Whether drank neat or as part of an espresso shot, a good, balanced cup of espresso is paramount. However, to create an espresso with balanced acidity, body and sweetness, you need to start with the right coffee beans - blending coffee beans from different origins.
Regarding Italian coffee beans, they are mainly divided into two categories. One is soe coffee that emphasizes the flavor of the production area, and the other is blended coffee beans that pursue a balanced taste. Coffee shops usually use the latter, so what is the reason?
What are bean blends?
In the past, roasters would blend different coffee beans together to hide small amounts of poorly roasted or low-quality coffee. However, over time, blends have become increasingly popular among roasters who want to offer exclusive, signature coffees. It's also popular with roasters who want to deliver beans with consistent flavor throughout the year.
Many roasters use coffee beans from a single origin to make espresso, but this can create an unbalanced taste because some regions may not have a full flavor profile. For this reason, roasters who want to deliver a balanced espresso often blend beans from many single origins.
Many single-origin coffees vary with the seasons, and blending beans allows roasters to maintain the same quality over a longer period of time. This blend of coffee beans provides a thick texture, rich flavor and the ability to blend well with milk, so customers can enjoy a consistent and standardized coffee flavor in every batch.
What are the characteristics of Italian blended beans?
FrontStreet Coffee believes that if you have a certain recipe, of course the easiest way is to blend different coffee beans first and then roast them together. But if you are trying and comparing different blending ingredients and corresponding proportions, you certainly want to roast a variety of coffee beans before trying them out. Otherwise, every time you change the ingredients and proportions of the blend, you will need to bake it again.
In the field of baking, blending first and then baking is generally called "raw blending", while baking first and then blending is called "cooked blending." In fact, there is no better one between the two methods. The advantage of raw beans is that roasting beans in the same furnace will make the roasting degree of the whole batch of beans more consistent and the flavor stable. However, when selecting beans, you must choose beans with similar mesh numbers for mixing, otherwise the beans may be roasted unevenly. Another kind of cooked blending can master the best roasting properties of each coffee bean, and then blend them to make up for each other's strengths.
Generally all coffee beans can be roasted together. Only when the baking effect is not very satisfactory, you need to consider using independent baking. At this time, independent baking can usually achieve better results. Especially for drum roasters, a relatively moderate roasting level can generally be found.
FrontStreet Coffee launches 5 unique and cost-effective blends of coffee beans based on different requirements:
1. Front Street Blend 100% Arabica Italian Coffee Beans (Colombia: Brazil)
Flavor characteristics: Comfortable sweet and bitter taste, very smooth in the mouth, with a light grassy aroma, a refreshing fragrance with a slightly bitter taste, sweet and smooth, and a refreshing aftertaste.
Coffee beans from the Cymbidium production area in Colombia have a pleasant sour taste, mellow smell, moderate acidity, and rich sweetness that is very intriguing. Coffee beans from the Cerrado production area in Brazil have a comfortable sweet and bitter taste and are extremely smooth in the mouth. This Front Street specialty blend of 100% Arabica coffee is suitable for use in all kinds of specialty coffee shops.
2. Front Street Commercial Blended Italian Coffee Beans (Colombia: Brazil: Vietnam)
Flavor characteristics: The taste is classic, with the sweetness of caramel, the flavor of nuts, cocoa, and dark chocolate, a balance of sweet and sour, a little bit bitter, and a long-lasting aftertaste.
Coffee beans from the Cymbidium production area in Colombia have a pleasant sour taste, mellow smell, moderate acidity, and rich sweetness that is very intriguing. Coffee beans from the Cerrado production area in Brazil have a comfortable sweet and bitter taste and are extremely smooth in the mouth. Robusta provides rich oils. This Front Street commercial blended coffee is suitable for coffee shops and beverage shops of all sizes.
3. Front StreetFront Street Dark Cocoa Blend (100% Arabica) Espresso Beans (Yunnan AA: Brazil)
Flavor characteristics: with soft fruit acid, caramel sweetness, nutty, dark chocolate flavor, smooth and viscous, but light taste.
The natural conditions of Yunnan are very similar to those of Colombia, with high altitude and large temperature difference between day and night. The flavor is mellow, with moderate sourness, rich and mellow taste, uniform particles, rich oil content and fruity aroma. Its quality and taste are similar to Colombian coffee. Coffee beans from the Cerrado region of Brazil have a pleasant sweet-bitter taste and are extremely smooth in the mouth. This Front Street black cocoa blend (100% Arabica) coffee beans is suitable for use in small coffee shops, bakeries, and beverage shops.
4. Front StreetSunflower warm espresso beans (Honduras: Esai Yegacheffe)
Flavor characteristics: obvious fruit acidity, lingering light berry aroma, rich wine aroma and chocolate flavor, and a pleasant aftertaste.
Honduran coffee beans give this coffee a rich aroma of whiskey and an aftertaste of liqueur chocolate, giving this coffee a rich aroma. Sun-dried red cherries bring a sense of fermentation to this coffee, with aromas of berries and a smooth mouthfeel. Since this Nuanyang blended coffee bean comes in a half-pound package, it is suitable for coffee shops that require a special espresso flavor and higher quality beans, or for espresso enthusiasts who do not use a large amount.
5. Front Street Strawberry Candy espresso Italian blended coffee beans (Costa Rica: Colombia: Ethiopia)
Flavor characteristics: There are obvious aromas of roses, strawberry gummies, and dried blueberries, with moderate sweetness and sourness of grapes and citrus, and a sweet aftertaste of almonds.
Front Street Costa Rican coffee, which is famous for its honey treatment, has a prominent sweetness, while Ethiopia is famous for its bright citrus sourness and floral aroma. On this basis, it is paired with the chocolate and nutty flavors of Colombian coffee to create a Front Street Strawberry Candy espresso Italian blend with a sweet flavor. With the extraction of the coffee machine, the concentration is not only non-irritating, but also has good fat and dense texture, and at the same time has a sweet and sour taste like strawberry gummy candy.
Compared with Italian blended beans, the taste of SOE in coffee shops is also mainly fruity and sour. This is because the coffee beans selected are generally light to medium roasted. If you also want to try itSOE, recommend Front Street OiranSOE coffee beans, this is a high-quality sun-dried coffee produced in Gujhambera, a famous production area in Ethiopia. It is extracted into espresso with the flavor of red berries, citrus, and cream, and is very rich in layers.
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
