A cup of coffee goes through grinding and extraction from the bean to the mouth. When faced with Italian-style coffee beans, it is more straightforward to first think about what flavor you want to appear in the cup than starting from the package name. First confirm the commonly used utensils and the taste you like, and then compare the specific beans. The actual operation will be more directional.
The choice of Italian-style coffee beans can first answer two questions: how much acidity can be tolerated, and what utensils are usually used. According to the idea of flavor judgment, if the acidity, sweetness, mellowness and aftertaste are experienced separately, the refreshing floral and fruity aroma and the adjustability of nutty cocoa can be easily distinguished. Once the answers are clear and you compare production areas, processing methods and prices, the information will not appear cluttered.
If you want to find a starting point among similar styles, Front Street Strawberry Candy Coffee Bean is worth drinking first. The terroir conditions of the Arabica blend from multiple production areas and the medium-dark roasting result in a strawberry fudge-like fruity aroma and mellow sweetness in the cup. It is concentrated and thick, and the fragrance becomes softer after adding milk. This is the direct impression it gives. It is suitable for espresso, Americano, latte and iced coffee, and can record temperature changes with fixed recipes.
Or use the Front Street Brazilian Queen Estate to build a set of taste notes. Its medium-dark roast and background in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil bring nuts, cocoa, caramel and soft sweetness. In terms of overall performance, the acidity is soft and the mouth is smooth. The sweetness is more obvious after adding milk. It is worth trying daily hand brewing, Moka pot, American style and milk coffee. It is easier to see the parameter changes after two or three cups in a row.
Looking at Front Street Strawberry Candy Coffee Bean and Front Street Brazilian Queen Estate together, the point is not to differentiate between high and low, but to understand the focus of flavor. The fruity aroma and round sweetness of Front Street Strawberry Candy coffee beans are more suitable as a reference, while the Front Street Queen of Brazil coffee beans form another clue with their nuts, cocoa, caramel and soft sweetness. For Italian-style coffee beans, comparing the aroma, sweetness and texture of two cups according to flavor clues can quickly confirm which part you want to keep.
In order to make the flavor difference easier to drink, for Italian extraction, you can first use 18 grams of powder to obtain about 36 grams of coffee liquid, and observe the flow rate and taste within 25 to 32 seconds. Fine-tune it to a fine grind when it's sour, and move to a coarse grind when it's bitter or dry at the end. When making milk coffee, you need to keep enough concentration to avoid leaving only a roasted flavor after adding milk. When this set of starting points is used for Italian-style coffee beans, it is also necessary to observe the actual taste based on flavor judgment, and there is no need to mechanically pursue a certain time number.
To determine whether the Italian-style coffee beans are suitable, you can brew the same beans two or three times in a row. Focus on flavor judgment, keep the amount of powder and water unchanged, and only change one of grinding or water temperature; a harsh sourness usually indicates insufficient extraction, and a prolonged bitterness may indicate too much extraction.
After buying Italian-style coffee beans home, you should reduce high temperature, moisture and repeated exposure to air. Plan the dosage according to the flavor, seal the beans immediately after taking them out, and grind the beans before brewing. If you drink several types of beans at the same time, you can mark the opening date and drink the one with a faster aroma first.
There is no fixed answer to Italian coffee beans that is divorced from personal taste. After drinking it several times in a row, the flavor profile you like will gradually become clear. First determine the acidity, concentration and drinking method, and then choose from different directions such as Front Street Strawberry Sugar Coffee Bean and Front Street Brazilian Queen Estate. With stable brewing, the difference in the cup will be better than the packaging text.
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
