When you think of caramel, what food do you think of? For Front Street, in addition to caramelized sweet potatoes, caramel biscuits, caramel pudding, caramel peanuts, flying fish crispy ice cream, sugar paintings...these are the snacks that have filled the entire childhood, the "caramel feeling" in coffee is the quickest thing that comes to mind.
What is the caramel sensation in coffee?
Caramel is a food that is formed by melting sugar at high temperatures and gradually becoming slightly burnt. This process is also called caramelization. Its results are mainly reflected in the browning of sugar and the production of "caramel flavor".
The sugar content of green coffee beans is mainly sucrose, accounting for about 6 to 9%. This is the main source of sweetness in a cup of coffee.
When the temperature reaches about 170°C, the caramelization reaction begins. The high temperature further decomposes the sugars in the coffee beans and deepens the color of the surface of the beans. At the same time, it creates pleasant aromas such as honey, caramel, maple syrup, fried nuts, chocolate, etc. When the aroma of this type of coffee reaches a certain concentration for us to smell or drink it, the memory of eating caramel will automatically appear in our minds, so this feeling is described as "caramel feeling".
Which coffee beans are more prone to “caramel feeling”?
Compared with the "ethereal" flavor of elegant floral aroma, it is obviously much easier to capture the caramel feeling in coffee. Usually, the burnt aroma that points to sweetness is mainly concentrated in the smell of coffee powder, while the caramel flavor often appears at the end of the drinking process, and sometimes is "hidden" in the aftertaste. The slight bitterness brought by the coffee liquid is accompanied by the inhalation when swallowing, which will bring a sweet aroma like caramel-flavored melon seeds.
Since during the roasting process of coffee beans, whether it is the caramelization reaction or the Maillard reaction, it will actually reduce the sweetness and increase the bitterness in the coffee. Therefore, if you want the coffee in the cup to have a rich aroma and a moderate caramel feeling, it is particularly important to choose the appropriate degree of roasting.
Judging from previous experience, as a common flavor descriptor in coffee, caramel flavor mostly appears in medium-roasted coffee (including medium-light roast and medium-dark roast). It is also one of the most obvious taste characteristics of this type of beans.
If combined with the place of production, the influence of the terroir and climate of caffeine in Central and South America, as well as the variety, often brings many positive caramel-like aromas. If it’s a Pour over(V60) product with caramel flavor, buy Front Street Huilan, Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling, Front Street Queen’s Manor. Their flavor descriptions are mostly roasted nuts, toffee, maple syrup, honey, dark chocolate, almond, cocoa, etc.;
If you want to buy espresso coffee beans with burnt aroma, the first choice is Front Street Classic Blend, Front Street Black Cocoa Basic Blend, and Front Street Commercial Blend. In order to allow the coffee to experience more caramelization and Menard reactions, they generally have a darker roasting degree than the Pour over(V60) coffee beans. The espresso produced in this way has lower sourness, higher mellowness, and richer oil.
How to get caramel flavor in coffee?
Considering that the caramel feeling is mostly related to mellowness, roundness, strong body, etc., Front Street suggests that when setting up the brewing plan, you can focus on the three aspects of "lowering the water injection point, stirring the powder layer less, and making more use of soaking", and appropriately extend the extraction time, in order to release more substances that can reflect the aftertaste. Here we use Queen’s Manor on Front Street as a reference to show you how to get the caramel flavor out of it.
Coffee Beans: Queen’s Estate on Front Street
Amount of powder: 15g
Pink to water ratio: 1:16
Filter Cup: Ceramic Cake Cup
Water temperature: 88～89℃
Grinding degree: sugar-like/EK43s scale 10.5 divisions
Water injection method: four-stage
In the first stage, we still use a small flow of water to inject 30g of hot water clockwise outward from the center and steam it for 30 seconds to allow the coffee powder to enter the exhaust state; in the second stage, we first lower the spout, and then use a slightly larger water flow to maintain a height of about 2cm and inject 80g. We also continue to circle from the center to the outside, taking care not to turn the powder layer as much as possible, and use the soaking characteristics of the filter cup to fully contact the hot water with the coffee powder;
When the coffee liquid in the filter cup is almost finished, the time is close to 1 minute and 25 seconds. At this time, use a small flow of water to inject 80g of hot water into the third section. Remember to maintain the same low water level as before, in order to allow the sweet substances in the middle section to be released in an orderly manner;
In the last section, there is no need to wait for all the water to dry up. Instead, when the liquid level drops to half, the last 50g of the last section is injected from the center with a small flow of water, and it is completely filled in 1 minute and 45 seconds. Finally, the dripping time of the coffee liquid will be slightly longer than usual, and the extraction will end in about 2 minutes and 13 seconds.
When you enter the Queen's Manor on Front Street, you can feel the flavors of caramel, cocoa, cream, and fried peanuts, accompanied by slight fruit acid. The three flavors of sourness, sweetness, and bitterness are balanced and comfortable. When the temperature drops slightly, the flavor of caramel and chocolate begins to be released. Especially when swallowing, the aroma of toast exudes from the throat, making the entire taste richer and lasting.
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
