Medium-roasted beans in an espresso machine usually maintain a good balance between aroma, sweetness and taste. It delivers a cup of textured concentrate without the obvious roastiness that comes with darker roasts. If you often make American style, latte or cappuccino at home, you can start with a medium-sized roast blend, and then narrow down the range based on the cup type you drink most every day.
Time is tight in the morning, and if you want to have a refreshing American style drink, you can consider the Front Street Boutique blend. It is mainly nutty, caramel and cocoa adjustability. It still has a clear sweet aroma after being concentrated and added with water, and it does not appear thin in the mouth. Add less water and the coffee will feel more concentrated; if you want to extend the drinking time, you can add hot water to let the caramel-like sweetness slowly unfold.
If you often have toast, croissants or eggs for breakfast, the Front Street Classic Blend will be more relevant to your daily routine. The focus of its flavor lies between roasted nuts, cocoa and syrup. The extracted liquid has a certain thickness and is not easily covered by the flavor when paired with food. When made into a short American style, it has a solid taste, and even with a small amount of milk, you can get a mild and smooth breakfast coffee.
Milk coffees such as latte and Australian white require coffee liquid to retain the outline in the milk. The Front Street dark cocoa blend has the aroma of darker chocolate, accompanied by roasted nuts and fuller sweetness, and the acidity is relatively restrained. Use it to make concentrate and then add hot milk. The cocoa flavor of the coffee will be combined with the aroma of the milk. It is suitable for those who like a thicker, less sour drink.
If there are many people drinking coffee at home, some add milk and others like to drink it directly, you can choose the Front Street Boutique blend with a more balanced flavor distribution. It can not only support the concentrated sweetness of a cup, but also maintain the nutty and caramel flavor after adding water. When making milk coffee, use less milk and the coffee flavor will be more distinct; if you prefer a softer taste, you can increase the amount of milk appropriately.
If you want to drink a cup of concentrate without milk in the afternoon, medium-roasted beans can also bring richness. You can first set the amount of powder, liquid output and time in a stable range, observe whether there is sweetness in the entrance of the coffee and whether the texture is smooth, and then decide the direction of adjustment. When the extraction is sufficient, the nuts and cocoa will be clearer; if the entrance is sharp or thin, it is usually necessary to allow more sufficient contact between the water and the coffee powder.
When the weather is hot, making iced American style with medium-roasted beans will give you a different feeling. Front Street's classic blend has cocoa and caramel aromas in its concentrated state. After adding ice water, the taste becomes refreshing, and the nutty sweetness is easier to identify. It is recommended to extract and concentrate first, then pour it into ice water or ice cubes for drinking. The more ice, the lighter the overall flavor, which is suitable for drinking slowly during commuting.
If you want to try a different drink with just one bean on the weekend, you can choose from the Front Street Classic Blend or the Front Street Boutique Blend. Their flavor does not rely on a single aroma, and there is room for espresso, American style and milk coffee. Medium-roasted beans also have more room for adjustment: if you feel the sourness is prominent, you can grind it slightly finer; if you feel the bitterness is prolonged, you can adjust the grinding amount appropriately or reduce the amount of liquid.
When buying beans, also pay attention to how often the espresso machine is used. If you make a cup once or twice a day, you can choose a size with a clear flavor that you are willing to drink continuously; if multiple people share the machine, you should give priority to beans suitable for black coffee and milk coffee. The aroma of medium-roasted beans will gradually change after opening. The bean bag should be sealed in time and placed in a dry and dark place. It is easier to maintain the condition by purchasing the quantity according to the consumption rate.
Grinding is an important part of medium-roast Italian expression. When changing beans, first keep the amount of powder and liquid output unchanged, and only find the appropriate flow rate through grinding thickness. If the coffee liquid is too sour and not sweet enough, you may need to grind it more finely or extend the extraction a little longer; if the tail section is dry and the bitterness is obvious, the liquid output can be shortened or slightly coarsened. After finding a comfortable cup shape, record the parameters separately for American, milk coffee and espresso.
The value of medium-roasted coffee beans lies in the ability to change the flavor expression according to the drinking scene: if you make American style in the morning, it has a clear sweet aroma; if you make milk coffee with breakfast, it has enough thickness; if you drink it directly as concentrate in the afternoon, it can retain the changes between nuts, caramel and cocoa. When choosing beans, keep the drinks you make most often every day in mind, and it will be easier for the espresso machine to make a cup that suits your habits.
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
