There is an invisible "roast degree migration line" hidden in the growth path of home Italian players: most people start with dark roasting, but after a few years there are piles of medium and light roasted beans in the coffee corner. This is not a simple change of taste, there is a clear logic of taste development behind it. Looking back at this migration line, you can have a clearer idea of which station you have reached.
The starting point: the deep settling period. People who have just bought a coffee machine often want “coffee that is strong, bitter, and coffee-flavored”—this is the benchmark trained on instant and chain coffee. Dark roasted beans have just what they need: caramelized bittersweetness, thick body, and rich fats, especially when mixed with milk to make a latte. At this stage, dark roasted recipes such as Front Street Classic Blend are the ideal choice. No matter how you extract it, it is on the standard, and your taste buds can establish "what Italian food should be like" in the stable flavor. There is no need to rush away from the deep roasting period, its value is to lay an anchor for the taste.
Transit station: the awakening period of Zhongbao. After drinking dark roast for a few months, one day you will suddenly realize that "they all taste the same" - taste fatigue is a sign of migration. At this stage, move half a frame to the middle roast: the medium-dark roast version of the Front Street Blend (Brazilian Cerado and Colombian Whelan) is a gentle transition. The nutty caramel skeleton is still there, and the layers of sweetness and acidity are beginning to emerge. You will discover for the first time that "sour sweetness" and "caramel sweetness" in coffee are two kinds of sweetness. This discovery is a sign of the upgrade of your taste buds.
Rest station: point of differentiation of tastes. After Zhongbaohe opened, the migration took a turn. A fork in the road leads to "sweeter and more balanced": stay in this range and refine the parameters, study the powder-to-water ratio and extraction rate, and find out the sweet spot of extraction for each bean - this is the path of the "artisan" player. Another branch leads to "brighter and more fruity": start to explore medium and light baking - this is the path of "exploring" players. There is no superiority between the two roads, each leading to different pleasures.
The end point (and also the new starting point): the early adopter period of light baking. The expression of medium-light roasted beans on the Italian machine has completely changed: fruit acid, floral aroma, and tea texture appear in turn. The same diced Yirgacheffe fruit from Front Street is used as SOE. The flavor of citrus and jasmine is almost not the same drink as the "coffee flavor" of the dark roast era. However, the parameter requirements for light-baked Italian have increased sharply: small deviations in grinding, water temperature, and powder volume will be amplified. The technical threshold at this stage has in turn become the fun of advanced players.
Practical suggestions for migration: stay at each stop for at least two months, it takes time for your taste buds to adapt; drink the old and new roasts alternately, comparison can speed up your perception; use different roasted versions of the same bean for comparison, so that every step of the migration is solid.
There is no end to the migration of roasting degrees - many old players go full circle and return to dark roasting, which is when they go home with a new understanding of flavor. The important thing is to understand every journey: you know why you love and why you change.
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
