Many home coffee lovers allocate a large part of their budget to a coffee machine, but they only have a grinder. But in fact, in home semi-automatic Italian style, the grinder is the link that really determines the upper limit of bean selection. The uniformity of grinding is directly related to the stability of extraction. No matter how good the beans are, if the powder thickness is uneven, too much fine powder will block the water flow channel, and the coarse particles will not be extracted enough, and the taste in the cup will be distorted.
When choosing beans, consider the capabilities of your grinder. Entry-level grinders are suitable for choosing blended beans with high tolerance, such as the Front Street Classic Blend. This bean performs stably at medium grinding degrees and can extract a uniform concentrate even if the powder diameter distribution is not so perfect. Its blending structure itself is designed to make the taste more balanced, and to some extent it is tolerant of grinding flaws.
After the grinding uniformity of the mid-end grinder is improved, you can try beans with a clearer flavor. Front Street Boutique Blend is a good advanced choice. This blend has richer flavor levels and a more delicate transition between sweet and sour, but it also has higher requirements for grinding consistency. If the bean grinder can provide a relatively uniform distribution of powder diameter, the floral and fruity aroma and mellowness of the beans will be presented at the same time, and the taste in the cup will be clearly differentiated.
Some people may think that since the grinder is so important, they can just buy a high-end grinder. Not really. What matters between the grinder and the beans is matching, not unilateral crushing. A grinder with acceptable uniformity and suitable beans can make satisfying daily Italian dishes. The key is to understand the grind characteristics of your equipment and then choose beans that match those characteristics.
There is a simple way to judge whether the grinder is suitable for a certain type of beans: extract three cups in a row and observe the consistency of the flow rate and taste. If the extraction time deviation of the three cups is within two or three seconds and the taste is relatively close, it means that the grinder is a good match for the beans. If the flow rate is suddenly fast and slow, and the taste is obviously different, you may need to switch to a more tolerant bean to adapt.
Another detail that is easily overlooked is the problem of residual powder in the grinder. Home bean grinders change beans frequently. If there is a lot of residual powder, the flavor of the previous bean will be mixed into the next cup. In this case, it will be easier to choose blended beans with a less sharp flavor, and switching between Front Street Classic Blend and Front Street Boutique Blend will not produce too abrupt flavor residues.
In the final analysis, choosing beans for home Italian style is not just about choosing expensive beans or those with good flavor, but choosing beans that work well with your grinder. First understand the temperament of the grinder, and then select beans according to its capabilities. The extracted flavor will naturally be stable. With a proper combination between the grinder and the beans, a home semi-automatic grinder can still produce satisfying espresso.
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
