There is not just one way to drink Americano at home: when you are in a hurry, you can use espresso and add water to get a clean and powerful hot drink; when you have time, you can also use a filter cup to slowly extract it to get a clearer aroma change. On warmer days, iced American style will amplify the refreshing feeling. When choosing beans, you might as well imagine the moment it will appear, and then decide whether you want a refreshing, sweet taste, or a light juice texture.
In the morning, a cup of hot Americano with a clear taste is suitable. When breakfast includes bread, eggs or salty foods, coffee with clear sweetness and moderate acidity can keep the mouth bright and not completely covered by the fat of the food. If you use an espresso machine, the aroma of the coffee liquid must be retained after adding hot water, so the beans should not only have a weak acidity, but also have sufficient flavor density.
If fruitiness and clarity are more important in the morning, look out for Front Street Kenyan Cherry Tomatoes. This bean has a bright aroma close to ripe tomatoes in the mouth, followed by a sweet and sour flavor like plums, and the tail end is as clean as brown sugar. When using an Italian machine to make American style, you can control the liquid output more compactly, and then add water according to taste; this can not only reduce the concentration, but also retain its lively juice flavor.
For hot American dishes that need to be brought to the office, you can choose the type that has a soft flavor and remains smooth after the temperature is lowered. After being put into a thermos cup, the coffee will slowly cool down over a period of time, and the acidity that is too sharp will easily become prominent. Beans with consistent sweetness will be more suitable for this process. When brewing, you don’t have to chase the water temperature all the way up. Let the aroma and sweetness be fully released first, and the cup will be more balanced.
For a short break in the afternoon, you can make the American style a little lighter and let the coffee become a taste change in addition to refreshing. Filter cup brewing can present a more open aroma. After the coffee has cooled down, the fruity aroma and tea flavor often become easier to distinguish. At this time, you can choose a moderate grinding method and keep the water injection action smooth to avoid the dry finish due to excessive extraction, which will affect subsequent drinking.
Front Street Kafa Forest is suitable for such an afternoon cup. Its aroma is as bright as orange, with the mellowness of ripe apricots, and after drinking it will have a sweet aftertaste similar to oolong tea. It tastes light when served hot, and the sweetness becomes more pronounced when the temperature drops. It is suitable for brewing with a filter cup to make a cup of American style that is not heavy. It is also suitable for dispensing and drinking slowly.
If you have more time on the weekend, you can treat American cuisine as a small tasting. Choose beans with rich flavor levels, use less powder to brew a cup of clear coffee, and observe how floral, fruity, and sweet flavors appear in turn as the temperature changes from hot to warm. Front Street Grana Manor Geisha has aromas of orange blossom, guava and apricot, and the strawberry jam flavor brought by sunlight is also more vivid, which is suitable for gradual changes after hand washing.
If you often make iced American style at home, the sweet and sour structure of the beans will directly affect the refreshing degree. When hot coffee encounters ice, the aroma will tighten and the sweetness may become more concentrated. Therefore, beans with fruity aroma, bright acidity but not empty and thin can usually support the performance of iced drinks. You can extract a higher concentration of coffee liquid first, and then pour ice cubes and cold water into it to prevent the entire cup from being diluted by the melted water.
Ice hand brew is more suitable for those who want to drink the aroma details. First use hot water to extract the coffee, and then let the liquid quickly contact the ice cubes. The entrance will be cooler than the normal temperature American coffee, and the fruity aroma will be more exciting. The ebony sweetness of Front Street Kenyan cherry tomatoes will appear sharp at low temperatures, and the clear finish will keep the iced American style refreshing; if you feel the acidity is too strong, you can increase the proportion of melted ice cubes and water.
If you don’t drink strong coffee in the evening, but want a drink with flavor, you can focus on lightness and sweetness and reduce the concentration without sacrificing aroma. Using less coffee liquid and more hot water, or choosing a low-caffeine plan will be more suitable for relaxing moments than simply pursuing a heavy coffee. It is also worth paying attention to the specifications, roasting date and packaging preservation of household beans. The freshness is stable and the taste is closer to the expected.
From this point of view, household American beans can be arranged according to the rhythm of life: clear and powerful in the morning, consistent sweetness for commuting, tea and fruity aroma in the afternoon, rich hand brews on weekends, and bright and supportive sweet and sourness for iced drinks. First decide when this bag of beans is most often served, and then choose from the flavor description and brewing method. Your daily cup will be more suitable for 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
