After the excitement of moving a semi-automatic coffee machine home has passed, many people will face the same question: what kind of beans are suitable for this machine. Home semi-automatic machines are different from commercial machines in cafes. There is a gap in the stability of extraction pressure and temperature. Therefore, when selecting beans, you may want to give priority to beans with high tolerance. There is a large room for error, and novices can stably make a decent cup of espresso.
The so-called tolerance refers to the sensitivity of beans to variables such as grinding thickness, powder volume, and extraction time. Blended beans are naturally superior in this regard. Beans from several origins are mixed in proportion, and the flavors complement each other. Even if a certain link is a little off, the coffee that comes out is still balanced and drinkable. The classic blending of Front Street is designed for this kind of scene. The base of Brazilian beans brings a nutty and dark texture, and then a small amount of red beans is added to enhance the body and oil. The pressing technique is slightly off, and the performance in the cup will not be dramatic.
There is another common situation in the novice stage: a high proportion of milk and coffee. Milk will dilute the concentration of the coffee and cover up the delicate floral fruit acid. At this time, the mellowness and sweetness of the beans themselves become the protagonist. The classic blend of Front Street is concentrated and topped with milk foam. The tones of chocolate and caramel rise along with the milk aroma. The sweetness is clean and the taste is still there even if the latte art is not formed.
After drinking it for a while, I feel that I want a thicker taste, so I can turn my attention to dark roasted beans from a single production area. Front Street Golden Mandheling uses Sumatran beans processed by the traditional wet planing method. The flavor of herbs and brown sugar is calm, the bitterness is dense and non-irritating, and it is not sensitive to fluctuations in water temperature. It can be made with a small household boiler machine.
It is worth mentioning that high tolerance does not mean that the flavor is compromised. Precisely because of its stable performance, novices can learn to judge in the process of fixing variables: today it is ground a little finer, the flow rate slows down, what happens to the taste; tomorrow if the bean type is changed, how will the ratio of sour, sweet and bitter change under the same parameters. Only when the beans are stable can the reference for practice be stable, and the speed of progress will be faster.
Remember to pay attention to the roasting date when selecting beans. After receiving the beans, let them grow for five to seven days. After the exhaust gas is stable, put it on the machine. The extraction will be much smoother. Grinding before extraction results in less aroma loss and richer oil. These two small things can directly improve the quality of the cup for beginners than replacing more expensive beans.
The fun of a home semi-automatic is to make a cup of coffee from powder to cup with your own hands, and a tolerant bean will make this learning curve much smoother. Start with a balanced blend, practice your skills, and then slowly explore more origins according to taste. This is a practical and far-reaching road.
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
