the other hand, hot water provides a faster and stronger brew, which is especially useful if you use side dishes such as milk with tea.

For example, the shopkeeper himself, as an easily distracted person, likes to brew green tea in 60-degree water and black tea in 80-degree water, so that most of you don’t mind much if the brewing time doubles. However, some specific teas are very specific about brewing, so the most reliable result is always obtained according to the instructions on the package. Nevertheless, it is worth boldly trying different brews!

Good tea is first and foremost a matter of taste – it is best found out by tasting. We can also always recommend the most suitable teas according to your taste preferences, the most popular or the most suitable by almost any criteria. As a rule, the tea packages we sell are quite small, and we brew even one cup at a time from the tea of your choice, so experimenting wildly will not be expensive either.