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In the cold winter, friends often go to the store on Front Street and want a cup of warm latte coffee as soon as they enter. When I tasted the strong aroma of alcohol in the latte on Front Street, I wanted to taste the espresso directly. After watching the barista on Front Street, I found that I only wanted a cup of espresso, but there was an extra cup of ice water. Front Street believes that when many people try to order espresso for the first time, they will be confused: How to drink espresso correctly? Why does the barista bring a glass of ice water when there is obviously water?
I have also seen some friends pour the espresso liquid directly into the ice water on Front Street. Since espresso is characterized by a concentrated and rich flavor, you may not be used to drinking it, so you mistake ice water for diluting espresso.
The method of making espresso seems simple. You only need to add powder, cloth, and press. Then you can attach the brewing head and brew, resulting in a thick golden yellow liquid that is overflowing with aroma. However, making a near-perfect cup of espresso requires experienced techniques.
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) once explained the making of espresso as follows: 9-10 Pa pressure, 7 to 9 grams of coffee powder, 88 to 92 degrees Celsius water temperature, 22 to 28 seconds to extract 45 ml of espresso liquid.
With the arrival of the third wave of coffee, the degree of roasting of coffee beans is more inclined to light roasting, and the improvement of the manufacturing technology of espresso machines has greatly changed the extraction parameters of espresso today: 9-10 Pa pressure, 18 grams of coffee powder, 92 to 94 degrees Celsius water temperature, 25 to 27 seconds to extract 30 grams of espresso liquid. Visible to the naked eye, the extraction volume changes from milliliters to grams, which is more accurate.
When people extract Italian coffee, they will consider many factors such as the temperature and humidity of the scene, the degree of roasting, freshness, grinding, extraction pressure, and time of the coffee beans.
Front Street needs to adjust various parameters every day before production to ensure that it can produce espresso coffee with stable quality.
Front Street will take into account factors such as grinding degree, extraction pressure, powder volume, and extraction volume when adjusting parameters.
[Grinding degree] If the grinding degree is finer, the surface contact area between the coffee powder particles and the water will increase, and more flavor substances will be extracted. If the grinding degree is too fine, the flavor will be over-extracted; and vice versa.
[Extraction pressure] The extraction pressure of ancient Italian coffee machines was close to atmospheric pressure. If the pressure was too low, the extracted oil would be less, the flavor would be lighter, and the taste would be thinner. If the pressure is too high, the extremely high pressure will destroy too much coffee tissue and extract more unnecessary flavor substances, which will easily lead to a bitter taste.
[Amount of powder] The amount of powder generally depends on the capacity of the coffee powder bowl. If the amount is too small, the extraction will be insufficient; if too much, the brewing handle will not be buckled and brewing will be impossible.
[Extraction volume] Generally speaking, the extraction ratio is close to 1:2. After coffee begins to be extracted, as time goes by, the flavor becomes richer in the early stages and thinner in the later stages.
FrontStreet Coffee’s espresso extraction parameters
Grinder: Galileo Q18
Grinding degree: 2.1
Coffee machine: Pegasus E98
Pressure: 9±2 bar
Temperature: 90~96 degrees Celsius
Amount of powder: 19.5g
Extraction volume: 35 grams
The espresso extracted by Front Street through the above adjusted parameters has a strong aroma of whiskey in the mouth, obvious vanilla and cream flavors, acidity of berries, long aftertaste of dark chocolate, and a viscous and smooth taste.
Front Street Sunflower Warm Sun Blended Coffee Beans
Origin: Honduras & Ethiopia
Varieties: Kaduura, Kaduai, Pacas, local native species
Treatment method: Washing & Sun-drying
The reason why Front Street's Italian coffee beans have such a rich aroma of wine is because there are 70% Honduran sherry coffee beans in this coffee beans. After being delicately washed, the sherry coffee beans from Honduras are placed in sherry whiskey barrels for low-temperature fermentation for dozens of days, allowing the sweet sherry whiskey aroma to slowly penetrate into the green coffee beans. They are then placed in a cool place for drying to prevent direct sunlight from causing the temperature to rise and the aroma of the wine to be lost or even produce a bad fermentation feeling. The other 30% are Ethiopian sun-dried red cherries, which use the most original and traditional sun-drying method to give the coffee beans a longer aftertaste and a more obvious sweet and sour feeling.
FrontStreet Coffee’s Pour over(V60) coffee bean list includes Honduran sherry and Ethiopian sun-dried red cherry coffee beans. What Front Street needs to remind you is not to be tempted to buy two single-origin beans and mix them at home to make Italian coffee. Because, with the different extraction methods, the flavors expressed are different, and even the degree of roasting is different. In order to avoid the problem of running out of coffee beans and wasting them, Front Street took into account the need for both Italian and hand brewing when formulating this Italian blend.
Next, let Front Street tell you how to drink espresso.
FrontStreet Coffee usually serves espresso with a small spoon and a glass of ice water. Before drinking espresso, take a sip of ice water to clean your mouth, then use a small spoon to slightly open the golden layer of grease on it to check the quality of the espresso, then take a sip, let the coffee liquid stay in your mouth for a while and experience its flavor and texture, and rinse your mouth with ice water before each drink of coffee, so as to fully experience the flavor and taste of espresso at different temperatures. Of course, if you like, you can also use a small spoon to stir the entire cup of espresso liquid, stir the upper and lower layers evenly, and then drink.
If you want to use this Italian coffee bean to make Pour over(V60) coffee, Front Street recommends using a KONO filter cup, a water temperature of 87 degrees Celsius, and a medium-coarse grinding level.
Filter cup: KONO filter cup
Water temperature: 87 degrees Celsius
Amount of powder: 15g
Pink to water ratio: 1:15
Grinding degree: Chinese standard No. 20 screen pass rate 70%
Inject water in the shape of a "の" character until the coffee powder is completely moistened and steamed for 30 seconds. Inject a small amount of water from the center point and slowly circle it to 125 grams for segmentation. When the water temperature in the filter cup drops to about to expose the powder bed, continue to gently and slowly pour water in circles to 225 grams and stop. The total extraction time is about 2 minutes.
After being extracted by hand brewing, Front Street's sunflower warm sun blended beans will also have a strong aroma of whiskey in the mouth, with berry acidity, obvious vanilla creaminess, and a mellow taste.
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
