Recently, a friend also wanted to think about making coffee by himself. After shopping online, he asked Front Street. The price of coffee beans online ranged from 30 yuan to more than 300 yuan. Some weights are 100g, some are 1kg, and there are many unclear nouns. I was confused when I saw them. So I came to ask Front Street how to identify coffee beans.
Generally speaking, there are two main types of coffee beans sold on the market: espresso coffee beans and single-origin coffee beans. Let’s talk about single-origin coffee beans first, which is what we often call “fine coffee beans”. The main feature is coffee that shows the characteristic flavor of the production area according to the production area. Therefore, it is possible to classify coffee beans produced in many different places. Generally, this type of coffee beans will be marked with detailed origin information. The packaging size generally does not exceed 250g and can be applied to various filter extraction methods, the most common of which is Pour over(V60) coffee.
There are more than 50 types of coffee beans like this in the Front Street bean list. For entry-level choices, Front Street Mandheling, Front Street Yirgacheffe, Front Street Brazilian Semi-Dried, Front Street Colombian Washed, Front Street Costa Rica Blackberry, and Front Street Panamanian Geisha are on the list. If The type of brewing you plan to use is hand brewing, American drip filter, French press, Aeropress, siphon pot, cold brew and other filter brewing methods. You can choose single-origin coffee beans. When you first start to choose, you can start with the flavor description on the label, and choose whichever flavor you like.
Another type of coffee beans is espresso coffee beans, which are specially designed to serve espresso machines. Its biggest feature is that the degree of roasting is darker than that of coffee beans used for hand brewing, so generally many single-origin coffee beans are not suitable for espresso machines.
Of course, the term espresso beans does not conflict with single-origin beans. Italian coffee beans are mainly divided into blended beans and soe. Let’s talk about soe first. This is actually the espresso version of single-origin coffee beans. As mentioned before, ordinary single-origin beans are not suitable for espresso machines, so soe coffee beans appear (the green beans are the same, but the roasting degree is darker than ordinary single-origin beans). Soe also pays attention to the production area and the terroir and flavor. For example, if you want to drink the floral aroma of coffee, buy Front Street Red Cherry Yirgacheffe SOE; if you like the sweetness of ripe fruits, your first choice is Front Street Mozart SOE; if you are looking for a balanced nutty tone, you can try Front Street PNG Bird of Paradise.
But for now, the market for soe coffee beans is still relatively small. If you want to buy, you should look for the soe logo or the espresso logo to avoid buying single-origin beans for hand brewing by mistake.
Next is the Italian blend of beans, which are also commonly used coffee beans in Italian coffee. Why do we need to blend them? There are three reasons for this: price, stability, and flavor. These three points are an "impossible triangle", which means that you cannot have all three, and you can only give up one to get the other two. If you have friends who want to open a coffee shop or enter an Italian restaurant, you might as well take a look at how to choose the beans that suit you.
Take the four types of espresso coffee beans from Front Street as an example. The original purpose of blending coffee beans is to stabilize and balance the flavor of the coffee. For example, the premium blended coffee beans from Front Street are made from coffee beans from Colombia and Brazil. Brazil and Colombia are both major coffee-producing countries. The quality is very stable, and the balance of Brazilian coffee beans and the mellowness of Colombian coffee beans give this bean a good performance. The priority is both stability and flavor. The mellow taste and nutty main tone have a slightly fruity flavor, making it suitable for use in boutique coffee shops.
The Italian Moka Pot coffee beans recommended by many baristas on Front Street Street - Front Street Black Cocoa Blend Beans are a product developed with cost-effectiveness in mind. They are blended using coffee beans from Yunnan and Brazil to ensure the flavor and stability of the extracted espresso at a price advantage. This Italian coffee bean is suitable for personal daily ration consumption or for use in small-cost coffee shops.
Front Street commercial blended beans are made from coffee beans produced in Colombia, Brazil and Vietnam. Among them, Vietnamese Robusta accounts for a small proportion. Italian cafes like to add Robust beans to their blended bean recipes because Robusta can provide richer coffee crema and higher caffeine content. Therefore, adding a small amount of Robusta beans can make the taste of espresso more mellow. The espresso produced will have a richer caramel chocolate flavor when paired with milk. This Italian coffee bean is suitable for lovers of full body or some merchants specializing in Italian coffee.
The last one was developed based on flavor, and it is also one of the most popular blends in the Front Street Coffee online store. Front Street Strawberry Espresso. As you can tell from the name, this is a very sweet coffee, because it is composed of three single-origin coffees from different production areas. In addition to its own rose aroma, Front Street Strawberry Espresso also has the flavors of grape, dried blueberry, sweet orange, and fruit candy in American style and latte. The taste is very unique.
Simply put, when choosing Italian coffee beans, it mainly depends on your own positioning needs. Choose coffee beans that are cost-effective, more balanced, or have distinctive flavor.
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
