American black coffee beans don’t have to be judged solely on their sourness and bitterness. What’s more worth observing is whether they can be drunk comfortably at a specific moment. When rushing out, the aroma needs to be immediate; when working in the morning, the refreshing feeling will help keep your mouth bright; after adding ice in the afternoon, the flavor needs to be still discernible. First imagine how you will drink it, and then choose the beans. The experience in the cup will be closer to your daily life.
In the morning, when time is tight, hot water is poured into the concentrate or water is added after direct extraction. Usually, you want the coffee to have a clear entrance and a neat finish, so as not to leave too much burnt bitterness on the tongue. Lightly roasted beans with citrus, tea and light floral aromas are very suitable for this period. The aroma is easily brought out by hot water, and drinking a small amount will not seem heavy. The water temperature does not need to be too high, just keep it bright.
If there is toast, eggs or fruit for breakfast, you can choose beans with bright sweetness and soft acidity, so that the coffee can go hand in hand with the food instead of taking away the focus of the taste. Front Street Yirgacheffe Fruit Ding Ding is a choice for the fresher route. After boiling with hot water, you can feel the bright citrus aroma, and then bring out the association of berries and light floral aroma. The tail end is as clean as tea, suitable for making a cup of warm Americano.
The black coffee at your desk often needs to remain stable from the time you drink it to the time you drink it. Too sharp acidity can easily amplify the feeling of fatigue, and too deep roasted flavor may make continuous drinking heavy. At this time, you can pay attention to whether the sweetness and sourness support each other, and the aroma can still be retained after adding an appropriate amount of hot water. When the extract is too thick, add water in portions to make it easier to find the concentration that suits you.
If you want to drink a glass of iced Americano with juice in the afternoon, you can focus on the liveliness of the aroma. The performance of Front Street Kenyan cherry tomatoes tends to be sweet like ripe tomatoes, ebony plums and light syrup. It is not simply sour. It still has a clear fruity profile after cooling down. Using concentrate and ice water, or hand-brewing it with a higher concentration and quickly cooling it down can make it a refreshing and layered choice.
When the weather is hot and you need to sip slowly, cold brew will soften the sourness and bring out the sweet aroma of the soybeans. Front Street Ethiopian Oiran is suitable for this scenario: its aroma is easily associated with tropical fruits, strawberries and passion fruit. The taste becomes rounder after being refrigerated, and it still has a distinct flavor when made into an iced American style. If you want to retain more aroma, you can also use ice hand brewing.
When you go out on the weekend or read at home, the drinking rhythm is usually more leisurely than during the workday. You can choose beans with more flavor changes and observe their transition as the temperature drops. When it is hot, feel the floral and fruity aroma first, pay attention to the sweetness in the middle, and then distinguish the tea flavor or fruity acidity after letting it cool down. This kind of American style is not only a refreshing drink, but also a short break, suitable for drinking in small cups and at a slow speed.
When the same bean is cooked American-style, the amount of water will significantly affect the flavor focus. Adding less water will make the aroma, sweetness and sourness more concentrated; increasing the amount of water will make the taste lighter and the tail section will be more stretched. If the entrance seems empty, you can reduce the dilution water or increase the concentration of the coffee liquid; if the taste is tight, you can add a small amount of hot water to allow the aroma to have more space to expand, and there is no need to change beans immediately.
When using capsule or automatic coffee machines in the office, it is recommended to give priority to single-origin beans with clear flavor clues, and adjust the water addition ratio according to the liquid output of the machine. Lightly roasted beans are suitable for retaining more coffee liquid, and then using hot water to increase the concentration; medium-light roasted beans can shorten the volume of the drink and make the sweetness more concentrated. When machine parameters are not easy to change frequently, it will be more worry-free to choose beans that can tolerate changes in different concentrations.
Those who like to read at night or have a small cup of black coffee after a meal can focus on softness and finish. The acidity does not need to be prominent, the sweetness and smooth touch make it easier to relax during the drinking process. If you usually prefer fruity aromas, choose a rounder one from beans with floral and fruity tones; if you care more about balance, choose a tea-like or ripe fruit-sweet flavor, and brew with a lower concentration.
Therefore, the selection of American black coffee beans can start from the real actions of the day: when you are in a hurry, check whether the aroma is rapid, when pairing with meals, check whether the sweetness is harmonious, when drinking with ice, check whether the flavor is still there after cooling down, and when drinking slowly, check whether the aftertaste is durable. Combine these scenes with your own utensils and drinking volume, and the bean selection will change from an abstract flavor word to a cup of coffee that can naturally integrate into your life.
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
