Coffee advertisements often emphasize that they use 100% Arabica coffee. Yes, in terms of price alone, Arabica is indeed higher quality. Generally, the price of Arabica coffee beans is twice that of Robusta. ThenArabica varietiesHow does it compare? FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will talk about Arabica coffee today.
arabica coffee
Arabica coffee refers to the Arabica coffee tree species, which accounts for about 70% to 80% of the world's coffee production. Most of them are planted on volcanic slopes or plateaus above an altitude of 500 to 1,500 meters. The bean shape is oval, slender and flat, with moderate sourness and bitterness, and mild aroma. At present, the largest growing country of Arabica is Brazil, while Colombia only produces Arabica coffee.
Arabica has a lower caffeine content, about 0.9% to 1.2%; the fat content is 60% more than Robusta coffee; and the sugar content is twice as much; therefore, the taste of Arabica is sweeter, softer, and a bit fruity and sour. Moreover, Arabica has lower chlorogenic acid, about 5.5% to 8%. In addition to being an antioxidant, chlorogenic acid is also an important component in resisting pests. Therefore, Arabica is more susceptible to insect diseases and climate effects. It is generally planted at higher altitudes, produces fewer fruits, and matures more slowly.
Nowadays, Arabica bean production accounts for 70% of the world's coffee production, and Arabica beans are recognized as the coffee beans with better flavor. So, what do Arabica beans look like?
A casual search on the Internet will reveal the distinguishing characteristics of Arabica beans from Robusta and Liberica beans. Among them, Arabica is described as bean-shaped, oval, slender and flat, with an "S" shape in the middle line.
Like ordinary Arabica, the fruit contains two coffee beans, so one side of the Arabica coffee beans is straight. Of course, there are exceptions, such as some coffee cherries that contain only one coffee bean. These coffee beans appear round and full. A bit like the appearance of Robusta. These are called round beans and are generally smaller than flat beans. If the normal flat beans are 17-18 mesh, then the round beans are about 14-15 mesh.
From a professional point of view, in addition to its lower cost, Robusta also has the characteristics of rich oil and strong taste, so it is generally roasted medium to dark to highlight them. Compared with Pour over(V60) coffee, it is more suitable to be used as one of the Italian bean recipes to enhance the concentration.
Front Street Classic Blend is a medium-dark Italian bean that combines Brazilian red bourbon, Indonesian Mandheling and a small amount of Vietnamese Robusta. It is transformed into coffee and moka pot. When extracted and concentrated, Front Street Classic Blend will exude rich flavors of butter, roasted hazelnuts, caramel, and dark chocolate. It has a thick taste, and the black coffee is sweet and refreshing. Adding milk to make a latte requires a smooth and delicate taste.
Front Street Commercial Blend is a product specially launched for friends who open coffee shops. It uses a combination of Brazil and Colombia, the two largest coffee producing countries in the world. It is rich in the aroma of almonds, peanuts, almonds, walnuts and other nuts, and has a sweet aftertaste of chocolate. Finally, a small amount of Robusta is added to fill up the fat. Both novices and professional baristas can use Front Street Commercial Blend to easily make a cup of rich and oily Italian coffee.
Do you think this is the introduction to Front Street? In fact, it is just the beginning. You must know that Arabica is a large variety classification, and there are many subdivided coffee varieties under it, such as Typica, Bourbon, Geisha, etc., and they all have subtle changes in bean phase.
Typica Coffee
As the oldest coffee variety, Typica's physical characteristics are often used as model characteristics for the Arabica species. It is also known as Arabigo or criollo in Central America. It is the variety closest to the native species. The bean shape is oval, slender and flat, with an "S" shape in the middle line, like an elongated egg. Front Street noticed that many of the pictures used in written textbooks are from Typica. It has a clean lemon-sour taste and a sweet aftertaste. It has low resistance to leaf rust, making it difficult to care for. The tree has low fruiting capacity. In addition, the harvest period is long (harvest once every 2 years) and the yield is small.
Of course, sometimes the appearance of coffee beans will be changed after some special processing techniques. For example, the wet planing method often used in Indonesia has its biggest feature is that the sheepskin is peeled off after the washing process and then dried. Using a machine to peel off the sheepskin is easy to be squeezed by the machine, and the beans are easy to split into the shape of a sheep's hoof.
Elephant Bean/Pacamara Coffee
Maragogype is a natural variant of Typica. It is named after its huge size. The bean is long, square, flat and large in size. The general size of Typica is about 17-18 mesh, while the size of Maragogype can mostly reach more than 20 mesh. It can be thought of as a gigantic Typica.
Pacamara is an artificial hybrid of Pacas and Elephant Bean, which inherits Pacas’ high productivity and adaptability and Elephant Bean’s body shape and excellent acidity. A normal Pacamara can maintain 70% of the size of an elephant bean.
Bourbon coffee
Bourbon is a natural variant of Typica. The biggest change in its coffee beans is that it has changed from the original long body to a round body, which is what we often call round-bodied bourbon. The particle size is similar to Typica.
Some coffee experts believe that bourbon is just a natural variation of Typica and nothing special! But it is not the case. Bourbon has its own characteristics. It has the same high-quality taste as Typica, with a sour taste like red wine and a sweet aftertaste. Typica and Bourbon can be distinguished from the leaves of the coffee tree and the appearance of the beans. The leaves of Bourbon are wider, the strong coffee cherries are smaller, and the growth is denser. Therefore, the beans are smaller and rounder than Typica.
And its direct single-gene variant varieties, such as yellow Bourbon, pink Bourbon, Caturra,Pacas, Verasacchi, all have inherited the appearance characteristics of Bourbon coffee beans (some Caturra, Pacas, and Verasacchi have been artificially bred for many times, and the coffee beans will appear to be slightly longer). The biggest difference in plant characteristics with Bourbon is that the size of these three has become smaller, and they can grow well in the sun without the need for shade forests, so it is also called sun-exposed coffee.
A variant of bourbon has shorter plants and a bean body that is different from traditional bourbon. It is pointed and elongated. Its caffeine is only half of that of ordinary Arabica coffee. It is called pointed bourbon or natural decaffeinated coffee.
Gesha Coffee
The Geisha variety was discovered in the Geisha forest of Ethiopia in 1931. Afterwards, Geisha was sent to the Coffee Research Institute in Kenya, and was introduced to Uganda and Tanzania in 1936, Costa Rica in 1953, and Panama in 1970. At first, not many people paid attention to Geisha until Panama Geisha Hacienda La Esmeralda separated it from other varieties in 2003 and became the BOP champion in 2004. The Geisha variety has only officially entered everyone's attention.
The appearance characteristics of Geisha coffee should be written in two steps. The first one is American Gesha, represented by Panama Jade Estate. The second is African Gesha, represented by Gesha Village Estate in Ethiopia.
Jade Manor is famous for its Gesha. The most prominent features of its Gesha coffee are that it is slender, pointed at both ends, and plump and plump in the middle. Some of the best quality Geshas are even as big as Pacamara (18-19 mesh), and their distinguishing features are very obvious. For now, Front Street believes that if you are trying the Geisha variety for the first time, we would recommend starting to taste it from the Panamanian Poquette production area where it debuted, such as the Front Street Panamanian Poquette Washed Geisha launched by Front Street. The reason is also very simple, because since the famous Geisha was born here, and many famous excellent estates were born, the terroir and climate are naturally excellent, so the Geisha produced here naturally has the most representative taste.
The Gesha coffee varieties of Gesha Village Estate are Gori Geisha (sought in the Gori Gesha forest) and Geisha 1931 (selected from a diverse forest population similar to Panama Geisha). Its appearance shows that the bean body is relatively long, smaller than Panama Geisha, and has less obvious features.
The flavor of Geisha coffee is also very delicious. For example, the Front Street Panama Emerald Estate Blue Label that Front Street bought before, this one is very recognizable as washed Gesha. The dry aroma smells slightly floral, while the wet aroma after brewing has an obvious fruity floral aroma. It tastes like a cup of jasmine tea with obvious citrus acidity and a medium tea taste.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
