Each independent coffee shop has its own characteristics and the choice of coffee beans is also different. However, in large chain coffee shops like Starbucks, the formula of espresso beans generally used to make coffee drinks is almost the same, so no matter which Starbucks you go to, you can drink the same coffee flavor.
Starbucks has an extraordinary "signature" blend bean that is a blend of Latin American and Indonesian coffees. It was developed after several months of debugging. The Latin American coffee gives it soft acidity, while the Indonesian ingredients give it depth and some spiciness. A slightly darker roast adds caramel sweetness to it. This is the difference between blended coffee beans and single-origin coffee beans. Italian blended coffee beans use the characteristics of each bean to achieve the desired coffee flavor.
What are bean blends?
Before accepting the Italian blended beans in Front Street, I need to first introduce to you what single-origin coffee beans are. Single-origin coffee refers to coffee beans from a single origin. For example, Yirgacheffe coffee beans, Colombian coffee beans, etc. are all single-origin coffee beans. So why aren’t single-origin coffee beans used to make espresso?
Just like FrontStreet Coffee’s single-origin coffee beans, which come from at least more than 50 production areas, why not just use these beans to make espresso instead of spending so much time blending and roasting individual espresso beans? This is because single-origin coffee beans are roasted to a low degree and are often used for Pour over(V60) coffee. Using Pour over(V60) coffee beans to make espresso will amplify the flavor. If a certain coffee bean has a particularly pronounced sourness and a weak bitterness, it may not be accepted by everyone when it is made into espresso coffee. Therefore, at this time we need another coffee bean with a weaker acidity and a relatively obvious bitterness to match it to achieve a balance of sourness and bitterness. If these two coffee beans lack sweetness, then add some sweeter coffee beans!
Blend coffee is generally a blend of two or more different types of coffee or the same type of coffee roasted to different degrees. The purpose of mixing them is to create a desired new flavor.
Front Street believes that this is the benefit of blending, because high-quality blended beans, in addition to the balance of sour, sweet and bitter, can also have better body and avoid or weaken defective flavors. Generally, Italian blends do not exceed 5 types of coffee beans. Because there are too many coffee beans, many factors need to be taken into consideration, such as the origin, flavor, processing method of each bean, etc., which all test the professional knowledge of the barista. Through the blender’s unique understanding of coffee flavor, different coffee beans can complement each other and blend out a blend of coffee beans with excellent flavor. For example, FrontStreet Coffee generally does not use more than 3 types of beans when blending Italian coffee beans.
What coffee beans are used for espresso?
The reason why we blend coffee beans is to extract a delicious cup of espresso. So what coffee beans should we choose for espresso? Front Street will introduce it to you based on his own experience.
Currently, FrontStreet Coffee has a total of four Italian bean blends, each of which uses different coffee beans to achieve the desired coffee flavor of FrontStreet.
Just like Front Street's Front Street Boutique Blend of 100% Arabica, it uses Colombian coffee beans and Brazilian coffee beans, blended in a ratio of 3:7. The unique nutty and chocolate flavors of Colombian coffee are blended with the rich peanut and cream coffee flavors of Brazil. This Italian coffee blend has a very smooth overall feel, rich oil, and an extremely smooth entrance, with a refreshing fragrance but a slightly bitter taste unique to America.
There is also a front street commercial blend of Italian coffee beans. Its ratio is: Colombian coffee beans: Brazilian coffee beans: Robusta coffee beans, the ratio is 3:6:1. The flavor has the sweetness of caramel, nuts and cocoa, and the flavor of dark chocolate. It has a balance of sweet and sour, a little sweet and bitter, and a long-lasting aftertaste. Generally, baristas will use various beans to blend to achieve the desired coffee flavor. They will also add Robusta coffee beans. Don't think that adding Robusta coffee beans will prejudice the coffee. This mixing method sometimes produces different sparks.
The third model is Front Street Black Cocoa Blend (100% Arabica) espresso coffee beans. Its ratio is: Yunnan coffee beans: Brazilian coffee beans, the ratio is 3:7. The extracted espresso has: soft fruit acid, caramel sweetness, nutty, dark chocolate flavor, smooth and viscous, but light taste.
The last one is Sunflower Warming Italian Coffee Bean, which is blended according to the Honduran coffee beans: Yerga Red Cherry Coffee Bean. This coffee bean is also currently used by FrontStreet Coffee. The extracted espresso coffee beans have obvious fruit acid, lingering light berry aroma, rich wine aroma and chocolate flavor, and a pleasant aftertaste.
After everyone selects the appropriate Italian coffee blending beans, they can perform the corresponding extraction. Although making espresso coffee requires an espresso machine and does not require as many steps as Pour over(V60) coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes that extracting espresso is also a delicate job that requires attention to many factors.
What factors affect espresso coffee extraction?
(1) Water pressure Modern water pumps control the water output and controllable water pressure. The ideal water pressure for Espresso is generally 9 BAR, which is also recognized as the most ideal air pressure.
(2) Water temperature
The water temperature needs to be determined according to the needs of different coffee bean varieties. According to the experience of most baristas, the water temperature is between 90 and 92 degrees Celsius. Each barista can flexibly adjust according to their own understanding and needs.
(3) Grinding thickness of Italian coffee beans
Espresso is a very fine powder. The finer the grind, the slower the water flows through the powder layer; the coarser the grind, the faster the water flows through the powder layer. Adjusting the grinding degree can flexibly change the extraction time while reaching the extraction volume. Imagine this situation. It takes 25 seconds to extract 40g of Espresso with a fixed amount of 20g of powder. Everything looked perfect, but when I tasted it, I found the body to be thin and tart. It's obvious that this Espresso is under-extracted and low-concentration. At this time, grinding the coffee beans more finely can solve the problem of insufficient extraction and low concentration, while also reducing the sourness and increasing the body.
(4) Powder amount: The powder amount for a single serving of FrontStreet Coffee is 12-14 grams of coffee powder, and for a double serving, it is 20-22 grams.
(5) The golden rule of extraction time stipulates that the extraction time is between 25-28 seconds, but the extraction time is actually a comprehensive expression of filling pressure, powder volume and grinding degree, and needs to be adjusted by the barista's understanding.
（6) extraction amount
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) single extraction20-21gLiquid, double extraction40gThe amount of liquid extracted. Combined with the amount of powder, it is the key to the powder-to-water ratio of espresso coffee extraction.
After you set these parameters according to your own needs, you can make a delicious cup of Italian coffee. Of course, if you still don’t understand anything, you can also pay attention to Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) public account to communicate and learn together.
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
