The domestic coffee industry has developed rapidly in recent years. Even in the face of black swan events and general difficulties in all industries, the domestic coffee market has maintained steady growth. So as an ordinary enthusiast, how should we evaluate a coffee bean in the face of the promotion of merchants?
When drinking coffee and buying coffee beans, we often see information about a coffee, including the flavor description of the coffee. For example, the Yirgacheffe Cooperative in Front Street Coffee has a citrus and tea flavor, and the Washed Jade Manor Blue Label Gesha has a floral and tea aroma. These are all information that can help us understand the taste of a coffee bean.
However, flavor description is only one part of tasting the taste of a coffee bean. As a practitioner, in addition to flavor, you also need to make objective judgments on coffee including aroma and other items, so as to judge the quality of coffee beans or control the quality of products produced in stores.
What dimensions can be used to judge coffee? Front Street Coffee has dismantled the commonly used cupping tables in the industry and explained them to you from the following 7 dimensions.
Aroma
Aroma refers to the experience we get by relying on our sense of smell, which is divided into dry aroma and wet aroma. The dry aroma is the aroma of coffee beans just after grinding, and the wet aroma is the aroma of coffee liquid after extraction. Aroma is the first experience, and its intensity and type can also most directly reflect the quality of a coffee bean.
When cupping Front Street Coffee, they will first grind the coffee into powder and put it into a cupping bowl to feel the dry aroma of the coffee. For example, the sherry barrel coffee beans from Honduras have obvious aromas of wine and chocolate when they are dry.
Then add water and extract for 4 minutes. Once the time is up, the residue will be broken and the wet aroma will be judged. At this time, the washed Geisha from Panama Jade Manor will show an amazing floral aroma that is still fresh in your memory.
Acidity
Acidity refers to the acidity in our five senses. It can also describe the amount of saliva secreted on both sides of the tongue.
In addition to describing the acidity of coffee, acidity also describes the acidity of coffee. For example, we would describe Yirgacheffe coffee as having citrus acidity, and Kenyan coffee as having obvious berry-like acidity.
Front Street Coffee needs to be reminded that acidity is not the only criterion for evaluating the quality of a coffee. The more acidic the better, the acidity of coffee is also affected by the degree of roasting. Golden Mandheling, which is more representative of Front Street Coffee, chooses a darker degree of roasting in order to highlight the mellowness and herbal spice flavor of this production area, and the acidity will be greatly reduced.
cleanliness
Cleanliness refers to coffee that is free of any imperfections and unpleasant flavors. Coffee with earthy musty smell, medicinal iodine smell, onion smell, rubber smell and other bad tastes means that the coffee is not clean enough.
Whether it is the cupping system of COE or SCAA, cleanliness occupies a very important position. Front Street Coffee also fully agrees. No matter how outstanding and exquisite the flavor of coffee is, if it is mixed with an intolerable taste, it will greatly compromise the overall experience.
sweetness
Sweetness refers to the sweetness in the five senses. Sweetness reflects whether the coffee is harvested at the optimal maturity when harvested, and also indicates whether there are immature or overripe fruits for processing. Excellent sweetness indicates good quality coffee. There are many different expressions of sweetness, such as sugarcane sweetness, honey sweetness, etc.
In recent years, sun-dried coffee beans have gained the favor of many coffee lovers due to their high sweetness. For example, this year Panama Jade Estate added sun-dried blue label Geisha. When cupping Front Street Coffee, you can feel the obvious passion fruit flavor and the high sweetness, which is surprising.
Taste\mellowness
Mouthfeel refers to the touch of the mouth. Mouthfeel does not refer to taste. It is an oral experience, such as touch, oiliness, viscosity, and body, which can reflect the taste of coffee. You can use water and milk as an example to distinguish the difference in taste.
Among them, Golden Mandheling has a more mellow taste, while Kenyan Azalea tastes more like juice.
Flavor
Flavor refers to the overall experience we have when drinking this coffee.
Combining various sensations such as smell and taste. These directly reflect the taste of this coffee and are also the direct basis for describing the taste characteristics of coffee.
For example, Gesha coffee will have obvious floral and tea aromas, Guatemala coffee will have a tobacco feel, Kenyan coffee is known for its berry flavor, Colombian Rose Valley is reminiscent of the aroma of strawberry, and Honduran sherry is more like wine-filled chocolate.
Aftertaste
Aftertaste refers to the various flavors and aromas that remain in your mouth after drinking coffee. If the good flavor lingers for a long time, we can describe this coffee as having a long finish.
Balance
Balance refers to whether the various indicators of coffee are balanced.
For example, whether it is too acidic or has a prominent bitterness, these are the basis for us to describe whether this coffee is balanced. The sense of balance is also the place to judge the overall experience of coffee. A balance between sour, sweet and bitter will be a better experience. The lack of sweetness will make the sourness sharp, and too much bitterness will overwhelm the other experiences of coffee, because the tongue is more sensitive to bitterness.
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
