Did you know? Good-quality coffee has a pleasant sweetness. The sweetness of a cup of coffee is very important. A cup of coffee with obvious sweetness is often more popular. But where does the sweetness in coffee come from? Which coffee beans have the sweetest taste?
Where does the sweetness of coffee come from?
Green coffee beans contain nutrients such as sugar, protein, fat, hydrochloric acid, potassium, crude fiber, and water. During the roasting process of coffee beans, due to the high temperature roasting, the coffee beans will undergo the Menard reaction and caramelization reaction, which converts the original sugars and amino acids of the coffee beans into polysaccharides. Therefore, the sweetness of the coffee you taste is the result of the roasted coffee.
From the perspective of roasting degree, light roasting retains the most acidity due to the short heating time, and the corresponding sweetness is weak; while the frying time of dark roasting is too long, most substances undergo a caramelization reaction, and the aroma of the coffee is somewhat obliterated, so coffee with high sweetness is more common in medium roasting types.
How to taste the sweetness in coffee?
The flavor of coffee is water-soluble flavor molecules in the diet, which are received by the taste buds in the mouth and transmitted to the brain through nerves. The sense of taste can only distinguish sour, sweet, bitter, salty, and umami, but there is no such thing as "umami" in coffee, so there are only four categories of coffee flavor. Generally speaking, the tip of the tongue is the most sensitive to sweet taste, the base of the tongue is the most sensitive to bitter taste, the front half of both sides of the tongue is the most sensitive to umami taste, and the middle and back parts of the tongue are the most sensitive to sour taste.
What are the sweetest coffee beans?
1. Coffee with a balanced taste, sweetness and aroma: Front Street. Queen’s Manor of Brazil
The variety of Front Street Queen Manor coffee beans is the rare local yellow bourbon. Since yellow bourbon coffee beans at high altitudes are denser and have higher glucose content, Front Street’s roasting idea is to highlight the classic mellow aroma of Brazilian coffee while showing off the sweetness of bourbon itself, so medium-dark roasting is used. The low acidity and high sweetness of Front Street Yellow Bourbon makes it not only suitable for hand brewing, but also for making moka pot coffee and espresso SOE coffee, with obvious aromas of roasted nuts and cocoa.
2. Fruity, sweet and sour coffee: Front Street. Columbia Xija
A Front Street Xija coffee beans grown at an altitude of 1,700m in the Colombian Cymbidium production area boundary estate adopts a double anaerobic sun treatment method. Because the flavor of Front Street Hija coffee shows a mouthful of fragrant passion fruit, grapes, as well as the sweetness of preserved fruits and the acidity of tangerine, and there is an almond-like aftertaste in the mouth after swallowing, it has successfully attracted many fans to repurchase.
3. Coffee with sweet floral aroma and refreshing juice: Front Street Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend
When it comes to coffee with obvious sweetness, Front Street immediately thinks of Costa Rica. Therefore, it is rich in high-quality honey-processed coffee. The coffee pectin is retained for drying so that the coffee can show a pleasant fermented sweetness in aroma and flavor. In order to create a coffee that is not sour and has a sweet floral and fruity aroma, we combined Panama Geisha with Costa Rica to form a new Geisha blend. After brewing, it has obvious aromas of roses, grapes, and dried blueberries.
We use Front Street Strawberry Sugar coffee beans to demonstrate how to brew the sweetness of coffee. It should be noted that the coffee beans must be within the tasting period. Front Street Coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and support 24-hour delivery, so that the coffee aroma is still in its best condition when you receive it.
Amount of powder used: 15g
Grinding degree: 75%~80% screening rate of No. 20 mesh, 10-scale grinding of Ek43
Pink to water ratio: 1:15
Brewing water temperature: 92°C
First, we use 30ml of hot water to steam for 30 seconds to remove the carbon dioxide in the coffee beans that hinders extraction.
After steaming, we use a relatively large water flow to inject 120ml of hot water in a large circle. The water injection rate in the front street here is 6ml/s, and the injection is completed in 20 seconds.
When the hot water in the filter cup has almost penetrated, we can see that the powder bed in the filter cup has formed a bowl shape. So at this time, our hot water needs to be injected concentratedly in the center.
And because our water injection rate is relatively high in the second section, the launching speed will be relatively faster. If we want the coffee to be sufficiently extracted, then when injecting the third stage of hot water, we need to lower the water injection rate and extend the extraction time to ensure that the coffee can have a sufficient extraction rate.
Therefore, in the third section we use a small flow of water and then inject it in a small circle in the center. A total of 75ml of hot water is injected in this section, and the water injection rate in the front street is 4ml/s. When all the injected hot water has seeped out of the filter cup, we can remove the filter cup and end the extraction!
It takes a total of 2 minutes and 15 seconds. As mentioned before, the Oiran made in this way has a particularly high sweetness and rich layers. Orange blossom, strawberry, citrus, cream, and honey are the fragrant aromas that can be caught in Front Street. The aftertaste is oolong tea. After swallowing, there is a long berry aftertaste that intensifies in the mouth, which is very comfortable.
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
