For more knowledge about specialty coffee, please follow the WeChat public account: FrontStreet Coffee
An espresso with a clearly visible crema layer requires good quality, moderately ground, crema-rich coffee beans and a skilled barista. Compared to drip coffee, the coffee creme layer gives espresso a more saturated flavor and a stronger aftertaste.
The Italian coffee that everyone usually likes to drink is based on espresso, so a cup of delicious espresso can be called the soul of coffee. When it comes to espresso, oil must be an important indicator that everyone cannot ignore. Because in addition to giving important visual and sensory qualities to espresso, the oil also changes the flavor and taste of espresso to a certain extent. But what exactly is this layer of grease?
Oil manufacturing process
To understand how these oils are produced, you first need to understand the espresso-making process. Taking a professional espresso machine as an example, it uses 18 to 20 grams of coffee powder and 9 atmospheres of pressure (i.e. 9 Bar) to extract 35 to 40 grams of espresso. High temperature, high pressure, and suitable coffee powder can produce a cup of espresso.
When espresso is first extracted, there will be a layer of golden to chocolate-colored oil on the surface; this layer of oil is inseparable from pressure. When the water is heated and pressurized, it will extract the soluble substances in the coffee powder layer. This process will emulsify the fat and oil naturally present in the coffee. At the same time, freshly roasted coffee beans contain carbon dioxide. During the process of making espresso, these carbon dioxide are under pressure and melt into the coffee. However, when the hot water passes through the coffee powder and flows out of the powder bowl, it can return from 9 atmospheres to the normal pressure of 1 atmosphere. At this time, due to the pressure difference, the carbon dioxide expands, and the oil then envelops the carbon dioxide. Due to the chemical property of oil being lighter than water, the so-called grease is formed.
Lots of greasegood espresso
The oil reflects the condition of the green coffee beans. The more oil, the more natural oil content the coffee beans have, which means the coffee beans are fresh. However, coffee with oil does not necessarily mean it is a good cup of espresso. For example, Robusta coffee beans are quite rich in oil.
In fact, espresso coffee is the most direct and simple way to show the original flavor of coffee. Therefore, poor beans, poor grinding, poor powder pressing, improper machine operation, too short or too long extraction time, etc. will affect the flavor of a cup of espresso coffee. So the next time you have a cup of espresso, don’t be too quick to judge the quality of the coffee based on its oils.
A good cup of espresso should have a balanced taste, a round and smooth entrance, and have the flavor of the place of origin (fruity acidity, floral aroma, etc.), and it must not be blindly bitter. Remember to take a sip slowly and taste the flavor. You may start to like drinking espresso from now on.
Fatty coffee beansRecommended
The flavor of coffee beans can intuitively control the taste of iced latte coffee. Most Italian blended coffee beans will make the iced latte show a rich nutty, chocolate, and strong coffee flavor. There are also a few coffee beans that bring out the sweet, rich flavor of the milk in the iced latte.
Front Street specially formulated two types of Italian beans for customers who like fat and rich taste.
One is the Front Street commercial blended espresso beans, which is a comprehensive formula made from Arabica coffee beans from Brazil, Colombia and Vietnamese coffee beans. When extracted into a concentrate, it will be very smooth, with rich coffee oil, and a particularly rich taste.
The other is Front Street's classic blend of Italian coffee beans. It is a recipe made from three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, Sumatra, and Vietnam. It uses deep roasting, which can highlight the mellow aroma of the coffee to the greatest extent, and also allows everyone to easily extract rich and dense coffee oil. It is very suitable for making American style diluted with water or latte with milk.
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
