Customers often ask Front Street after buying coffee beans: Why can’t they get the “burger” when they brew their own coffee? Are the beans stale?
In order to ensure the flavor of the coffee, the coffee beans shipped from Front Street are all freshly roasted within 5 days. Sometimes it takes two or three days to grow before brewing. Although the freshness of the beans does affect the steamed "burger", the real situation is far more than this. Today we will talk about several key factors related to steaming.
What is the use of steaming Pour over(V60) coffee?
The entire process of Pour over(V60) coffee is mainly divided into two stages, one is steaming and the other is extraction. As a preparatory action, steaming is to evenly wet the coffee powder with a small amount of hot water before the official extraction. During this process, it will expand and form a "bulge shape".
Because carbon dioxide will seal the contact channel between water and soluble substances during coffee extraction, hindering the entire extraction process, the main purpose of steaming is to release the carbon dioxide gas in the coffee. Generally speaking, the closer the coffee beans are to the roasting date, the more bubbles will appear during steaming; the darker the roasted coffee beans, because they contain less water, the degree of gas release during the steaming process will be more obvious than that of lightly roasted beans. When the coffee particles are released from the gas, if the coffee particles can evenly absorb water and become saturated, the subsequent brewing will be more uniform.
Why is there no "bulge" in the hand steamed steamer?
After talking about the purpose of steaming, let’s talk about the five key factors that affect the “bulging”: degree of roasting, degree of freshness, degree of grinding, and technique.
1. Roasting degree of beans
More than any other factor, the degree of roasting of the coffee beans has the greatest impact on the expansion effect of steaming. The darker the roasted coffee beans, the longer they are heated, the more carbon dioxide they contain, and the more vigorous the exhaust, so they can easily form a very good-looking "burger" when steamed. Lightly roasted coffee has a low expansion rate and contains less gas. Even in a very fresh state, the "bulge" formed by steaming is relatively gentle. Floral and fruity coffees such as Front Street Geisha, Front Street Oiran, and Front Street Yirgacheffe have very small steaming fluctuations.
Therefore, if you want a huge "bulge" to appear during steaming, you must ensure that there is enough carbon dioxide in the coffee powder. Hypothesis! Hypothesis! If you really want to get a plump burger, buy coffee beans that are roasted to medium or above. The first choice is Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling, Front Street Queen's Manor, and Front Street Columbia Cymbidium with chocolate, nut, and caramel flavors. This type of coffee beans itself contains a lot of gas, and can expand upward quickly when exposed to water, and maintain a relatively long exhaust state, giving it a full visual effect.
In addition, some medium-roasted coffees that use anaerobic treatment methods are more likely to form "burgers" when steamed due to their loose texture, such as Front Street Xipaw and Front Street Big Belly Button.
But in the end, what we pursue is a cup of delicious coffee, not a good-looking "burger." Steaming is just a part of brewing. The key is to choose according to your own preferences and never put the cart before the horse.
2. Freshness
Front Street mentioned at the beginning that steaming is to exhaust gas, so the fresher the coffee beans, the more gas they have, and the better the expansion effect of natural steaming. If you don’t see the bulging state of the powder layer at all during steaming, and a hollow honeycomb shape is formed between the particles, it means that the bag of coffee beans may have been stored for too long, and the carbon dioxide gas inside has been naturally released, which also means that it is not fresh, and the flavor is likely to be greatly reduced, so you must drink it as soon as possible.
In this regard, Front Street believes that the steaming expansion can be used as one of the references for us to judge the freshness of coffee beans, but we must not rely too much on this method, because there are other reasons why the coffee powder layer does not expand.
3. Grinding degree
If the coffee beans are ground too coarsely, the exposed surface area of the particles will be smaller, making it harder for hot water to penetrate inside, and the exhaust effect will naturally be weaker. If the coffee powder is ground particularly coarsely, it will be difficult for us to make a "burger" regardless of whether it is fresh or not. Because as soon as the water is poured down, it will directly slip away from the gaps between the coffee powder, and it will not even be steamed, let alone a "burger". On the contrary, if the powder is ground too finely, the water will only stay on the surface and cannot reach the bottom, and the steaming situation will not be good.
When we find that the grinding is too coarse or too fine and the "burger" is not puffed up during steaming, the coffee is likely to be under-extracted or over-extracted, so be sure to adjust it in time. Regarding the grinding size of Pour over(V60) coffee, you can refer to the schematic diagram in this article on Front Street:Grinding degree。
4. Techniques
There are many methods of steaming, including circles from the inside out, circles from the outside in, and water filling and spreading in the center. As long as the above conditions are ensured, these methods can make the coffee form a "bulge". But for novices, it will be easier to form a good-looking "burger" by circling from the center outward. This water filling method can be applied to a variety of coffee beans.
The size of the water flow also has an impact on the steaming of the coffee. Generally, a stable flow control circle is required, while a small water flow is more conducive to novices making perfect "burgers".
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
