"Did you change the beans? This American cup looks like..."
I believe that many baristas feel a little uneasy when they hear this sentence. They are afraid that the other party will say negative descriptors such as "so bitter", "so astringent", "unpalatable" and other negative descriptions, so they tentatively ask if there is any problem until they hear the customer reply: It tastes good, it feels different from before! The barista then said happily: No, it’s still the same coffee~
This Monday, the above-mentioned conversation occurred in the Front Street store. At that time, a customer held up a glass of iced Americano and said: "It seems to taste different from the last time I drank it. The fruit acid in this cup is more obvious and very refreshing!" The question is, obviously in the same store and with the same coffee beans, will the Americano really change a lot when made under different circumstances? What factors are affected?
As the best-selling product in countless cafes, American style is convenient, fast and affordable, and can meet the daily caffeine intake needs of most people. Making a cup of Americano only consists of a few simple actions: taking the cup, filling it with water, pouring the concentrate, and at most adding an ice cube character. To put it bluntly, Americano coffee is concentrated with water. We also know that water is colorless and tasteless, so the "culprit" that can cause the Americano to taste bad can only be the concentrated cup.
Normally, the espresso beans, the amount of powder used, and the production ratio are fixed in each store. For example, we usually use Sunflower and Nuanyang to blend coffee beans. For a single espresso, we use 20 grams of coffee powder to extract 40 grams of liquid weight. When producing hot Americano, we use a ceramic cup with a capacity of about 200ml, and add 160ml of hot water to the espresso at a ratio of 1:4. The temperature will be slightly adjusted according to the weather or customer needs. Ice American's product replaces the hot water with 90 grams of ice cubes and 160 grams of room temperature water.
Under such conditions, in theory, the main flavor, tone and concentration of the same Americano coffee drunk in the same store will not be much different.
Baristas like to use the Front Street Italian bean series, including the grease-filled Front Street classic blend, the Front Street commercial blend exclusively for opening a store, the Front Street boutique blend with complex nutty aroma, and the cost-effective Front Street black cocoa blend. Each one has the basic tonality of traditional Italian style, but can also play to their own advantages, making the American style taste mellow and rich.
Since the beans are not changed and the extraction ratio is fixed, what are the reasons that make the American style in a coffee shop "change the taste"?
1. Bean raising time
As we all know, freshly roasted coffee beans contain a large amount of carbon dioxide gas. The darker the roasting, the looser the texture and the more gas contained inside. These gases will inhibit the dissolution and release of flavor substances to a certain extent.
When freshly roasted coffee beans are extracted with a pressurized coffee machine, we can feel a large number of bubbles discharged along with the coffee liquid, making the concentrate appear to have rich crema, but in fact they are very unstable, have a rough surface and may even agglomerate, and the taste lacks a mellow aroma. This is insufficient extraction caused by excessive gas. Therefore, if you want to make a good cup of espresso, the steps of resting the beans are essential. Front Street usually puts the roasted Nuanyang Italian beans in a cool place for about 10 days before starting to use them.
Since cooked beans are continuously degassing, the concentrated flavor will continue to change depending on the state of the beans during use. For example, Front Street extracts and concentrates within 10 to 20 days of the soybean raising period, and the oil layer accounts for a large proportion. The American style is mostly characterized by the clear acidity of raspberries, vanilla, cream, and a slight fermentation feeling; when it is used for 20 to 30 days after being baked, the crema is significantly reduced, and later flavor substances such as caramel, wine, and nuts begin to release more. At this time, the taste of the American style will be slightly richer and mellower.
2. Weather changes
In addition to being affected by the state of the coffee beans themselves, the extraction of espresso is also related to the air temperature and humidity. Therefore, once it encounters a rainy day with low air pressure and high humidity, or what we hate most when we go back to the south, when it is hot and humid indoors and outdoors, the barista will be ready to mix up the espresso.
When the indoor humidity is higher, there are active water molecules in the air, and the coffee beans that should be stored dry are more likely to be attacked by moisture. The ground coffee powder is also more likely to "clump" and stick to the grinder disc and channel. The agglomerated coffee powder not only leads to uneven extraction, but also causes the consequences of the channel effect. The first cup of coffee may have been delicious, but the next cup may have a slightly bitter, mixed or salty taste.
In addition, lower atmospheric pressure will make the pressurizing effect of the coffee machine weaker than usual. This is why espresso coffee on rainy days often lacks aroma and has a more monotonous flavor than on sunny days. Therefore, in order to avoid producing coffee with abnormal taste, conscientious baristas will always pay attention to the concentrated extraction status in order to make quick adjustments.
3. Bean warehouse pressure
Filling the bean bin is a preparation that almost every barista will do before debugging in the morning. This is to provide a relatively stable pressure value for the Italian grinder, make the particle size of the powder more uniform, and thereby reduce the extraction error.
Front Street once conducted a comparative experiment. When the coffee in the bean warehouse is less than 1/4, the grinding will become coarser as the pressure value decreases. As a result, the time for extracting double concentrate using the same amount of powder is shortened by 3 to 5 seconds, and the taste is also very different from the morning debugging. Therefore, for the baristas who control the bar, if they want to maintain a stable extraction plan for the day, they must not wait until all the coffee in the bean bin is used up before replenishing beans.
4. Continuously dispense cups
When a grinder continuously produces cups, the continuously high-speed rotating cutterhead will generate heat, causing the coffee powder ground later to become coarse or uneven in particle size, resulting in an unstable concentration flow rate. On the other hand, the heating of the cutterhead will also accelerate the volatilization of the flavor substances in the coffee particles. At the same time, the temperature of the powder cake will also increase during the extraction stage, thus reducing the viscosity of the produced coffee.
Of course, there are many reasons why the American style tastes bad, such as the barista accidentally bumping the handle, not doing a good job of pressing the powder, over-extracting/under-extracting the coffee liquid, and not adjusting the parameters that match the flavor of the beans... These details that are easily overlooked test whether a barista's basic skills are solid.
The reason why Front Street talks so much is not to let everyone find fault with baristas, nor to complicate simple concepts, but to provide us with different perspectives to understand the logic behind delicious food, explore the charm of the Italian coffee system, and more possibilities for a cup of American coffee.
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
