Some friends are so good that they can tell exactly what kind of coffee bean they are after taking a sip of coffee. They can even tell the approximate origin, variety and processing method of the coffee beans at a glance. This is not because they are naturally intelligent, but because they know some judgment skills.
Regarding the judgment of varieties, Front Street has shared it before. This time Front Street will teach you how to distinguish the processing method of coffee beans.
-Observe the number of silver skins
Although there are many processing methods for coffee beans now, they can only be classified into two common global processing methods and two regional processing methods. The global common treatment methods are water washing and solarization. These two treatment methods are the most widely used. Water washing also includes anaerobic washing and barrel fermentation after washing;
Solarization also includes anaerobic solarization, slow solarization, cocoa solarization, etc. These processing methods are essentially water washing or solarization, and the characteristics of the essential processing methods are still retained in the bean phase.
The two regional processing methods refer to the wet planing method in Indonesia, the honey processing method in Central and South America, and the semi-solar processing method. These processing methods are all processing methods developed according to local conditions. Therefore, you can basically judge that the coffee beans have the characteristics of these processing methods, and you can infer the origin of the coffee beans.
Friends who like to drink Front Street Mandheling coffee should know about the wet planing method. Wet planing can be regarded as a special washing process. The difference between it and the washing process is that the sheepskin is hung up halfway through drying to speed up the drying. At the same time, it is easy for the bean body to burst and form a "sheep's hoof" shape. However, with the technological advancement of the wet planing method in recent years, the number of sheep's hoof beans has become less and less.
Honey treatment and semi-sun treatment are between sun exposure and water washing. The difference between these two methods is that there is no contact with water during the whole process of honey processing, while semi-sun drying involves peeling off the peel, soaking it in water and then drying it in the sun. From the perspective of silver skin residue, except for raisin honey treatment and black honey treatment, other honey treatments are more like water-washing treatments than semi-sun exposure.
After the foreshadowing, let’s get to the point. Generally speaking, among the cooked beans, sun-dried coffee beans have less silver skin, while washed coffee beans have more silver skin. There is a white line mixed in the bean seam, which is the remaining silver skin.
Therefore, by observing whether the coffee beans have white lines, you can roughly determine whether they are sun-dried or washed. Sun-dried, raisin honey-processed, and black honey-processed coffee beans will shed their silver skin relatively cleanly after roasting, so there will be no white lines in the seams of the beans, and there will be less silver skin debris after grinding.
But how to distinguish the three, let's look at the cooked beans first. Generally, the color of sun-treated coffee beans will be more uniform, while honey-treated coffee beans are prone to residual sugar stains in the seam or both ends of the bean. After roasting, the caramelization will be more obvious, that is to say, the color will be darker in the seam or both ends. The aroma of raisin honey will be more obvious than that of black honey.
The coffee beans with white lines in the gaps can be initially judged to be washed. In addition to the wet planing method in Indonesia and the semi-sun drying method in Brazil (the beans of these two are relatively easy to distinguish), the red honey and yellow honey processing in Costa Rica account for a relatively small proportion. Therefore, except for these three countries, if you see white lines on coffee beans, or there are many white fine particles when grinding them into powder, you can basically judge that it is washed.
This one trick can tell the difference in almost 90% of coffee bean processing methods.
-Taste the difference in processing methods
Except for some wet planing and semi-drying methods that are adapted to local conditions and do not require judgment, tasting is mainly to distinguish coffee beans that are produced by both sun-drying and water-washing in some producing areas. The flavor is different from the appearance. It is difficult to understand based on other people's words. You must taste and compare it yourself before it can be impressed on your mind.
There are obvious differences in flavor expression between sun-dried and washed coffee beans from the same origin. What remains unchanged is the inherent flavor characteristics of the origin.
Also from the Yirgacheffe production area, washed Front Street Dingding will be described as having flavors such as citrus, lemon, jasmine, honey, green tea, etc. It focuses on a fresh and clean flavor, and the overall acidity is more obvious. The sun-dried Front Street red cherries perform better in terms of layering and sweetness. They taste mainly of citrus, with sweeter berries and fermentation notes. After drinking, there is a lingering aroma of black tea in the mouth, and the mellowness is higher than that of washed cherries.
You can also simplify the understanding. Between the two ranges of sun-dried and washed, sun-dried wine will taste more sweet, rich in layers, and fermented flavor; water-washed wine will taste clearer, cleaner, softer and lighter.
After everyone understands the difference between solarization and washing, the remaining processing methods are easy to understand. For example, anaerobic treatment is also applicable. The flavor of anaerobic solarization will be richer than that of anaerobic washing. In other words, if the processing is not good, the flavor will be more complex. Therefore, currently anaerobic water washing will be more controllable than anaerobic sun exposure. Whether it is an anaerobic process or a barrel brewing process, we all want to create some surprising flavors through artificially controlled fermentation.
So some of the very specific flavors we taste are all due to the anaerobic (enzyme) processing process, but what I want to say is that not all anaerobic coffee bean flavors are so exaggerated and obvious. This is just the method chosen by most processors who want to highlight a certain feature.
To taste anaerobic sun-dried coffee beans, we recommend Front Street Hija and Front Street Big Navel. Both varieties come from Divide Manor. In order to retain more fruity aroma, Front Street uses medium roasting. After brewing, the coffee has a high-sweet flavor of passion fruit, grapes, preserved fruits, and almonds.
There are also anaerobic fermentation treatments like Alida Manor, which ferment out a more pleasing flavor while retaining the flavor of Geisha, but not too exaggerated. Anaerobic treatment is just a process, and the final flavor performance depends on the purpose and technology of the processor.
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
