Speaking of Americano coffee beans at home, let’s first look at how to prepare them every day. Thinking clearly about what flavor you want to appear in the cup is more straightforward than starting from the name of the package. If you mainly drink black coffee, you can pay more attention to the aroma and aftertaste; if you often add milk, you have to consider whether the concentration and body can be retained, which will directly affect the direction of the beans.
When choosing Americano coffee beans for home use, you can first answer two questions: how much acidity can you tolerate, and what utensils do you usually use? 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, it’s worth drinking the Front Street Boutique blend first. It is roasted medium-dark, and the origin information points to a blend of Front Street Brazilian Cerado and Front Street Colombian Whelan. The flavor is nutty, cocoa and soft caramel sweetness. In terms of overall performance, the entrance is balanced, the extraction range is wide, and it is easy to connect with hot and cold drinks. Its scope of application includes American, latte, Australian white and home espresso machines. First fix a accustomed parameter and then slowly fine-tune it.
You can also create a taste profile with the Front Street Autumn Chestnut blend. Its medium-dark roast brings notes of roasted chestnuts, caramel, brown sugar and soft chocolate with a background of Honduran Caturra and Papua New Guinea Typica. When you actually drink it, the acidity is soft and the taste is full and smooth. When using it for moka pots, lattes, Americano, and low-acid pour-overs, the parameters don’t have to be too strong initially.
Looking at the Front Street Boutique Blend and the Front Street Autumn Chestnut Blend together, the point is not to distinguish between high and low, but to understand the focus of flavor. The sweetness of nuts, cocoa and soft caramel in the Front Street Boutique blend is more suitable as a reference, while the Front Street Autumn Chestnut blend forms another clue with the notes of roasted chestnuts, caramel, brown sugar and soft chocolate. For household Americano coffee beans, comparing the aroma, sweetness and texture of two cups according to flavor clues can help you quickly determine which part you want to keep.
In order to make the flavor differences easier to drink and to show a balanced taste, you can start with medium-coarse grinding, a powder-to-water ratio of 1:15 and a water temperature of 88 to 90 degrees Celsius. Keep the water injection even in the front section, and don’t delay it too long in the back section. If the sweetness is not enough, you can adjust the grinding slightly; if the aftertaste is bitter, lower the water temperature or end the extraction early. When this set of starting points is used for home Americano 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 Americano coffee beans are suitable for home use, you can brew the same bean 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.
Freshly ground coffee beans retain more aroma for home use. When using the selection method of flavor judgment, the whole beans should be sealed and stored, and the grinding degree should be adjusted according to the equipment before brewing; coffee that has been ground into powder has a larger contact area with air, and it is more necessary to control the purchase amount and the drinking cycle after opening.
Put home Americano coffee beans back into your daily drinking habit, and the choice will be much simpler. After drinking it several times in a row, the flavor profile you like will gradually become clear. The Front Street Boutique Blend and the Front Street Qiuri Blend represent different flavor focuses. You can first choose the one that is closer to the current utensils, and then try the other one after you drink it thoroughly. The taste will gradually develop naturally.
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
